Being a geographer, I needed a map to properly analyze what was going on with the 38 route as a replacement of the 11. There was no map available for the proposed 38 on the public notice on the web. There was no map for the proposed 38 on the public notices on the buses. There was no map for the proposed 38 at the hearing. That left me in the dark as to its routing. I still wasn't sure all the way up to the meeting itself. I was left to assume that it would follow the same route (getting hung up on the square for 10 minutes, etc) so I looked at the current schedule and saw that it would take much longer to get over to west campus. (I wasn't alone in coming to this wrong conclusion, so I'll blame her!).
As it turned out, the 38 proposal was to shift it off of the square by going all the way up & over Wilson & straight into the Bassett neighborhood to proceed along Broom St. thus providing all of the speedy advantages of the 11, while providing some connectivity to downtown. Kind of an imaginative compromise (some individuals testifying didn't like taking any buses off of the square, including commuter buses).
Further compounding my initial dismay, the chair of the commission had assured us just a few weeks ago that the 11 was not on the table. Even most Transit & Parking Comm. members didn't find out about the elimination of the 11 til their packets arrived just a few days ago. Then the hidden story in the Cap Times 2 days ago. Thus my wrath, wrongly placed. A little heads up would have headed off a lot of panic and misunderstanding. Metro has got to get better at complete and fully described disclosures on their notices.
Dunno how the vote went on the various route changes, but I'm still not happy with the proposed elimination of the 10.
Anyway, my panicked message--errors notwithstanding--was not all for naught. Lots of eloquent folks showed up to support good stuff for metro and suggest some good changes. Several regular riders wouldn't have known about the hearing otherwise.
Here are some salient points brought up by others at tonight's public hearing on the bus rescheduling/routing (I don't agree with them all, just reporting what I thought were some of the more insightful):
-Unherding is good, but the #3 should not be routed off the square--transfers there are too important, access to State St. businesses too important; close access to major employers on square too important.
-11 & 10 are like driving a car--they get you there fast, so they are important for the health of the metro system. They also provide unofficial transfers at critical junctures (i.e., not at the official transfer points).
-If the 38 replaces the 11, the trip time between the UW & VA hospitals and the East Side should not be any longer than the current 11 schedule
-Inadequate notice of this hearing, especially regarding the elimination of the 11 (for the most part, notices not available on the bus, etc.)
-E. Johnson corridor (between First & North) needs the #9 to give that corridor 15 minute headways (currently they only have 30 min. headways);
Again, many apologies for the misinformation in the last posting, and especially for saying nice things about Nixon.
-Mike Barrett _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
