Changing the System
Posted: September 4, 2011 Filed under: Fun, Transit Leave a commentOften times, you’ll hear users of public transit complain that the people who are behind the design of the system are screwing them over, because the designers don’t use the transit themselves and don’t have to care about the “needs of the people.” It goes hand-in-hand with the usual NIMBY attitudes that are prevalent everywhere, but regardless. What most fail to consider is that a lot of thought goes into the design of a transit system. Beyond the modes used, decisions have to be made about vehicles, costs, traffic impacts, demand, low-income needs, commuter needs, and so much more. The sad truth is that everything costs money. (Where that money comes from is a whole different discussion.) With the way things are today, more and more transit agencies are having to make tough choices to cut back service, lay off employees, or even shut down completely. It’s not something I personally keep track of, but I believe there’s been a few this year that bit the dust. More famously, Colorado Springs (pop. 416,427) eliminated all evening and weekend service on January 1st, 2010. Earlier this year, they were able to reinstate some of it, though it is nowhere near the pre-recession levels.
If you’ve ever heard the term Armchair Architect (or really any other infrastructure related job), you know that there are always those people who “know” how things should be done. Few truly do. Of those few, how many do you think would actually go through and show why they believe their idea is the right one?
On the 29th, Ben Franklin Transit started running the new schedules as part of the September Schedule Changes. (In bus driver jargon, the “Fall Shakeup.”) I’m saving the post on that for later next week (this week technically), but if I were to use one word to describe it, I’d have to say “disaster.” While I was multitasking a Twitter conversation with @TransitGuru and trying to sift through the whole mess of the new schedules, I started thinking more and more about what I would do to change the BFT system for the better. And so I started building schedules and drawing…
The Stop Request
Posted: August 29, 2011 Filed under: Transit Leave a commentYou get on the bus, and you know where you’re headed to. But when it comes time to let the bus operator know that you want to get off the bus, what do you do?
For most transit agencies, one of the following three methods (or a combination) is used:
Bikes on Buses
Posted: August 25, 2011 Filed under: Transit Leave a commentIt’s no secret. Most transit agencies nowadays (with some notable exceptions) put bike racks on their buses.
The good thing is that most people who use bike racks are regular users, so they understand the rules and what to do/not to do. However, as more transit agencies see more and more new riders use their services, problems start arising.
Just yesterday, I saw two extreme situations of what should NOT happen with bikes on buses.
Intercity Buses (and some stories)
Posted: August 22, 2011 Filed under: Fun, Transit Leave a commentPublic transit allows people to travel to destinations within a city or metropolitan area. But when someone wants to travel to another city outside of their area, what options are there?
You could drive. Sure. As long as you have a car, which means you’ll be paying for gas, insurance, registration fees, and unless your a driver that indiscriminately follows the speed limit, speeding tickets.
Maybe take a flight. …right. Airline travel is good when you need to get from Point A to Point B in a short amount of time, but it comes at a hefty price. Key word “hefty.” The average airline ticket price is hovering around $250 right now, and it still continues to rise. And that’s not even counting baggage fees, time spent getting to the airport, and all the time it takes to get through security just to get to your airplane in the first place.
Ride the train. Perhaps. If you live in the Northeast of the country, particularly the “megalopolis” of Boston-NYC-Philadelphia-DC, then Amtrak is a great option. But most people don’t live in the Northeast. Train service is sporadic at best in most of the county, especially west of the Mississippi River. Though things are improving in the Pacific Northwest and California, there’s still a long way to go.
That leaves only one option: the Intercity bus.
Day Pass
Posted: August 18, 2011 Filed under: Transit Leave a commentIn order to promote usage of transit by locals and tourists alike, many transit agencies will have a Day Pass, allowing unlimited usage of their services for that day. Instead of paying fare after fare every time you board a bus or train, you can just pay a flat fee for the Day Pass and not have to worry about anything. However, there are agencies that have not opted to put this sort of measure into use. Perhaps the greatest example of that here in the Pacific Northwest is the Puget Sound region (for this blog, defined as Snohomish County to Pierce County). Served by not one, not two, but five different transit agencies: Community Transit, Everett Transit, King County Metro, Pierce Transit, and Sound Transit. Of the five agencies, only Pierce Transit has a day pass. Even then, it doesn’t amount to much, as it’s only an available option on weekends and holidays with Saturday or Sunday service levels.
In the interest of being fair, I went through and did a survey of all the transit agencies in Washington State to see who has a Day Pass and who doesn’t. Some of the results were rather surprising, while others not so much.
1986 Guide to Summer Fun
Posted: August 16, 2011 Filed under: History, Transit Leave a commentWhile doing a search for an old map of Ben Franklin Transit Route 44 (a route that was discontinued a long time ago), I came across something interesting.
(If you’re interested in browsing through this guide, I’ve uploaded it to Flickr.)
Most of the guide is pretty generic summer stuff, but the biggest thing that caught my attention was that they included maps of the Ben Franklin Transit system from that time. Two major things to notice about this is that Interstate 182 hadn’t been opened yet (it would be opened later in the year) and the Blue Bridge was closed at this time for repairs. Below I’ll include clips of each’s cities routes.
August 2011 Board Meeting
Posted: August 12, 2011 Filed under: Transit Leave a commentLast night, August 11, BFT held their monthly meeting of the board. Though it is a rather simple affair, the board meeting brings to light a lot of information that normally isn’t circulated nor heavily advertised, but still is important none the less. The other benefit of going to the board meeting is that by doing so, I can get a copy of the board packet, a stack of documents and memos and whatnots that get passed out to each attending board member, as well as any member of the public attending who requests one (though I’ve never seen anyone else do it at the meetings that I’ve attended.)
With that in mind, I’ll go ahead and share a few things from last night’s meeting, as well as some new bits of information.
UPDATE: September 2011 Service Change
Posted: August 8, 2011 Filed under: Transit Leave a commentAs I mentioned before in this post, service changes to Ben Franklin Transit are scheduled to go in effect for next month.
Since the last post, a few updates have come up:
- Though they are referred to as the “September Service Changes,” the new schedules/routes will actually be going into effect on the last Monday of the month, August 29th. (September 1st is on the Thursday of that week.)
- In a notice posted at Three Rivers Transit Center, the notation for changes to Route 67 reads as follows: “In addition to regular routing Route 67 will run to CBC on school days and on weekdays becomes Route 66 at Road 100.” Columbia Basin College, or CBC, runs on a Monday-Thursday class schedule (with some exceptions), so I contacted BFT for clarification. They said that the extension to the CBC bus stop on Saraceno Way will be in effect for Route 67 (as well as Route 225) Monday through Friday, but only for Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters. As mentioned before, Saturday schedules/routes will still stay in their current form.
Also, though not necessarily new information (I merely forgot to mention it in the original post), the last change to schedules is that Saturday service levels will be instituted for the following holidays: Martin Luther King Jr. Day, President’s Day, Veteran’s Day, and New Year’s Eve. Christmas Eve will also see Saturday service levels, but the last departures will be at 1:00PM/1:15. As of now, there’s no word on how service for Route 170 to Benton City/Prosser will be affected by this. No changes will be made to holidays that already have no transit service.
Epic Transit Journey – The Walla Walla Loop
Posted: August 3, 2011 Filed under: Epic Transit Journey, Fun, Transit Leave a comment170 miles. 4 buses. $7.
Welcome to the highest levels of frugality.
Boarding the Tri-City Trolley at Huntington TC
Photo Credit: Zachary Ziegler
On August 2nd, myself and comrade @iAndrewPippin embarked on a trip that took us from the Tri-Cities to Walla Walla and back via Hermiston and Pendleton. Now, most normal people sleep during the hours of the night, particularly before any travel. But as for me, I stayed awake. All night. Watching Scrubs.
At about 4AM, I walked from my house towards Huntington Transit Center, meeting my buddie enroute and grabbing some snack food. After a healthy meal consisting of an apple juice and a Sourdough Jack with no tomato, we headed over to Huntington TC to wait for the Tri-City Trolley. The bus showed up close to on time at 5:39AM, and we boarded along with a gentleman who I’ve given the nickname of “Old Man Jenkins.” I’d say with about 99% certainty that there was alcohol running through his veins in the morning. Luckily, he slept nearly the entire ride. After boarding, we headed up to 27th Avenue Park and Ride, the last stop in the Tri-Cities, where another woman boarded, and after holding for about 5 minutes (to maintain the published schedule), we were on the highway.
“Transit cat grabs attention, mice”
Posted: August 1, 2011 Filed under: History, Transit Leave a comment
(By Fay Tolley, originally published in the Tri-City Herald on July 9, 1989)
Ben’s a “fat cat,” she is.
And the crew at the Ben-Franklin Transit bus maintenance shop hopes she maintains her well-rounded figure.
The short-haired feline, dubbed Ben since she domesticated the workplace nearly three years ago, is a champion mouser and occasional snake snatcher, her custodians bragged Monday.
So the 22 maintenance workers who keep the system’s 53 buses in running order don’t have to worry about any unwanted varmints.
Don’t get the idea Ben’s day is all work, partsman Dick Cournyer said, stroking her mottled gray and orange hair.
Transit 509 