Putting in park-and-ride lots makes sense, but eliminating flag stops would essentially kill rural bus service. The rural lines currently serve everyone who lives on a major highway or can walk to a major highway. If flag stops were eliminated, the only people the buses would serve would be those who could drive to a park-and-ride lot -- a big step backward in providing an alternative to cars.
If stopping to pick people up or drop them off regularly puts a TCAT bus behind schedule, then that schedule should be adjusted. I hadn't heard before that this was a major problem. Jon Margaret McCasland wrote: > Sorry for the late reply. I think Rob Morache's earlier post contains > the kernel of a major solution: more park'n'rides. > > I agree there should be less "flag stops;" they are amazingly time > consuming. I had an unbelievably long bus ride to and from T-burg last > month which ended up way over schedule. (Perhaps flag stops could be > allowed only during "off-peak" hours). > > However there should be many more "park and rides" to serve outlying > AND not so far out areas. You can have parking nodes that cluster > cars without having to build housing nodes and/or abandon existing > housing stock (especially if they are in areas with farm stands or > minimarts where people may also want to shop after work). > > If some park and rides are near town, people who need to do errands > after work can take the bus back to their car and then go to the > grocery store or--gasp--the mall without going all the way home first > to get their car. Existing "side roads could be feeders to the bus > system, so the only infrastructure change would be creating the > parking areas. This would keep cars out of downtown, off the > campuses, and help keep rural areas rural. > > And they don't have to be paved; Enfield is a great example. But we > also need them closer in--say on the land the County owns near the > hospital and the Health Department's current location (hmm; could the > existing parking there turn into a park and ride once the Health Dept > moves?) > > I think ALL the major routes into town need park and rides far out, > part way into town, and then close in. > > To use 96 B as an example: say, South Danby, the hamlet of Danby, and > then around the Danby-Town of Ithaca line. 96 North of Ithaca already > has one in T'burg, but needs one further south in Ulysses and then > again in the Town of Ithaca near CMC (where people from Iradell and > Hayts Rd and the Dubois Rd areas could feed into the system). I live > on Hayts Rd, and I know there is a LOT of interest in being able to > take the bus to the colleges and downtown. > > I know park and rides require a lot of inter-municipal and interagency > cooperation, but cooperation is generally a good thing to do. > > Margaret _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
