Image via WikipediaThe UTA will be changing schedules this Sunday which is not the normal time they would do it but is being done right now for the introduction of MAX service along 3500 South.For people that ride buses from the Central Station there is going to be some changes for you as several routes will no longer service the station such as the 200 and 205 while others will start serving the station.
As noted before, the 35 will continue to operate, however it will only run every hour while the new 35M will run every 15 minutes. Riders will benefit in a small way with the new service since the last bus will leave the Millcreek TRAX station at 1:28AM instead of 11:28PM. It will be interesting to see if these later buses last beyond a year since no other service is running at that point.
Now that the UTA has purchased them, I hope that the new Van Hool buses perform better than they have in Oakland and other cities. There has been a large number of complaints about them causing A/C Transit to cancel their most recent purchase.
I also still believe we would be much further ahead by upgrading existing bus service instead of wasting the money on MAX. Follow the Portland system of speeding up bus service with special curbs to give direct access to the low floor buses, getting rid of bus stops that are way too close together (although local stops are needed, you don't want them too close together), and then add the light preference system to the buses. This would do more for the bus system making it more efficient and less costly at a lower cost than MAX.
We shall see...
1 comment:
UTA definitely needs to visit each and every bus stop to determine its need. There are some really wacky stops due to the reformation of the system last year. 21, for example, has stops every block (and some times 3 per block!) and then none around 21st East and 21st South. All major intersections should have stops near them, and there doesn't need to be 6 stops inter-major intersections (or 3 stops along Sugarhouse Park, for example).
I know it is a manpower issue, but it doesn't seem problematic to have a team work on this for a year or so until they get through the entire system.
Post a Comment