Park and ride lots are a popular approach to reducing traffic and increasing bus ridership, but they are extremely inefficient and come with their own environmental and economic costs. For every busload of 40-45 riders who might be attracted to the park and ride concept, one-third to half an acre of land would have to be converted to parking spaces, driveways, shelters, etc. There are now about 5,000 commuters traveling past my house on Cliff Street each day. One hypothetical bus, lets say an express bus directly for a park and ride in Trumansburg with no stops between there and downtown Ithaca (morning and afternoon) would take just 1% of them off the road. Attracting just 10% of commuters within the area served by Cliff Street and Route 96 would require converting 4-5 acres of land somewhere in Turmansburg or Ulysses from productive use to parking lot, and require an investment in 5 additional buses ($100,000-$150,000 each), plus their operating costs. There is also the cost burden imposed on everybody else through the heavy subsidies needed to sustain rural public transit systems. Finally the park and ride concept is just another example of how throughout the US we continue to encourage through infrastucture development and transportation policy an environmentally, economically and socially unsustainable lifestyle choice. George Frantz
--- On Thu, 10/30/08, Margaret McCasland <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: From: Margaret McCasland <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [SustainableTompkins] TCAT bottom line To: "Sustainable Tompkins County listserv" <[email protected]> Cc: "Kris Townsend" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Thursday, October 30, 2008, 4:03 PM Yes, we do want to tweak our bus system in ways that will reduce--not increase--car dependence. Park'n'rides can be gathering places for more than cars: people who walk and bike can--and do--use them. But there are still far too few of them in Tompkins County (and beyond). And there should be a shelter too, so people aren't sitting in their cars with the engine idling while they run the heat or the AC. But that's also a good reason for having relatively predictable schedules. Plus five minutes is OK; being off by 30= minutes is NOT. And I heard one driver say that she was running so far behind one day she just started telling people she was a few minutes early. (just missing a bus and then having to wait 2 hours for next one is not a good system--and I know people that has happened to with TCAT.) There's no point in having buses run on time, but mostly empty, so yes, we do need some flag stops under some circumstances. However they do need to have some limits. The more people who get on at the same stop, the more efficient the system is. I did hear that one reason some (all?) of the rural buses are no longer running as often is because--with more riders and more flag stops--the routes get too long (in terms of time). As often as possible, shelters should be existing buildings--just perhaps with a bike shed added to the side. This is not a new idea: rural bus stops used to be diners, or gas stations, or general stores. Socializing at the bus stops is part of how public transport builds community, just as riding a bus is. If new shelters do need to get built plexiglas has fantastic solar gain: a windproof, unheated shelter with plexi walls facing south could get quite comfortable during MOST days. My plexi solar porch is warm today and the sun has barely peeped through the clouds. 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
