Those of you who follow us on channels like Twitter or Facebook may not be aware of Page 2, our community page. If you haven’t been reading Page 2, below are a few recent highlights. If you’re interested in writing for STB, Page 2 is a great way to get your feet wet. Sign up for an account today.
Jason Schindler had a novel idea to essentially pay people to transfer:
The idea is to give people who transfer a small ($0.25 or $0.50) reduction on the cost of the overall fare. It should be significant enough that people notice the difference but not enough that it encourages people to transfer for no other reason than to save some money. Metro could make it almost revenue neutral (or even revenue positive) by hiking regular fares by a similar amount. This would not apply to cash transactions, because — Metro shouldn’t still be doing paper transfers in the first place!
John Strick looked at Metro’s new Proterra electric buses:
One thing that stuck out was that the bus body was made out of composite materials and not sheet metal. This significantly reduces the weight which helps increase the range of the bus. The interior of the bus has 40 seats and can accommodate 37 more standing passengers for a total capacity of 77 passengers. 28 seats are forward facing while the remaining 12 face inwards towards the center aisle. All interior lights are LED which also help efficiency.
Finally, Troy Serad took a critical look at West Seattle light rail:
Rail infrastructure best serves areas that look and feel quite like Alaska Junction, or are even more urban, and whose importance as a key neighborhood center is undeniable. These areas are dense and likely growing, featuring healthy development patterns. Rail infrastructure links such centers into a system that builds the foundation for a greater city. As an isolated case, Alaska Junction is precisely that: important, urban and growing properly. The context of Alaska Junction in the regional picture, however, upends the model that otherwise would support rail investments to the neighborhood.
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Transfer bonuses are nice and is a good concept. However it should never cost more to not take another bus. It’s just not fair. I support transfers and me getting to work requires it but it’s not appropriate for everyone.
John, you’re not wrong about what’s fair here. But I think that an unnoticed feature of transit’s evil brother the automobile was a big part of its popularity.
With few exceptions, a driver’s license made city, county, and State lines as obsolete for driving as many other former rules were for people’s changing living patterns. And our daiy lives.
Calculation was that for vast majority of people, any imbalance would be compensated by many more benefits.
So as a former driver and a current frequent passenger, I really think that smallest unit of fare should be an all-day pass. And most common should be the monthly pass I’ve used for years.
Issued far from the transit vehicle as possible. Region-wide, and without calculation for county lines. As Henry Ford doubtless anticipated from the get-go.
As he probably did, mistakenly, that streetcars would always be there to keep the roads clear as all those tires crossed subarea lines without a single puncture.
Mark Dublin
I’m also fairly sure that for a lot of people a bonus for a transfer would turn their commute into work into
1) take the normal 1 seat bus
2) tap the offboard payment machine for a rapid ride on the way to work to get your discount.
Two sightings of the Proterra bus downtown last night around 11pm
there are three of them at Metro’s Unit Repair (where all new busses get prepared for service). Anyone know how many King County is getting?