Living Car Free - Tight Fisted Miser - First Day Using Bus

I was reading this article from the Tight Fisted Miser (lots of good ideas here) and there was a column about problems using the bus. The writer discuses problems depending on transfers with LONG wait times. This isn't the first time I've seen this and it's probably one of the main reasons why people turn to cars.

When I was dependant on the bus, the transfers were so time consuming, a 15 minute trip by car would become a two and a half hour affair by bus! As a result, I would never visit that mall because it was poorly served by one bus company that required an hour wait time. Today, I would ride the entire way, but if I had the kind of trip that required multiple bus transfers, I'd bring a folder. Even an adult kick scooter (Xooter) would be alot better than waiting an hour for a bus to take you only 2 or 3 miles.

I left a message on his board discussing the solution to his problem being the folding bike. The bottom line, those of us who are car free don't have to be dependant on inefficient transfer bus service anymore. We can make public transport work for us instead of being the bane of our existence.


http://tightfistedmiser.com/tag/car-free/

http://www.xootr.com/xootr/nscooters.shtml
http://www.brompton.co.uk/
http://www.strida.com/
http://www.pacific-cycles.com/

It's not a problem in Little Rock. Our bus system is radial and all routes go to the central transit center, and are timed to arrive at about the same time. And, all buses have bike racks. :)

The problem comes when you don't want to go downtown. I live half a block from a bus stop. My last job was 3 miles away and was next to a bus stop. But what was a 25 minute bike ride was a 2 hour bus ride, because both stops were at the absolute end of their respective bus routes and I would have to ride the bus all the way into downtown and all the way back out.

But yes, for others in your position, a folding bike might be just the ticket.

It's not a problem in Little Rock. Our bus system is radial and all routes go to the central transit center, and are timed to arrive at about the same time. And, all buses have bike racks. :)

The problem comes when you don't want to go downtown. I live half a block from a bus stop. My last job was 3 miles away and was next to a bus stop. But what was a 25 minute bike ride was a 2 hour bus ride, because both stops were at the absolute end of their respective bus routes and I would have to ride the bus all the way into downtown and all the way back out.

But yes, for others in your position, a folding bike might be just the ticket.

That is the way our bus routing system is laid out too. You would think they would consider putting a few buses running between the outer and mid points of the round in a circular direction. They did that on a some of our routes at one time, but they were under utilized so were discontinued. My other pet peeve is they don't start running early enough and keep running long enough for someone that works shift work, or works retail. The mall closes at 9pm the last bus runs around 8 pm:notamused:

Aaron:)

We finally got a small bus system in my town of 100,000 in 2007. It runs similarly to the one Artkansas describes, and only runs Mon-Fri 6am-6pm. It doesn't run anywhere near my apartment, nor my place of employment. In other words, it's useless to me. But I'm still glad it's there, because as far as I know we're the smallest town in Tennessee with a bus system.

Our public transport system is similar: main "feeder" lines running radially to/from center, with circular connecting routes added later between the main lines. The system has been developed over decades to its current form, so we've had time to build the circular routes. Our circular routes should be shorter and service more frequent, but it's getting better in the long run. It does take time, determination and money, and a clearly stated policy from the city officials. It's an ongoing process and depending on your elected officials' term steady improvements may be difficult to achieve.

It's also a question of degree of professionalism. When they plan housing for 10 000 persons in any particular area, our average elected officials have probably very little clue on the plan's effects for public transportation network. Or what it means in terms of public and private services etc. City planning professionals are needed to provide that info, but even then it's sometimes guesswork: put a bus line there, run it for months or maybe a year to find out there are no users or it's otherwise impractical. We've had our share of such experiments.

--J

My other pet peeve is they don't start running early enough and keep running long enough for someone that works shift work, or works retail. The mall closes at 9pm the last bus runs around 8 pm:notamused:

Aaron:)
Here too. I took night classes in the outer suburbs, class ends at 10pm, last bus servicing the campus- 9:50pm. My complaints fell on deaf ears. I just left class at 9:45 and missed the ends of the lectures. I missed the after class bull sessions too.

We finally got a small bus system in my town of 100,000 in 2007. It runs similarly to the one Artkansas describes, and only runs Mon-Fri 6am-6pm. It doesn't run anywhere near my apartment, nor my place of employment. In other words, it's useless to me. But I'm still glad it's there, because as far as I know we're the smallest town in Tennessee with a bus system.

This is obviously a major "roadblock" to carfree/carlite options, and this is shameful for a city of that size, or any size really.

100,000 population is plenty big for a world class bus system. Lansing isn't much bigger, and our bus line did 11 million trips last year. Your system probably won't grow until they greatly expand service hours and coverage. The rule of thumb is that nobody should have to walk more than two blocks to a bus stop. Evening and weekend service is a must.

The bus is useless to me for commuting because I work until 11:30 PM, and the last bus goes by an hour earlier. I press my bus company to expand to 24 hour service, at least on selected or modified routes.

For the first seven years that I was car-free, I did it by bus. For most of that time, the longer trip times weren't a huge issue. I could sit around on the bus (or waiting for transfers) or be home quicker and sit around in front the TV or computer. I figure sitting around is sitting around no matter where your but is.

It became more of an issue when I started working multiple locations in the same day. That started me thinking about a bike. A year or so later, the transit company did away with transfers, in order to reduce the fares on the suburban Park and Ride runs. Every ride for me involved a transfer, so this effectively doubled my fare.

That's when I bought my first bike. I'm grateful that I was able to answer "No thanks" to being asked to subsidize suburban car people. Best thing that ever happened to me. Well maybe second best, but still, it's right up there.

Sacramento has good Bus/Light Rail options... as long as you want to go downtown between 6 and 6 on a weekday. This sounds like a familiar lament.

They talked about moving our group at work from downtown to a northern suburban location. It would have been fine for me since I live close to there, but for all the people here who ride the bus or light rail, it would have been a nightmare. The fact that parking would have been free did not begin to compensate for the loss of cheap public transportation. The idea was canned after a few weeks.

One of the main reasons I ride a bike is because it gives me freedom. I can ride to work and get there at 6am but if I ride the bus I can't make it before 7am. When I want to leave, I can just leave and be home in 50 minutes. If I take the bus (like today) I have to wait 10-50 minutes at the bus stop after a 10 minute walk so I can take a 50 minute bus ride to where I have a 10 minute walk home. How convenient ;)

This is obviously a major "roadblock" to carfree/carlite options, and this is shameful for a city of that size, or any size really.

100,000 population is plenty big for a world class bus system. Lansing isn't much bigger, and our bus line did 11 million trips last year. Your system probably won't grow until they greatly expand service hours and coverage. The rule of thumb is that nobody should have to walk more than two blocks to a bus stop. Evening and weekend service is a must.

The bus is useless to me for commuting because I work until 11:30 PM, and the last bus goes by an hour earlier. I press my bus company to expand to 24 hour service, at least on selected or modified routes.

Indeed. Recently I've being doing research online trying to find a place I could move that would be more bike and pedestrian friendly, and in my searches I start to see how far behind the South is when towns of -20,000 in New England and the West Coast have much more extensive bus routes and often times even Amtrak service. For me to use Amtrak I'd have to go 250 miles to Memphis, or 220 to Atlanta. :lol:

In one of the two cities I currently live in, the bus service is pathetic. A 10 minute drive would take 1 hour and 15 minutes by bus ... not so much because of wait times but rather because all the busses seem to be feeder busses. They meander up and down every little street in the city.

In the other city, the bus service seems quite good. I walk 2 km to the bus stop (yes, I could probably find a bus stop closer ... but why?), and then it's a 15 minute direct bus to the University. I couldn't drive there that fast!

But one thing I was impressed with today, as I looked over the new fares starting February 1st was that low income seniors only pay $48 a year for bus service! Why would anyone own a car if they could get around all over the city for $48 a year?

That is the way our bus routing system is laid out too. You would think they would consider putting a few buses running between the outer and mid points of the round in a circular direction. They did that on a some of our routes at one time, but they were under utilized so were discontinued. My other pet peeve is they don't start running early enough and keep running long enough for someone that works shift work, or works retail. The mall closes at 9pm the last bus runs around 8 pm:notamused:

Aaron:)

This sounds so similar.

A lot of our buses are private companies and they do not work with each other in the timing of transfers. In addition, transfers will not work between different companies so the system is costly unless you use one bus line and buy a monthly pass.

Don't get me started on non-rush hour and weekend service. Yet, I found there are lines that come quite frequently because they service more customers. These are the lines I used to find myself riding more than any other in the past when I used bus transport exclusively. Even if it ment walking more, I would rather use a service the comes frequently than one that comes by the hour. I've said it before on another thread, to become car free, you need one bus line that provides frequent service or public transportation becomes a hardship.

Today, I use the light rail (with my full size bicycle) to get ALL over town even if the stop is two or three miles away. I see others doing the same using the train to do 90% of the trip. However, if we didn't have rail, I would be using my folder on the fastest bus line to get around town.

This is obviously a major "roadblock" to carfree/carlite options, and this is shameful for a city of that size, or any size really.

100,000 population is plenty big for a world class bus system. Lansing isn't much bigger, and our bus line did 11 million trips last year.

Agreed.

My town has a population of 56K and we have three bus lines and a lightrail system. It goes to show you that towns do not want their tax dollars spent on public transportation. When you have that kind of mindset, everyone ends up buying a motorcar.

Agreed.

My town has a population of 56K and we have three bus lines and a lightrail system. It goes to show you that towns do not want their tax dollars spent on public transportation. When you have that kind of mindset, everyone ends up buying a motorcar.

Some towns do support bus service. Lansing, East Lansing and Ingham County just voted--in the midst of an economic depression--to raise taxes to support the bus company. The vote was nearly two to one (64-36, IIRC) in favor of the higher tax. Little things like this give me hope.

A long time ago, I worked in Canada in a town of about 30,000. The city couldn't afford a formal bus system, but they did have a Jitney system. There were also cabs, but the jitneys were vans that had routes and schedules that were not exactly fixed. You could phone ahead and get a ride, but you'd most likely be sharing and the jitney might not get there right away, but you'd eventually get where you wanted. I forget how this worked for people trying to get to their jobs. I think these jitneys sort of resembled what we call "ride share" vans nowadays.

A long time ago, I worked in Canada in a town of about 30,000. The city couldn't afford a formal bus system, but they did have a Jitney system. There were also cabs, but the jitneys were vans that had routes and schedules that were not exactly fixed. You could phone ahead and get a ride, but you'd most likely be sharing and the jitney might not get there right away, but you'd eventually get where you wanted. I forget how this worked for people trying to get to their jobs. I think these jitneys sort of resembled what we call "ride share" vans nowadays.

We had jitneys in Detroit when I was a kid. Sometimes they were a van but often just a big car. They were cheaper than the DSR bus, and they'd take you right to your house if none of the other passengers objected. They'd pull up while you were waiting at the bus stop and tell you to hop in.

Also they had radios. Cruising on Woodward Ave. in 1971, groovin' to the Isleys and Marvin Gaye. In a jitney!
:)