T ridership down after fare increase
T ridership numbers continue to decrease after city commissioners increased fare prices for the bus system.
Since July 1 - when fares increased from 50 cents to 75 cents - ridership has decreased by a double-digit percentage. Ridership from July through September is down 12.8 percent compared with the same period a year ago.
Cliff Galante, the city's public transit administrator, had predicted ridership would decline by 20 percent following the fare increase. Galante said the performance has been better than he expected, especially considering that part of the decline for the July through September period is the result of the T having one fewer operating day in 2007 than in 2006.
For the year, T ridership is down 6 percent compared with 2006. The city's paratransit system, which provides door-to-door rides for those with disabilities, has increased by 6 percent.
City Commissioner Mike Dever knows he's on the hook.
Dever was a swing vote this summer when city commissioners were struggling to decide whether to provide more funding for the public transit system or cut back on its service.
Dever was one of two commissioners who threw last-minute support behind a plan to increase the city's property tax rate in order to avoid a cut in services to the T. But Dever said he would support an increase in funding for the T only if changes were made to make the system more efficient.
"I feel like I have some responsibility to help come up with a solution," Dever said.
So, what's the answer? Part of it, Dever says, is Google.
Yes, the Internet powerhouse.
Dever has been having regular meetings with Cliff Galante, the city's public transit administrator, about how to use technology to boost T ridership.
The idea is to use low-cost technology available through Google and other providers to allow bus users to plan their trips and determine which bus they need to catch and when they need to catch it.
"You've heard of MapQuest, this could be something like BusQuest," Dever said.
The idea would allow users to tell a computer program where they are and where they want to go. The program then would spit out information about what bus route or routes to take, and when those routes are available.
"A reason I hear from a lot of people for why they don't ride the bus is because they don't know where it goes or when it goes there," Dever said. "And I have to admit, the schedule is a little bit cryptic."
But there is a catch. Dever doesn't want to spend any additional city money to add the technology component to the transit system. Instead, he suggested opening up the city's buses to advertising to pay for the improvements.
Galante said he's open to that idea.
"I'm not opposed to advertising," Galante said. "I'm from Boston. Advertising on big city buses is not a new thing."
Galante said his understanding is that city leaders in 2001 - the year the system was started - chose not to allow advertising because they wanted to use the sides of the buses to establish an image and a brand for the new T system. But Galante said the system probably is past that image-building stage.
Galante said advertising won't be a cure-all for the system's financial challenges. He said his research indicates Lawrence could expect to make about $20,000 per year from advertising on buses.
That could be enough to make technological upgrades to the T's route system, but it is not enough to meet all the transit system's financial challenges.
Dever said using the ad money to buy technology could produce more riders, which would help the T's finances.
In addition to the scheduling software, Dever said he also wants to see whether there's a low-cost way to outfit the city's buses with GPS devices. That would allow for a computer system to be developed that would allow users to track the buses in real time. For example, users could log onto a Web site and see that the bus they hope to catch is 5 blocks away from their home.
"I think it would be a good thing to shoot for," Dever said. "People might be more willing to use the bus if they knew exactly where it was and when it would be there.
"That is the thing with riding the bus. You have to give up some of your freedoms, and you have to trust the system to do what it is supposed to do. This could help with that."
Dever said he plans to bring the ideas to the City Commission for consideration in the future.
It will be one of several public transit items that city commissioners are expected to discuss before adopting the 2009 city budget.
Galante and Kansas University officials are drafting a request for proposals to seek a transit system company that would serve as the operator for both the KU and city systems.
The city and KU expect to be accepting proposals in early 2008. Danny Kaiser, assistant director of parking and transit for KU, said he thought having one transit operator would be a major step in making both systems more efficient.
"If you have one provider, that provider will come to understand both systems and will be able to help us identify where there are commonalties and redundancies," Kaiser said.
Dever said he wants to look at changing routes around to eliminate some of those redundancies. For example, he said there may not be a strong need to have both a T bus and a KU bus going to the same apartment complex within a few minutes of each other. He said it may be that the city could take over a route like that, and then be reimbursed from KU for providing the service.
Kaiser said he was open to exploring such route changes.
Comments
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just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (anonymous) says…
Good ideas.
Godot (anonymous) says…
I thought the taxapyers were being gouged for the because it is essential travel for people who cannot afford any other mode of transportation; yet, they can afford computers, internet access and, maybe, a PDA?
With a drop in ridership as a result of a minor rate increase, I would say the only people who value this service are the ones who expect to pay nothing for it.
average (anonymous) says…
I would ride the T on a daily basis if they all met downtown (or whereever) at the same time. Sitting outside for twenty minutes each way just don't work. I do not need a fancy webapp to say so.
compmd (anonymous) says…
Godot,
There are places in town that provide free internet access, and there are services that will provide a free computer and free internet access to low-income families. The vast majority of these providers are not tax dollar funded. Just sayin.
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
jonas (anonymous) says…
I don't recall seeing where anyone said this was the solution, just another method of helping the problem. Still, they should work on eliminating the four or so extra route runs currently underused (or not used, to be more apt) before they start fiddling with techno-upgrades.
tvc (anonymous) says…
The bus is not only for the poor.
Tychoman (anonymous) says…
Great idea. I'd probably use it more if this service were available.
tvc (anonymous) says…
Marion, this clearly is not a feature for people that do not have internet access. If we want to grow the user base, then we have to come up with new ideas.
I guess you can't mention Lawrence Freenet, Dan!
bearded_gnome (anonymous) says…
1. raise the charge per ride, decrease ridership ...DUH! did they want to decrease ridership. and with decreased ridership, much of the *increase $* is offset. double-duh.
2. the increase in para charges is far from trivial. %50 earlier this year, and %33 in january on top of the current increase. you make three or more rides in one day, and you've got real money there. they did apparently slow the increase with that. however, is slowing the increase the best idea? obviously judging by *demand* there's need for the paratransit. and increases tap most often people with fixed incomes.
3. the tech idea of "busquest" not a bad idea, I would use it.
average (anonymous) says…
Again, let me explain some remarkably simple change that would increase ridership:
1) All busses meet at the same time. Say, 6 AM downtown and every 40 thereafter. Not 3 busses at 8:00, 4 busses at 8:20, 3 at 9:00...
1a) To facilitate this, the city acquires the parcel on the SW corner of 9th and NH (next to the garage and US Bank, and installs diagonal pull-through bus islands. Between that and streetside spots on 9th next to US Bank and this property, there are easily 8 spots.
2) If negotiations can be made, increase KU campus service to every 40 minutes, not every hour-and-twenty. Have KU on Wheels help sponsor half that service. Lots of North Lawrence and East Lawrence people go to KU to work. They have an incentive to use the bus (limited parking).
DanAlexander (Dan Alexander) says…
Oh, how sad that the LJ World removed a comment that simply gave a phone number for low income families to get Internet service and a computer. How truly sad that your coverage of local happenings is so jaded.
Godot (anonymous) says…
Busquest is a good idea, for the few who will use it; read the past articles about the ridership of the T, and you wlil see that the likelihood of most of the riders using this service (or at least the disadvantaged the proponents claim need the service in order to get to work and to shopping and to the doctor) is small.
Fact is, this service is not needed in its current form, and devoting any city staff energy to finding a way to justify it is a waste of time.
mom_of_three (anonymous) says…
b3, actually there is a need for the T, as several people on this forum have stated they use it. and other people use it as well.
My kids take it home from school and downtown to the library.
I would ride it to work, if the times were more convenient.
inatux (anonymous) says…
Wow Dan, I saw your comment earlier. That's awful.
But, they probably deleted it because that service is a competitor to the sister company of this newspaper.
lakings1 (anonymous) says…
I found the T invaluable while I lived in Lawrence, but I can't imagine that a tracking system or an online trip planner would be cost effective or particularly useful.
My experience was that the the paper timetable was an effective means of judging when the bus should arrive. The peculiarities of each route are easily discerned after a week or so of regular patronage. For example, everyone who used the route could plan on the number six being late during weekday afternoons and excessively late on days that the regular driver was off. I was told that I could call the T office and inquire whether a route was on time so that I didn't need to stand around and wait.
There are so few routes that effectively planning a trip is simple for an individual with a paper route map or the gumption to speak to a driver.
Check out the Chicago Transit Web site to get a sense of a somewhat effective online trip planner (www.chicagotransit.com).
SloMo (anonymous) says…
Why does a bus system need to run on a hub model? Lawrence streets are laid out on a grid- why can't the bus routes be plotted along interlocking squares or something more efficient than the current convoluted routes that all converge downtown? The only reason the hub model works for KU on Wheels is that all of its users have KU in common. The T, on the other hand, is trying to serve the whole town, so why expect all of its users to go downtown and wait for a connecting bus? The current plan shows an extreme lack of imagination.
bearded_gnome (anonymous) says…
marion/nickdanger, your typos make your last post unintelligible, though that might be an improvement!
average (anonymous) says…
A 'pulse' system is normal in any transit system serving a population of less than 500,000 or so. Only a very few cities can't seem to figure out how they work (unfortunately, we live in one of those).
Since busses in our level of service can't reasonably be expected to run every 10 minutes or so, a grid system that isn't going to strand passengers at a random corner for 25 or 30 minutes would have to operate very precisely. Again, our system is designed to strand people for 20 minutes every time. But, it was designed to fail from the very beginning.
It is true that downtown Lawrence is nowhere near central Lawrence. A center point at, say, 15th and Iowa would be more practical.
Confrontation (anonymous) says…
I didn't think that Marion lived in Lawrence, so I'm not sure why he's complaining.
Confrontation (anonymous) says…
So, you DO live in Lawrence?