I have watched for decades as bus service in the various communities where I've lived has struggled to maintain existing levels of service, with an occasional, tentative move toward increased service. Ridership remains low, and this perceived lack of demand is taken as reason enough to leave things alone. Of course, it's a self-defeating arrangement, where no one who has a choice wants to leave their car at home when the transit option is so much less convenient. I would love to see City Bus here in Santa Rosa get serious about providing a level of service that would really get people away from driving alone. Of course there's a whole litany of problems that need to be solved to get there, and describing those problems and some possible solutions is my main motive for doing this blog.
There are several big changes we could make to City Bus that could be real game changers. The status quo is a system where the buses shut down for the night around 8 pm and run at 30- or 60-minute intervals, pretty sad for a county seat with a population of 170,000. Let's run the buses until at least 10 pm, and double frequency of service. And let's add some cross-town routes so one doesn't have to transfer between lines downtown to travel the length or breadth of the city. Let's install shelters at every stop, with technology to inform waiting passengers how long until the next bus arrives.
This will all cost a ton of money, of course. Right now, with gas selling for half what it cost a year ago, is a great time to talk about paying for these improvements with a substantial local gasoline tax.
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