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I have a 10 minute walk to get to city bus service. 50 years ago, that bus route extended farther into the suburbs and I would have been a block from a bus stop. A victim of suburban prosperity. Where I live, the bus service is pretty much only low income people. Everyone uses the commuter bus service to Boston. There's a stop on the long haul Cape Cod, Providence, NYC bus route. There is no public transportation at all to Boston/Logan Airport or Providence/TF Green Airport which is extremely annoying. Commuter rail to Boston shows up in 4 years. That is likely to change the local bus dynamic significantly. There's also fast ferry service to Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. Slow ferry service to Cuttyhunk. The new rail station and transit center is going to be next to remote parking for the ferry. There is also a Thursday shuttle to the Boston hospitals. I imagine that won't survive once commuter rail shows up.
I ride the ferry a lot. I use the commuter bus service to Boston occasionally. The long haul bus service doesn't stop at the Providence Amtrak station or the airport so it's useless for me.
I use metro transit a lot in St. Louis. It is about average for a midwestern city. It is useful and reliable to the minute and very clean. The mainline between the Forest Park and 5th and Missouri station runs every 10 minutes off peak and the trains are rarely if ever late and always clean. Outside of the central corridor, one would have to rely on bus only. Commuting suburb to suburb is nearly impossible in St. Louis county. City to suburb often times is over an hour commute outside of MetroLink LRT. Expansion is on the drawing board for a north south expansion. Per walkscore website transit usefulness is mediocre and not on par with larger more urban cities.
I use metro transit a lot in St. Louis. It is about average for a midwestern city. It is useful and reliable to the minute and very clean. The mainline between the Forest Park and 5th and Missouri station runs every 10 minutes off peak and the trains are rarely if ever late and always clean. Outside of the central corridor, one would have to rely on bus only. Commuting suburb to suburb is nearly impossible in St. Louis county. City to suburb often times is over an hour commute outside of MetroLink LRT. Expansion is on the drawing board for a north south expansion. Per walkscore website transit usefulness is mediocre and not on par with larger more urban cities.
Happy to hear that. Somehow I thought that STL didn't have a reliable system - obviously I was wrong in my assumption and that's a good thing.
Reno is absolutely a car town. We have BRT and regular buses, but I have never seen someone waiting for either one who wasn't visibly poor. We're just not big enough for public transit to be more convenient than driving.
Sounds like Birmingham, Alabama. Both cities have about the same population (although Birmingham metro area is more populated than Reno's), maybe that's part of the explanation.
Happy to hear that. Somehow I thought that STL didn't have a reliable system - obviously I was wrong in my assumption and that's a good thing.
The ontime performance of LRT systems built in the last 20 years or so is pretty good. The older HRT systems are more expensive to maintain especially the CTA el in Chicago and ontime performance is not good.
It really depends on your location whether public transit is a viable option for you. Some suburbs have opted into the Smart bus system. Others haven't. Uber/Lyft service is spotty in my immediate area, but getting more accepted every day as demand grows. As you get closer to denser areas, then it's not weird to use uber/lyft.
Downtown Detroit still has a long way to go, but they have D-Dot, the Q line and the People Mover.
We are called the "motor city" for a reason.
If Ford, GM, and Fiat/Chrsyler aren't successful in selling their cars, then thousands of people are unemployed. Autos are still the lifeblood of this region - between both the auto manufacturers and the auto suppliers. If we want to attract innovative, younger, educated people to the area, then we need to invest in more public transit. A lot of younger people just don't have any interest in driving and/or owing a car. As a result of conflicting values and sentiments, public transportation is a patchwork at best.
Lots of great ideas, but a lot of people aren't interested in investing in more public transportation. Especially given the cultural baggage that still exists in the region/state towards Detroit. For a lot of people in the older generations, it's a non-starter to even suggest investing anything in Detroit. I know quite a few people who really don't want to hear about all the improvements that Detroit has made over the past 5 years because they've made up their minds about Detroit and it will never change from their perspective.
Mixed bag. We have a great commuter train that runs every day and is cheap. It needs a better schedule but I can work with it, generally. It is cheaper than driving and parking. If you purchase your ticket on the train your ticket serves a day pass on any connecting bus line.
That's the good part. I have no idea where I would catch a bus or how long I would have to walk -- probably 2-3 miles. I live about 12-15 miles out from the downtown area. The city installed an elaborate central core transit system with dedicated lanes and fancy stops, with great fanfare and considerable controversy -- and then the busses didn't work so we are waiting for a different bus manufacturer. The regional planning agency laid out a plan for the new system running north-south. The (old) mayor vetoed that plan and laid out an east-west route right through the historic commercial district. It was a fiasco and some businesses went belly-up with construction problems and customers avoiding the area. There are buses running on the old route so people can still get around.
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