Discovering Transit in Montana

Last night, the final public comment period was held for the Five Valleys Transit Study, and it was an all-too-typical format.  The audience was talked at for an hour, and in the end, questions, comments, and suggestions were diffused by citing national statistics and “because-I-said-so” reasons.

The study, in conjuntion with the US-93 corridor study that is going on simultanously, cost somewhere between $400,000-$600,000, and the end result was (paraphrased): ‘Demand exists to run a bus and a few more vanpools to and from the Bitterroot, but there isn’t any money to do so.’  Two things we already knew through common sense!

Here’s a suggested better use of $400,000-$600,000: put commuter bus service from Hamilton to Missoula on the ground for two years, promote it like hell, and figure out how to sustain it (tax district, local-option gas tax, etc). 

In transportation planning, many planning processes leave much to be desired.  The saying goes that there is DEAD planning and LIVE planning.  (DEAD =  Decide, Engineer, Advocate, Defend or LIVE - Listen, Investigate, Verify, Educate) 

It looks like we’re at another impasse: the study is over and we still can’t afford what we knew we needed all along.

A lot of well-used transit systems have a few things in common:  they are easy to understand and use because they have information that is readily accessible.  The importance of readily available schedule and route information can’t be overstated.  Here’s a few grand examples:

1. Up-and-coming in the world of trip planning, is Google Transit. Google Transit is like the MapQuest of transit trip planning.  You specify your trip parameters (i.e. from University of Montana to Missoula International Airport, arriving by 6:45 AM) and Google returns the different trip options.  The service has expanded rapidly, and will surely be an industry standard in a matter of time.
2. Schedule information in a huge variety of formats is catches people in a way that is most convenient to them.  This obviously includes, but goes beyond, braille and large print schedules.  Schedule data should be presented though mobile web interfaces accessible via cell phone and BlackBerry and through schedules and route maps available for download to iPods and PDAs.
3. Telephone-based schedule information (through the 511 traveler information hotline) provides information to riders who are blind, and also to sighted riders who prefer an audio interface.
4. Real-time information takes the wait out of waiting for the bus.  GPS tracking devices on buses can give real-time arrival information to keep you in your warm office a few minutes longer if a bus is going to be late.
5. You’re idea here!  Agencies like TriMet in Portland are making their schedule information available to developers.  The theory is that ambitious people will use the schedule information to create software or web interfaces that suit their needs.

Every Saturday in the summer, downtown Missoula becomes a pedestrian paradise. Traffic is slowed, streets are blocked, and the Saturday Markets come alive. Pedestrians, vendors, bicyclists, and street musicians take over a small portion of the downtown and the auto is displaced.

The same thing happens a half-dozen times a year when a parade occurs - everything slows down and the community gets together for an event that reclaims the public street. Bike races, festivals, marathons, and concerts all represent healthy but temporary uses of streets.

While a few snow flakes are flirting with the idea of falling tonight, it seems an odd time of year to muse about parades and summer markets, but I think that sustaining the energy of a farmers’ market can become a year-round idea. With the bickering about Hillview Way carrying on, why not open the street to children with sleds for a few hours after each new snow fall?

From a people-moving standpoint, streets can have temporal uses as well. Highway lanes can become bus and carpool lanes, or even reverse direction during the busiest times of day. Streets such as 5th and 6th Streets in Missoula could become one lane each with a giant cycling lane. During special events when the volume is needed, the configuration could revert to a two-lane setup, with cyclists sharing the right-hand lane.

The benefit of time-based street uses is that they can be implemented incrementally. If programs are successful, they can be expanded. For example, Missoula could move to a car-free downtown one morning a week. If people enjoyed biking and walking in the streets, and if businesses approved the change, it could be expanded to include two mornings a week!