At 08:47 PM 09/16/2003 -0500, Jesse the K wrote: [snip] >Due to pressure from various quarters, Metro staff is doing a 100% >survey of route 10 riders one day this week. They told me they will >ask about boarding and alighting for both inbound & outbound riders. >They will supply TPC with "hard data" about route 10's role as a >crosstown connector at next week's hearing. If route 10's crosstown >role proves as important as suggested (and I have no reason to doubt >it), then the data will support somehow recreating that service. [snip]
Jesse, you've consistently been both a great advocate (and improver) of transit in Madison, and I'm grateful for that, and for acknowledging that people don't want the #10 route eliminated, but I have to point out: 1) if the beatiful weather holds up this week, even "a 100% survey of route 10 riders one day this week" is not likely to be indicative of *annual* ridership, since less "transit reliant" riders are likely to walk or ride a bike in weather like this. let's face it, many of those "choice" riders that Metro so desperately wants to attract are more likely to ride the bus in inclement weather, and this week is anything but that. In fact, I question the need for a survey of #10 riders at all, given the ridership numbers already in Metro's possession (how is that not "hard data"), which show the #10 route to be the *fourth* most productive route on an annual basis. 2) I cannot fathom why the *fourth* most productive route should needs to be recreated, if the results of the sure-to-be-skewed survey described above "support somehow recreating that service" what needs to be recreated? Why doesn't Metro just leave a fantastic service alone? Or, better yet, as someone on bikies already suggested, advertise to more isthmus residents? e.g. a Metro route map and schedule could be included with every resident parking permit application returned. It is a shame that Metro seems only to use ridership numbers and whether buses reach their stops on schedule as performance indicators. Most people (who can choose) choose to ride the bus because it's more convenient than other modes. Elimanating the #10 will make the bus less convenient for a large population of people who have already made the commitment to live in a compact, dense area with multiple transporation choices. Metro has no right to consider reducing those choices (again, we're not talking about a bus with no one on it- the #10 is the *fourth* most productive route Metro has. sincerely, Chuck Strawser Project Coordinator Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin 106 E. Doty Street, Suite 400 P.O. Box 1224 Madison, WI 53701-1224 608-251-4456 tel 608-251-4594 fax [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.bfw.org _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
