Has BART become a Bay Area tax grab? Anyone tired of it? (San Diego: 2014, prices)

[jade408]

Originally Posted by Gentoo

Ah ok, I never left San Diego for the first part of that decade. When I did ride those buses, I got on them in Berkeley and as I fished at the Berkeley Marina religiously, I really appreciated the 51M. Another consolidation is the 1/1R routes. The northern half is the old line 40 route. The half after DT Oakland is the old 83. The 40 route was incredibly long though, it ran from DT Berkeley to Vesper Hospital in San Leandro. Thing is, like so many other changes, you have to transfer more on AC transit now. I can't help but wonder if someone who planned bus routes in San Diego moved up here. There are two things I see AC Transit have now they never used to which SD's MTS has. The first are transit centers where buses go and sit. The second are those weird 3 digit number routes which are on bus stop sings but you never see them LOL.

LOL! I know, those 6 appended ones run only at school times. For novices, they think the appearance of multiple lines on a single sign means that there are lots of buses. It pays to figure out the naming convention of your bus system so you'll be able to interpret the sign. If you see a sign for AC transit with only 3 digit route numbers....move on to the next one! That bus is never coming. :P

I forgot how much more service there was on College, Telegraph and San Pablo before ~2004ish (I lived in Dublin from around 2002-2004, then moved to Oakland). It was way better. Now there are so many illogical routes. There are so many errands I'd be willing to do via bus, but the routes make no sense so it is impossible. Like going downtown. Or heading to Emeryville...

[sav858]

Originally Posted by Gentoo

Thing is, like so many other changes, you have to transfer more on AC transit now. I can't help but wonder if someone who planned bus routes in San Diego moved up here. There are two things I see AC Transit have now they never used to which SD's MTS has. The first are transit centers where buses go and sit. The second are those weird 3 digit number routes which are on bus stop sings but you never see them LOL.

Very close, the same consulting company (from SD) did Comprehensive Operational Analysis's for both AC Transit and SDMTS and made recommendations on service changes.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by sav858

Very close, the same consulting company (from SD) did Comprehensive Operational Analysis's for both AC Transit and SDMTS and made recommendations on service changes.

Oh, great, so they changed things for the worse? And the goal was what...to decrease ridership?

Jade (et al): why not start writing letters to the editor of your local papers, and propose some useful changes?

(This has now turned into an AC transit thread, lol!)

[sav858]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Oh, great, so they changed things for the worse? And the goal was what...to decrease ridership?

Jade (et al): why not start writing letters to the editor of your local papers, and propose some useful changes?

(This has now turned into an AC transit thread, lol!)

Depends on who you ask I suppose but they likely made things more efficient and financially sound. That's typically the ultimate goal of a Comprehensive Operational Analysis (COA).

[Ruth4Truth]

Not more efficient from a patron standpoint, from what people are saying here. And how financially sound, if riders are lost? I guess maybe they eliminated some overlap from the routes.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Not more efficient from a patron standpoint, from what people are saying here. And how financially sound, if riders are lost? I guess maybe they eliminated some overlap from the routes.

Well you can't please everyone and if you try you start bleeding money and becoming really inefficient. Patron's don't really know how to make a bus system run efficiently, they just want what they want no matter what the cost.

You can still save a lot of money and lose some riders at the same time. You typically see a small decrease in ridership when you raise fares but you end up taking in more revenue overall still.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by jade408

LOL! I know, those 6 appended ones run only at school times. For novices, they think the appearance of multiple lines on a single sign means that there are lots of buses. It pays to figure out the naming convention of your bus system so you'll be able to interpret the sign. If you see a sign for AC transit with only 3 digit route numbers....move on to the next one! That bus is never coming. :P

I forgot how much more service there was on College, Telegraph and San Pablo before ~2004ish (I lived in Dublin from around 2002-2004, then moved to Oakland). It was way better. Now there are so many illogical routes. There are so many errands I'd be willing to do via bus, but the routes make no sense so it is impossible. Like going downtown. Or heading to Emeryville...

Let me tell you how good it used to be; before my first move to SD I lived in East Oakland but continued to go to school at Berkeley High. I would get the 34A at 98th and MacArthur. It would get on the freeway at High st then get off at Lakeshore. It then took grand to Broadway where I got off at what's now Sears. I walked through the loading area to Telegraph. Got on the 33 which got on the freeway again Grand I think, not sure. it got off on 51st/MLK. Took it to Shattuck and kittridge. That whole trip took about an hour. Today it would take half the damn day.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by sav858
Very close, the same consulting company (from SD) did Comprehensive Operational Analysis's for both AC Transit and SDMTS and made recommendations on service changes.

I knew something was up. Interestingly, 2003-2004 was also when the major changes to MTS took place.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Oh, great, so they changed things for the worse? And the goal was what...to decrease ridership?

Jade (et al): why not start writing letters to the editor of your local papers, and propose some useful changes?

(This has now turned into an AC transit thread, lol!)

BART and AC have always been very closely connected so one would lead to the other LOL

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Not more efficient from a patron standpoint, from what people are saying here. And how financially sound, if riders are lost? I guess maybe they eliminated some overlap from the routes.

AC Transit had substantial overlap along many routes. Never waited long for a bus for most trips.