Forward Virginia

Metrobus left at the stop

When it comes to funding, Metrobus has been left behind. The front-page article of today's Washington Post, according to Wonkette, "uncovers a motherload of obviousness" – probably referring to the article's focus on the fact that bus riders are more likely to be minority and low-income than subway riders.

The basic premise of the article is that, in the shadow of the more well-known Metrorail system and its more affluent users, Metrobus has been the subject of neglect and decay, the sole highlights of the system being universal installation of SmartTrip fareboxes and the takeover of some busier routes by local governments for better management. The article found that the average age of buses in the Metrobus fleet is 10 years, compared with the normal 5 years of other system. The article also showed that some less-used routes get heavy subsidy while more frequently used routes suffer overcrowding for lack of new buses.

While I'm sure we all can agree Metrobus needs more funding and more buses (especially in the Dulles corridor where only one once-an-hour route connects the airport with D.C.), I don't think cutting service from less frequently used routes is the answer. One of the routes cited, the Kings Park line, connects George Mason University with the Pentagon Metro station, an important link between the Fairfax suburbs and downtown (though arguably the route could more cheaply bring passengers to the Vienna/Fairfax-GMU Metro station, which is closer). The other route, to Burke Center, showed a low usage rate, but the 18P buses I've seen leaving the Pentagon at rush hour are packed (the low usage may actually have come from the 18R and S routes, which leave from the Franconia-Springfield Metro).

One of the reasons cited in the article of why people don't use the bus is because schedules and routes remain largely an unsolved mystery to the general public. Unlike the ubiquitous Metrorail system map, a similar map unifying Metrobus routes is much less common. As an example, the article showed one route in Arlington County jumping 30 percent in ridership after colorful maps and timetables were added to the route. In my internship with a regional commuting agency, I noticed Arlington had the best consistent marketing practices.

Frequent service, clear information, newer, cleaner buses. That's how to get people to ride. Buses may not run so empty if the marketing is done the right way.

posted by Omar @ 11:56 PM 0 comments

'The Starbucks Effect'

Could your morning habit be contributing to our region's traffic woes? This April 2005 Washington Post article explores the issue. (April 2005 seems to be a big month for transportation reports based on the Washington Post Web site; articles from this month will be a subject of discussion on this blog for a while, it seems.)

The problem is that traffic forecasters assume that people use the shortest, fastest route to work when in fact many of us will make the occasional, or daily, detour to pick up that cup of coffee at Starbucks or that breakfast sandwich at McDonald's. As the Department of Transportation's Nancy McGuckin puts it, "If you see people replacing an in-home activity like brewing your own coffee with an activity that requires a new [car] trip, that's not exactly the trend we're looking for."

Each additional mile driven in your car adds to the pollution levels that EPA regulations are trying to limit, and it adds traffic to roads that are harder for traffic experts to predict. Traffic aside, I think the biggest inroads on the pollution front will be realized as more and more people switch to hybrids in the face of higher gas prices. Any decent hybrid shuts off its gas engine entirely while moving at low speeds – or, say, idling in a fast-food drive-thru.

posted by Omar @ 12:15 AM 1 comments