[djf]

Thing about buses is that they make sense only for a very small number of routes.
Say running up and down highway 99, that kind of thing.

Most rural or even suburban routes end up with a 10-20% occupancy rate.

A fifteen thousand pound vehicle going from place to place to haul, on average, three people?

Makes no sense.

Toss in the fact that many of the counties have a system set up for transportation of people who have medical issues, there’s a gal near me who DAILY gets transports to/from wherever I don’t know, but I know it is a county funded program and there is no bus service where I live.

So the rabid bus advocates LOSE that group as being part of their justification.

[copaliscrossing]

Thing about buses is that they make sense only for a very small number of routes. Say running up and down highway 99, that kind of thing.

Most rural or even suburban routes end up with a 10-20% occupancy rate.

A fifteen thousand pound vehicle going from place to place to haul, on average, three people?

Makes no sense.

I agree 100%. If we can get the dialog focused on this point, we might have a chance of scaling back the bloated bureaucracy of the mass transit system. I applaud the voters of Pierce County (myself included) for voting down the increase requested by Pierce Transit. Of course they were pleading poverty the days and weeks afterward but it is high time we push back.

We need to make sure we always throw in "a bone" and mention when bus/train service makes sense like the route you mentioned. BUT, let the riders and locale pay for that bus service. Sheesh, it's not a hard concept.