Trimess

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Take a look at the future of MLR and the bus cuts that come with it

LAKEWOOD, Colo. (CBS4)- Riders on RTD’s express buses voiced their frustration at a public meeting Wednesday evening after their routes were cancelled once the West Line for light rail opened last month.
Six express bus routes were closed on the west side.
“We need to arrive at Civic Center Station, the train does not accommodate that, so now we need our express back so we can have our lives back,” said RTD rider Sharon Kinvig.
RTD said it’s common practice to re-evaluate bus routes when a new light rail line opens.

RTD Express Bus Riders Disgruntled After Routes Closed « CBS Denver

7 comments:

EngineerScotty said...

<leftrant>
THAT happens every time a LRT line opens; parallel express routes are canceled, and entitled suburban yuppies, who think they should have nonstop service to the office (whereas everyone else gets to ride a local), whine up a storm.

One of the good things about TriMet, IMHO, is it doesn't waste too much money catering to this particular demographic (WES notwithstanding)--and the express busses it DOES run (like the 96 or 99) use the same vehicles (actually, often the older ones!) as everyone else gets. Limousine-style express routes like what C-TRAN runs, annoy me.
^lt;/leftyrant>

EngineerScotty said...

HTML escape fail... :)
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Al M said...

Haha!
I love those C-Tran Limos!

Erik H. said...

and entitled suburban yuppies, who think they should have nonstop service to the office (whereas everyone else gets to ride a local), whine up a storm

Typical response.

Meanwhile, the light rail whiners get a gold-plated ride that passes up the local buses, with nice huge stations, free park-and-ride lots, even art! - as they smugly laugh at the bus riders whose routes got cut. What used to be a nice, short several block walk has now become a drive to the nearest park-and-ride lot.

If we're going to play class warfare, MAX, WES and Streetcar riders aren't victims, they're perpetrators just as well. Let's start shutting down amenities - make the Streetcar riders have to stand in a parking space to wait for their train; make WES riders flag down their train (hey, some Amtrak trains, and the Alaska Railroad can do flagstops - why not WES?); and make MAX riders try to make sense out of a route "schedule" and map that's three inches wide by four inches tall and merely says "Weekday, Saturday and Sunday Service" - like a typical bus stop schedule. Or - let's give bus riders some respect, and give them safe and decent bus stops, and buses that are new, reliable, have air conditioning and other amenities to match the rail system. I'd sure as heck love to have "free" wi-fi internet on my bus.

EngineerScotty said...

Light rail is gold-plated? On what planet?

The interior of your average MAX train is not any nicer than the interior of your average TriMet bus, other than you won't encounter a MAX vehicle without AC. (And the day that the last of the old AC-less busses is retired from the fllet will be a good day). MAX stations (other than Washington Park, which is underground) are quite spartan--your average one has a "shelter" that will protect you from non-wind-driven precipitation, and give a little shade, but otherwise leaves you exposed to the elements, a few benches, and ticket machines that don't work half the time. (Excuse me, 10% of the time. My bad.) Not exactly the Taj Mahal. Rides on WES are pretty nice--but so is the C-TRAN 105, so we're even).

The difference between MAX and local bus is one is rapid transit, and the other is not. Rapid transit stops need to accommodate larger numbers of passengers at a time than do local stops. My assumption is that the Powell/Division BRT will have less frequent stops with more "amenities" similar to LRT stops--a bigger shelter, a few more benches, and ticket machines; as is standard on BRT lines elsewhere.

In general, the more business a stop does, the more improvements it merits. That's transit service 101, and the standard pretty much around the world, whether its bus or rail. I'm actually quite in favor of going more to the European standard of service--400m stop spacing, improved stops, and offboard ticket vending and PoP fare enforcement--but that poses some accessibility issues (and costs TriMet lots of money if mobility-impaired riders were to switch to LIFT as a result). But the suggestion that each and every transit stop in the TriMet system has to have equal amenities, is ridiculous and unworkable. The suggestion that we should close down functional transit stations (including many improved bus stops?) just because some bus stop somewhere consists of a sign on a pole, is petty, and if I may say so, beneath you.

Which users of former express routes went from a "short walk" to a "had drive to a park and ride"? Here on the Westside at least, the old express lines that were replaced by MAX mostly ran on streets that still have local service; in most if not all cases, one can catch the local bus and transfer to MAX. And those who didn't live near to the express lines (there weren't that many of them) had to catch a local and transfer, or drive to a P%R anyway.

I agree with you about the station art--but so does TriMet, I suspect. Blame the Oregon legislature and their dumb "1% for artists", excuse me, "1% for art" law.

Jason McHuff said...

That was a very good response to Erik, Scott.

One thing that should be added, is that express routes on the west side went from peak only upto 7-day a week service. The need to transfer to MAX resulted in much more span of service.

Regarding accessibility, what I would do is pair the BRT (or whatever) with a shuttle that went to people's doors, hopefully replacing some LIFT rides, as well as provide LIFT like service to the general public.

Jason McHuff said...

Also, the Denver issue is that the line is routed to Union Station, which is on the opposite end of their transit mall from Civic Center instead of the route that crosses the middle of the mall.