HomeMy WebLinkAboutcc - Braun (SLO City Bus Service) 8-28-2017'28/2017
LO CITY CLERK
Purrington, Teresa
From: David Braun <db2005wave@earthlink.net>
Sent: Sunday, August 27, 2017 8:12 PM
To: E-mail Council Website
Subject: Improve SLO City Bus Service
To: Heidi Harmon, Dan Rivoire, Carlyn Christianson, Aaron Gomez, & Andy Pease
I'm thrilled to have a council that values active transportation and public transit as much as you do.
Unfortunately, SLO City Bus service has deteriorated since last year. This request follows up my comments
made last year on the Draft 2016-2021 Short Range Transit Plan (SRTP). Please see the forwarded message
below.
To summarize the request briefly, please run the bus routes both clockwise and counterclockwise on
Weekends and evenings and give the routes 15 minute, 20 minute, or 30 minute service instead of 45 minute
or 60 minute service.
I've meant to write you since the new bus schedules went into effect earlier this summer. Too much other
activity trying to make my home more energy efficient distracted my attention until Thursday, when I enjoyed
Mayor Harmon's comments to the California Climate Action Planning Conference at Cal Poly. Among other
things, the conference taught us to pursue active transportation and public transit. The new bus schedules
discourage bus use even more than the previous schedules, so they require significant improvement.
Last year's comments relied on the draft plan contents and the then existing SLO bus service. The schedules
actually implemented serve me FAR worse than anticipated. Other than commutes to and from Cal Poly, ALL
of the other trips I used to take on the former 44 and 45 bus lines are now too inconvenient to attempt, because
they now require too much walking or take too long.
This happened because of three key features of the new routes and schedules:
1. Once an hour operation.
2. Clockwise only routes during evenings AND on weekends.
3. What used to be the 44 & 45 buses turned into the 43 primarily, with the 42 taking the LOVR section SE of
Madonna.
Please consider just two examples of trips that I no longer take by bus:
1. To reach the Bay Area, I like to take an Amtrak bus North, leaving the train station at 8:25 a.m. on Saturday
morning. On the old schedule, I could take the 45, which stops at the station in time. Now, not only does the 43
start service too late on Weekends, it doesn't even make it to the station, stopping over on Santa Barbara street.
I'm willing to do the 3 block schlep with a suitcase from home to the bus stop, but not another 3 block schlep at
the station.
2. Shopping at Target or Costco on Sunday morning. I used to take the 45 over and the 44 back, which gave me
18 minutes to shop and a 1 hour 20 minute total trip. Now, the 43 doesn't make it beyond Madonna. The 43
would bring me to the Grocery Outlet and back. However, on weekends, I'd have to invest 2 hours total,
because no counterclockwise routes run. You could ask, why don't I just shop at Lassen's, which is in the
neighborhood? Well, they remain closed on Sunday, and most of their prices are exorbitant. Or, you could
suggest the California Fresh Market. Although I've shopped at the previous stores at that location for the past 20
years, when I visited the store, when they first opened, their security guard wouldn't let me in carrying my bike
pannier/backpack, suggesting I leave it on the floor at the store entrance. I won't encourage such bike unfriendly
behavior with my business.
I would definitely appreciate it, if your council could improve our bus service, so SLO buses could decrease
SLO car trips, improve my quality of life, and decrease carbon emissions. If you don't think the bus schedules
need improvement, then try to rely only on bus and pedestrian transportation for one month.
Sincerely,
David Braun
db2005wave gearthlink.net
-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: Comments on Draft 2016-2021 Short Range Transit Plan (SRTP)
Date:Tue, 23 Aug 2016 08:52:26 -0700
From:David Braun <db200 5 wave gearthlink. net>
To:advisorybodies o,slocity.org
CC:emailcouncilgslocity.org
To: Hemalata Dandekar, John Fowler, Daniel Knight, John Larsen, Ronald Malak, and Charles Stevenson
Cc: Jan Marx, Dan Carpenter, John Ashbaugh, Carlyn Christianson, and Dan Rivoire
Dear SLO Planning Commission,
Thank you for performing such an important and difficult public service. I appreciate your willingness to
consider my comments.
This email responds to the draft SRTP. I do support the overall principles of-
-Extend Hours of Service During School Year
-Provide Evening Service in Summer
-Fleet Improvements
-Bus Stop Improvements
-Discounted Day Pass
-Eliminate 5-Day and 7-Day Pass
-Ongoing Coordination
I do have concerns about some weak elements in the draft SRTP. While paying lip service to city and regional
goals to reduce car use and increase active transportation, this plan contains at best an attempt to maintain the
status quo, if not a strong poorly disguised desire to reduce bus use by local residents and visitors.
In summary, let me suggest five ways the transit plan could increase ridership and reduce car use:
1. Most routes should have 10-15 minute service during weekdays, 7am-6pm, and at most 30 minute
service 5-7 am and 6pm-midnight plus weekends.
Reason: Most people won't get out of their cars unless they can go and return with less than 10 minute waits at
bus stops. 30 and 60 minute service keeps many passengers in their cars. Poor early morning and evening
service further reduces ridership.
2. Rules should encourage passengers to bring their luggage on the bus.
Reasons: The current anti -luggage rules not only discriminate inexcusably against homeless and disabled
passengers who have no alternatives, but they discourage other riders who could easily use a bus instead of a car
for shopping or train travel. Some buses currently have seating configured with a luggage space in front of the
rear exit door, but drivers harass passengers into carrying suitcases or carts on their laps instead of letting them
use the unused and empty space. All buses serving the train station and shopping centers should have luggage
areas. Those areas can also serve standing passengers during peak times, if they don't contain luggage racks.
3. Work first with the Junior High School, then later with the elementary schools to deploy more buses to
bring kids to and from school.
Reasons: The new tripper route to the high school represents a good start, but it's far too limited geographically,
only bringing kids from downtown. Additional routes could augment the SLCUSD yellow buses and reduce lots
of car trips. Based on the traffic jams around most schools before first bell and after dismissal, the school bus
routes do not serve the demand now served by cars. The full 44 and 5 buses that serve the Junior High School
students hint that students near those routes take advantage of them. Students who don't live near those two
routes could benefit, if new routes could bring them to the Junior High School.
4. Don't buy any more double deck buses.
Reasons: They cost almost twice as much as single deck buses, and having more single deck buses would
permit improved service times. Running two single deck buses instead of one double deck bus could half the
service time. Riding in the double deck bus is fun, but unnecessary for most trips. The SRTP mentions delays
and maintenance disadvantages of the double deck buses.
5. Have all planning commission members rely on bus or active transportation for the next month. No car
trips.
Reason: This experience might lead to valuable insights.
I have ridden various bus routes in town over the last 20 years, primarily on what we now call routes 4 & 5. I
used to live near LOVR at Madonna; now, I live near Foothill at Cuesta. For health reasons, I prefer to bicycle
or walk when feasible, and I try to do most of my commuting that way. I have lived in and visited cities with
public transit operating on 5-12 minute service. It works far better and has permitted me to live car free in the
past. I don't feel able to do so with current transit options in SLO. I would like to stop using a car in town.
Since it is too onerous to bike with luggage to the Amtrak station or with groceries during weekly shopping
trips to Target or Costco, I use the bus, when possible. Current 44 & 45 route schedules make the shopping
quite inconvenient. When I catch the 45 on Saturday or Sunday morning at Foothill and Cuesta (at 8:43-8:45 or
9:43-9:45), and if it arrives on time at LOVR and Froom Ranch Way, Irish Hills Plaza, (around 9:00 or 10:00),
then I have about 18 minutes to complete my shopping at Target or Costco before catching the next 44 back at
9:28 or 10:28 (include the 5 minute walk each way from the stop to the store). The proposed routes would make
this even less convenient, requiring a transfer near Madonna and LOVR or lugging groceries for another 7-8
minutes walk.
Sincerely,
David Braun