Reply to Why isn't there a Metro Stop at Taylor's Run?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

My own experiences show how limited the effect of increased frequency would have on ridership.  Even if buses came every 5 minutes (which is wildly unrealistic) I still wouldn't use them that often.  It would still increase my commute time 10-20 minutes each way, even when I didn't have to pick up kids and/or take them to activities - neither of which could really be done via bus since they don't go there.  (Maybe I could theoretically piece together 2 to 3 buses each way to make it work, but the added time and hassle would be tremendous.)

As for the costs of roads, the 2 miles of roads I drive will still need to be there regardless and the added wear and tear is pretty minimal.

I'd love better transit and bike trails (biking would be an option for me occasionally) but your utopian vision that buses and bikes are going to become the main means of transportation if we just provide enough funding doesn't work in the real world.[/quote]

It's not an utopian vision. It's an actual reality in lots of places.[/quote]

Agree. Plus PP frames the issue narrowly around her needs/behavior. What she doesn't take into account is that increased bus frequency means that other people can rely on the bus to metro, allowing for a wider pool of people to consider jobs that encompass this commute. Higher frequency also helps with the car v. public transportation cost/benefit. When bus routes increase frequency they usually also extend hours or go to the later hours, allowing workers in non-office settings to rely on them more.[/quote]

I framed it around my experience because a PP (who conveniently likes cutting off where she quotes) claimed my circumstances showed how added buses would make a huge difference.  I pointed out how she was wrong as to the effect it would have on me.

Of course my experience isn't universal; I never claimed it was.  But let's not pretend my circumstances are terribly unique either.  Lots of folks where I live have two adult working, kids, and the means to pay for parking if it is substantially faster and easier.

More buses would certainly lead to some increase in ridership, but I don't believe it would be a drastic change, at least in my area or other similar areas.  The tremendous costs would be much harder to justify if ridership did not, in fact, increase dramatically.[/quote]

Could you be so kind as to say, in general terms, where you live?  The OP was (apparently) talking about the City of Alexandria, and I don't think there is any large part of the City where a reasonable increase in bus service would not result in a meaningful increase in ridership. I do not wish to debate conditions in say, Chantilly, which I do not know at all well.  Bus service is not something that can really be debated in the abstract - its impacted not only by income and family size, but by population density. proximity of destinations, and a range of other very local factors. [/quote]

Sure.  I mentioned it early, but with quotes getting cut off it got lost.  I am in Bethesda, a couple of miles from downtown and a couple of miles from the dc border.[/quote]

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