The importance of a complete transportation system
May 6, 2009By Stephen Lee Davis
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| Glennis and the 20 Bus Originally uploaded by Transportation for America |
This story is told by Transportation for America organizer Will Handsfield, from a recent trip to California for a town hall meeting.
After leaving the 21st Century Transportation for Los Angeles conference, I headed over to the Normandie Metro Rapid stop to pick up the 720 bus.
This is where I met Glennis.
Glennis was expected at work at 7:00. It was 6:25, and she had been waiting at the stop for 30 minutes when I showed up. Glennis told me that once she got off at Santa Monica Blvd, she would still have about one mile to walk to get to her job. Her chances of getting there on time were looking pretty slim at that moment, and I could see the worry mounting on her face.
Not everyone has a car to drive, and plenty of people choose not to drive for many different reasons. Millions of Americans just like Glennis rely on public transportation every day to get to their jobs, and thus to support themselves. If the buses are late (in this case, the rapid is supposed to show up every 3-8 minutes during rush hour), it threatens the job security of hard working people like Glennis.
One of the people I spoke to at Google two weeks ago put it succinctly, “you should have to know the transit routes, but never their schedules” — essentially saying that infrequent transit represents a poor system. The Rapid bus is supposed to solve this by coming frequently, but for whatever reason, today it didn’t.
I waited for another 16 minutes with Glennis, and waffled with her on deciding whether or not to settle for the slower number 20 bus (pictured), despite the fact it makes many more stops. We stuck it out and a bus headed to Westwood finally arrived, and I said farewell.
When she left, she had another 19 minutes to get to work, with at least 10 minutes more of bus riding. I hope Glennis was able to walk that mile in the 9 minutes left.
For Glennis’ sake — and for everyone else waiting for the bus or stuck in endless traffic — we need to do better on providing a safe, efficient, complete transportation system with options for everyone.
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Wendi
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http://www.busbank.com/ Charter Bus Trip
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