Wow Privatization of Public Transit is FAILING Already! (job market, cost)

[gg]

Originally Posted by algia

You should see PT in FL...a JOKE!

Wow the public transportation in the entire state of Florida that has the 5th largest population is a joke? You have lived in the entire state? I was pretty impressed with the public transportation in Sarasota. Considering how small that area is all the buses had bike rakes and they ran on the big roads often enough. I hardly think you can state the public transportation in a huge state like FL is horrible. Next time use a city in Florida if you want to make a point. Not a whole state! Goodness, it makes no sense.

[algia]

Sarasota is a DOT on the map (not DOT as in dept of transportation). A lot of ppl in Sarasota actually work in Tampa which is over an hour away...try commuting to Tampa from Sarasota by bus.

Lived in FL 10 years, tried the bus when we lived in Orlando and never could use it again...I didn't have that kind of time available to sit and wait for hours in the heat, then take ten times longer to get home from being 15 minutes away from the house.

Orlando...From Apopka to Altamonte Springs (both suburbs) 1:45 minutes; by car 15 minutes

Tampa... it takes 2:45 minutes from Lutz to St Pete with the buses, a 40 minute drive normally.

In Florida is the worst and a joke because besides the fact that buses come every hour, the distance between places is even bigger than here, making a 15 minute commute into 1:45+.

Not to mention...bus stops are barely covered; so in FL weather such as extreme heat and/or heavy rain, it is the last thing you want to do.

You cannot commute to work by bus there unless you live AND work in downtown Miami.

In FL "professionals" don't travel by bus...only the homeless...SADLY!

Florida is known for many things, public transit is NOT one of them...believe me!

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Wow the public transportation in the entire state of Florida that has the 5th largest population is a joke? You have lived in the entire state? I was pretty impressed with the public transportation in Sarasota. Considering how small that area is all the buses had bike rakes and they ran on the big roads often enough. I hardly think you can state the public transportation in a huge state like FL is horrible. Next time use a city in Florida if you want to make a point. Not a whole state! Goodness, it makes no sense.

[algia]

Let me remind you that Sick Scott, the current Governor, killed every opportunity for light rail, along with high speed trains.

The high speed was supposed to be between Tampa and Orlando (to starts with) and sadly wasn't thought through enough per how ppl operate in FL, because if it was put in place, it would have made people not only have to still drive, but have to rent cars too, because after reaching the end in Orlando...ooops, now what? situation happened...there were no connections put in place.

People don't move to FL to use the bus, on the contrary.

Imagine tourists lugging beach stuff through the buses...or strollers and many bags going to theme parks...or wearing suits sweating their butts off waiting for the bus. It is such a catch 22, Scott resolved in just killing it.

[Impala26]

Originally Posted by algia

Let me remind you that Sick Scott, the current Governor, killed every opportunity for light rail, along with high speed trains.

The high speed was supposed to be between Tampa and Orlando (to starts with) and sadly wasn't thought through enough per how ppl operate in FL, because if it was put in place, it would have made people not only have to still drive, but have to rent cars too, because after reaching the end in Orlando...ooops, now what? situation happened...there were no connections put in place.

People don't move to FL to use the bus, on the contrary.

Imagine tourists lugging beach stuff through the buses...or strollers and many bags going to theme parks...or wearing suits sweating their butts off waiting for the bus. It is such a catch 22, Scott resolved in just killing it.

All of this is mildly entertaining to me seeing that, in general, senior citizens are a big subset of public transit riders and their populations are quite well spoken for in Florida...

[checkmatechamp13]

Originally Posted by algia

People don't move to FL to use the bus, on the contrary.

Imagine tourists lugging beach stuff through the buses...or strollers and many bags going to theme parks...or wearing suits sweating their butts off waiting for the bus. It is such a catch 22, Scott resolved in just killing it.

Actually, my mother and I used public transportation when we visited Miami. However, most of out travels did revolve around areas where public transportation options were easy to use (we stayed at a hotel in Downtown Miami, and we went around Downtown and the Miami Beach island mostly). However, we did make a few trips out to the suburbs by public transportation (out to the MetroZoo, which was served by one bus every hour, and out to visit a specific neighborhood in the suburbs, which supposedly had a lot of Peruvians).

And we also went to DisneyWorld and used public transportation, but only to/from the airport and on the first day of the vacation when we had to pick up the tickets and some food.

But we're from NYC, so we're used to using public transportation, even though we did have to drag some heavy things around (luggage and shopping bags)

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212

Well so much for Privatization being a success.......

Lenzner will discontinue Franklin Park service


"The route, which replaced Port Authority's 13J Franklin Park Express in March had only 33 riders a day or about four riders on each bus last month. The same route carried about 275 riders a day at a fare of $3.25 in October 2010 under Port Authority..."

Read more: Lenzner will discontinue Franklin Park service

Four riders per bus? Wow, that's not good. Any guesses as to what the problem was? Bad marketing, maybe? Were the stops in the wrong places?

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by Caladium

Any guesses as to what the problem was?

I'd start with pricing. It was considerably more expensive than PAT's service, and that adds up quickly.

Lack of a track record may also have caused people to be reluctant to structure their commute around a service that may or may not survive (good call, if so).

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

I'd start with pricing. It was considerably more expensive than PAT's service, and that adds up quickly.

Lack of a track record may also have caused people to be reluctant to structure their commute around a service that may or may not survive (good call, if so).

Ah, pricing and track record. Yup, that would explain a lot. I can remember becoming dependent on a bus line that got cancelled once. I was a teen and not following the news, so I didn't hear that the line got cancelled. Found out the hard way, and had to walk to a pay phone and then make a bunch of calls to find someone to give me a ride home. That kind of experience makes you reluctant to try something the next time.

[greg42]

I guess it's also just shorter enough of a ride that faced with the higher price those folks just said ah, well, we'll just drive. The stops are in the same places as when PAT was running this route. Lenzner had gone to using mini buses on the Franklin Park, but it still takes drivers and that's not enough to sustain it.

The Warrendale route, on the other hand, seems to have attracted plenty of riders at that price, not as many as before, but enough to sustain it. We've actually used this (well I haven't, but I've been taking some days off to work on a project at home and my girlfriend hates to drive, so I drive her to the park and ride down at the Warrendale I-79 ramp). The main drawback now is that as a casual rider as opposed to every day it's rather inconvenient. They won't do tickets on the bus anymore, so you have to get them by mail in advance or pick them up at the Lenzner office. I'm guessing they have a solid core of $200 monthly pass users though. Still, it takes some searching to know about it, so I don't know how much they would attract additional new users. If you're new to the area, would you find out about this easily? I think not.

I wonder if there will be a drop off in the Warrendale route for the winter, though? Will people look at $200 and say well, for a bit of gas money I can drive in and park in a garage and not have to scrape my car when I get back on a snowy day? Maybe. Although probably most of them are hooked on being able to do something during the 30+ minute trip (emails, reading, whatever) as opposed to having to concentrate on driving. I'd be tempted to switch to that myself, but with two people going downtown it actually is cheaper to drive.

[Geeo]

This is a tiny example of what service was like before the 33 independent companies consolidated into PAT in 1964: different pricing on different routes, no transfers between companies, and service that came and went depending on ridership. It's one of the reasons people cried out for a unified consolidated service at the time.