Posted on 04/29/2019 11:50:45 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
The D.C. region could be suffocated by even more traffic if major improvements to the region’s bus system do not come soon, a draft report obtained by WTOP finds.
Even so, making those changes in a way that avoids negative impacts could be extremely challenging.
The Washington Area Bus Transformation Project draft strategy’s executive summary, labeled “not for circulation,” paints a dire picture of what happens if bus-only lanes, totally revamped bus routes and other changes are not implemented: “Without transforming the bus system, the region’s competitiveness and livability are at risk.”
The report groups more than two dozen recommendations into six broad areas. Some are clearly meant to directly make taking the bus quicker and easier; others focus on cost savings and shifting responsibility for routes between local bus systems and Metro.
“Without intervention, bus runs the risk of becoming the mode of last resort, or worse, the mobility option reserved only for those who have no other choice,” said the report, labeled “Prosperity in Peril.”
Long-term reliability concerns have helped drive down Metrorail ridership in recent years, too, with people buying cars after deciding they cannot rely on Metro outside of rush hour due to major track work repairs. An estimated 55 percent of Metrobus users today do not have a car at home.
Over the next few years, If the project is implemented as planned, buses across the region could change from something often perceived as a “last resort” to something that is “appealing and desirable,” becoming a mode of transport that could begin “reshaping travel choices over time, with significant impacts on where people choose to live and work,” the report said.
(Excerpt) Read more at wtop.com ...
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
The unstated issue is that people don’t like riding with the great unwashed if they don’t absolutely have to ride transit. We like the privacy of our cars.
For a period of 3 years, I ran a parking pass program for a Pentagon agency. We were allocated x-number of parking spots, and the emphasis was to convince people to accept Metro (you’d get funds added to your card) to use the subway/bus system throughout DC/Arlington. In the beginning, about half the organization did the subway/train/bus routine, and we had around 20 parking spots left-over.
But each year that went by...I’d have five or six people come in and just say ‘enough’....they’d given up on the METRO/bus routine, and wanted to drive into work.
Toward my last year there, the Pentagon was going to give up around 300 parking spots and we were all going to have the bare minimum for drivers...thus trying to force everyone back to the METRO.
The whole METRO/bus program was crap. I’d ridden hundreds of times on it, and you just sat there frustrated. Buses would fail on some route. The subway was aging and they were ten years behind on maintenance. Escalators (some of these tunnels were 300 ft below the surface) would fail and be out of commission for a month. Virtually every single member of METRO needed to be drug-tested. There were various VIP METRO SUVs that you’d see parked at sites, with managers doing virtually nothing.
A nation’s capitol city is prosperous only to the extent that they rob the country’s citizens blind. There should be NO notion of a “prosperous” capitol.
Every bus takes about 50 cars off the road but impact traffic like 500.
If you think traffic and parking are bad now, wait 10 years until we have intelligent, self-driving cars.
Your car drives you to work and you tell it: "Orbit this building in charge conservation mode." Thousands of cars don't need to park, they slowly drive around aimlessly. They love traffic jams because that conserves charge in their batteries. They automatically soak up any available on-street parking space for the longest time allowed by law.
This will challenge parking and traffic regulations in ways we have never dreamt of. And, busses will be caught up in the the traffic jams.
The autonomous cars will seldom be in at-fault traffic accidents, but the frustrated human drivers left on the streets will be in plenty, further snarling traffic.
The first significant change should be the firing of every single person at the management level of that dysfunctional operation.
DC Metro is the laughingstock of the mass transit industry.
Lord knows you cannot depend on the Metro. But busses?
Metro is simply a jobs program; any transportation it provides is incidental. And now they have spent billions extending it through Tyson's Corners - Reston - Dulles, but they still are not performing the required maintenance on the system.
Exactly
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