To the editor:

What happened to “Shootin’ the square”? Ridership on the T is morbidly low, and the overseers need to find out why and provide solutions.

It takes seven minutes to bus from Seventh and Vermont streets to 15th Street and Haskell Avenue. It takes 53 minutes to get from 15th and Haskell to Seventh and Vermont because the route runs in only one direction. That is why we see lawn chairs along the route and low ridership.

Routing needs a major transformation. Until core routes, clockwise and counter-clockwise, serve the I-70 Mall to 31st and Haskell, Seventh and Vermont to Rock Chalk Park, the West Turnpike Interchange to the South Lawrence Trafficway and 23rd Street from the Clinton Lake entrance to East Hills Business Park, free ridership won’t help.  

I suggest a state-of-the-bus-service fact-finding mission for the members of the City Commission and Lawrence Transit management. Start at 27th Street and Haskell, Seventh and Lyon streets, Rock Chalk Park, Sixth and Massachusetts streets or Kasold Drive at 15th Street. The mission is to navigate to all of these points. The day is Saturday. No rain protection, backpack, pocket change or $1 bills are allowed so you will need to walk to purchase a day pass. Your cell phone is dead and you have a sprained ankle. You must stop at some point for a 15-minute break.

I suspect follow-up will depict more critical shortcomings than where to put a non-user friendly hub.