For those of us in Brambleton (Arlington, Leesburg: how much, neighborhood, subdivision)

[Teebyrd86]

Loudoun County is conducting an online survery from now until March 12th about the idea of bringing bus service to the Brambleton commuter lot thus bringing bus service to residents in Brambleton that will take you all areas of the county including Purceville, Leesburg, Stone Ridge and the FFX county border.. I think this would be an awesome thing for our neighborhood!! Hope all Brambletoners go and take the survey! Commuting Options

[cdmurphy]

This is something our new district supervisor, Janet Clarke, has been working on. She also has a survey up for Blue Ridge District residents to share their opinions with her on the Silver Line and whether or not Loudoun should withdraw. The survey is here:

Supervisor Janet Clarke's Metrorail Survey

[tysonsengineer]

Wow! Purcellville! I'm sure that running this bus around on a regular schedule 30 miles each way will totally be sustainable economically! All 15 people who will ride it each day will only have to pay 40 bucks each to keep it running.

[Caladium]

I'm all for increasing bus service, especially with gas prices going up.

[South Jersey Styx]

Originally Posted by tysonsengineer

Wow! Purcellville! I'm sure that running this bus around on a regular schedule 30 miles each way will totally be sustainable economically! All 15 people who will ride it each day will only have to pay 40 bucks each to keep it running.

The lot looks like a potential stop for the Loudoun Commuter Bus System that has routes throughout Purcellville to Leesburg, the Aldie area, Dulles-Sterling. The buses express to downtown DC, Rossyln, and the Pentagon. There is also a Tysons Express bus coming out of the western Loudoun areas and straight into Tysons Corner.

The Purcellville route includes pick-ups in Hamilton and Leesburg. The buses are packed, oftentimes with standing-room only so there's more than 15 people riding it per day.

They-re probably wondering if the route should be added to the Purcellville route, the Dulles North route, or be on its own.

And the cost is $7 one way --pretty affordable considering the costs of metro and gas and the fact that riders don't have to deal with driving a vehicle!

[sonnymarkjiz]

Originally Posted by cdmurphy

This is something our new district supervisor, Janet Clarke, has been working on. She also has a survey up for Blue Ridge District residents to share their opinions with her on the Silver Line and whether or not Loudoun should withdraw. The survey is here:

Supervisor Janet Clarke's Metrorail Survey

Thanks for this. Definitely filling this out. I'm in favor of the Metro in Loudoun.

[Teebyrd86]

Originally Posted by tysonsengineer

Wow! Purcellville! I'm sure that running this bus around on a regular schedule 30 miles each way will totally be sustainable economically! All 15 people who will ride it each day will only have to pay 40 bucks each to keep it running.

Ths is probably the funniest post I've read all day. Keepin' the LOCO hateing alive and well on the board I see. I know someone who uses the bus from Purcellville and like someoene else says that bus is packed and he sometimes has to stand. Not everyone lives in Tysons,Arlington or DC

[spencgr]

Originally Posted by Teebyrd86

Not everyone lives in Tysons,Arlington or DC

Now you can't expect Tysonsengineer to know this, because (as he must follow and adhere to his own preachings) he never uses roads outside of the county for which he pays taxes. He's limited himself to Fairfax, and can't see how many people we have in Loudoun.

[tysonsengineer]

Originally Posted by spencgr

Now you can't expect Tysonsengineer to know this, because (as he must follow and adhere to his own preachings) he never uses roads outside of the county for which he pays taxes. He's limited himself to Fairfax, and can't see how many people we have in Loudoun.

No I'm aware of the people in Loudoun, I'm also aware that you people are so decentralized that mass transit is illogical. If you fix your land use policies so you dont have to drive 1 mile just to get out of your subdivision then mass transit might work better.

PS just cause the 7:30 bus is packed doesnt mean that bus system will be sustainable. When that bus runs empty from 10am to 3pm you pay for that as well. Is this going to be rush hour service only? And is that rush hour service only between 7 and 9 and 4-6pm? Otherwise the average bus load is probably closer to half full during "rush hour" which is 6-10:30 typically for mass transit in the morning yada yada and if it is a full day service it will likely average far worse.

3 runs full do not economically make up for that length of travel if it runs 10 runs empty.

[brooklynborndad]

the website says they are looking at local bus options as well as the commuter bus. I presume the local bus would run only to the primary activity centers, not to Purcellvile. My sense from life in Fairfax county is that local buses to areas where parking is free tend to attract mostly the "captive" market - those who do not have an auto available (for that particular trip at least), are not able to drive, etc. Typically a semi dense suburb (and Brambleton has a bunch of THs IIUC) with some lower income people (or people whose document status makes it impossible for them to get a drivers license) will have enough ridership to support an infrequent local bus service. Im not sure if Brambleton is there yet - of course if they dont get the ridership, its pretty easy to discontinue the service.

For commuter service, the tradeoff of adding a stop is getting more riders, versus lengthening the trip for the folks coming from farther out (and adding costs, since lengthening the trip means more driver time, and more buses to support a given frequency of service). How many more riders you get will presumably be determined by how much a drive to a more distant stop is a deterrent to using the bus - if its not, then the new stop will cannibalize the existing stops - if it is, than there may be folks who will become riders who currently commute all the way by auto.

certainly its unlikely that LC will attain the levels of transit usage of denser places - but that's no reason LC shouldn't contemplate incremental additions to transit service.