This all gets back to funding. With stable funding the routes will be stable. Of course we may end up with very low stable funding, but no agency is going to invest in shelters, signs, maps, etc. only to have them change in a couple months. It would be a huge waste of money. The referendum in the County will tell us at what level that stability will be found.
I totally agree with you guys. I think more circulator-type routes that are very clearly identified with their destinations would do a lot to attract choice riders. Metro's current system isn't the ideal system by any means, because when you have to make do, you can't always design the best/most efficient routes for your riders if doing so is at the expense of providing any service at all to other people.
Sorry about my response to the bus stigma. I just hear that so much it makes me crabby, and coming from the people it usually comes from, "poor" is a code for "people who aren't just like me." It's infuriating. I should know that I won't get that here from you guys. Whatever the reason, destigmatizing transit is one of the factors driving Metro's rebranding campaign. What do you guys think - do you think our Rider Story videos are effective at all? I worry they are a little cheesy, but all these people are real people who really use Metro every day. http://www.imonboardwithmetro.org/#/home
Sorry about my response to the bus stigma. I just hear that so much it makes me crabby, and coming from the people it usually comes from, "poor" is a code for "people who aren't just like me." It's infuriating. I should know that I won't get that here from you guys. Whatever the reason, destigmatizing transit is one of the factors driving Metro's rebranding campaign. What do you guys think - do you think our Rider Story videos are effective at all? I worry they are a little cheesy, but all these people are real people who really use Metro every day. http://www.imonboardwithmetro.org/#/home
Clearly demarcated Circulator routes have two clear advantages over normal bus routes: branding and simplicity. They can have their own image in the minds of riders so that they think to themselves "I don't ride the bus, but I ride the Circulator all the time." Plus, one of the hardest things about a bus system is figuring out where it goes and when. But you can stand at a Circulator stop and it will tell you on the side of the bus where it goes...and you don't have to consult a schedule, you just know the next one will show up soon.
Also, I've been thinking that Lindell would be a perfect place to have a Forest Park-Downtown Circulator or street car. The major criticism of the Loop Trolley is that it doesn't do what the Portland street car did to be successful, namely connect established with developing areas. On Lindell (and eventually Olive) you can get from Forest Park to the CWE to the Cathedral to Grand to the wasteland just North of SLU to Downtown right near Wash Ave. This corridor connects some of the city's most enduring areas with some of those most ripe for redevelopment. To me this seems like a huge missed opportunity for the new Plan. So much so that I've considered buying my own bus, getting some high school kids to paint it as an art project, and just driving it up and down Lindell/Olive for a $2 fare. Anyone got an extra bus?
- 11K
I love it. I wish SLU and Midtown would really get behind a Lindell Streetcar or BRT. It would really center SLU. And imagine BRT down Grand as well. All of SLU would be connected (and better connected to Metrolink at the Grand Station) and the line would connect the CWE, the symphony, FOX and more in Midtown and then downtown - as you said.