open letter to HRM councillors: transportation

Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2001 09:48:44 -0300 (ADT)
From: Larry Hughes <lhughes2@is.dal.ca>
To: Sustainable Maritimes <sust-mar@chebucto.ns.ca>
cc: Paul A Falvo <pfalvo@chebucto.ns.ca>
Precedence: bulk
Return-Path: <sust-mar-mml-owner@chebucto.ns.ca>

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In a recent letter to sust-mar, Paul Falvo calls on HRM council to put
bike racks on Metro Transit buses, because other cities do this and that
this is a "great way to encourage public transit and cycling". 

Before anyone follows Mr. Falvo's lead and demands this service from Metro
Transit, they should look at another city that offers this service,
notably OC Transpo in Ottawa. 

If you visit the OC Transpo web site:

http://www.octranspo.com/maps_menue_upcoming7.htm

you will find a very informative discussion on how OC Transpo supports
bikes on its buses (their 'Rack&Roll' service, operating from spring until
fall). 

There are two important points to note here:

- first, there is a maximum of two bikes per bus.

- second, the bus routes in question.

The OC Transpo bus routes in question [2, 95, and 97] run every five to
ten minutes throughout the day.  The 97 runs a three minute schedule at
peak hours, allowing at least 40 bikes/hour to take advantage of this
service.

Metro Transit can only dream of this type of service.  Why?  First, it
doesn't have the number of buses that OC Transpo does [it has about 175
buses, over half of which, by Metro Transit's own admission, should have
been replaced years ago].  Second, Metro Transit's scheduling [due to
repeated cuts in service by HRM council] is such that most routes now have
30 to 60 minute schedules. 

By all means, get HRM council to put bike racks on buses [a cost estimated
at $200,000 in 2000].  But at the same time, remember that bus ridership
is steadily eroding in this city and that adding a bus rack to each bus
may attract a few new riders, but not enough to reclaim the nearly 1.2
million riders that have abandoned the bus since HRM council has been in
existance.

lh.

Larry Hughes, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Dalhousie University
Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3J 2X4, Canada

v: 902.494.3950
f: 902.422.7535
e: larry.hughes@dal.ca
u: http://www.dal.ca/~lhughes2



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