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.

There’s an old Catch 22 in public transportation: People won’t ride transit unless it is frequent and convenient. On the other hand, transit providers can’t afford to increase service and frequency unless they have the riders to justify it.

In traffic engineering, the paradigm is different. The typical practice is to build roadways to meet demand in 20 years. This increased capacity induces demand. An example: when North Reserve Street was expanded to 4 lanes, development occurred at an accelerated rate, and the 20-year traffic projections were exceeded in a mere 6 years.

Currently, the Montana Department of Transportation is studying what to do about regional transit greater Missoula area. The consultant recommends a stepped approach to adding transit service: a little here, a little there - as demand increases. This method is inherently short-sighted. A twice-daily bus to and from Lolo is not enough to be convenient, so people won’t use it, and the trigger point for adding more service won’t be reached.

Conversely, ASUM Transportation offers bus service so frequent that you don’t even need a schedule, and their ridership is through the roof. Buses have standing-room only. In less than ten years, ridership has increased from under 4,000 rides per year to over 300,000. (That’s about a 7400% increase.)

While 10-minute service from the Bitterroot is a little excessive, the consultant and the state need to keep in mind this old idea: that if you build it, they will come!

A public meeting regarding the plan will be held on December 5th from 4:00 to 6:00 at the Grant Creek Inn in Missoula.