Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Old oldie but a goody.

Yet another lyric title

I'm thinking the focus of this blog should be public transportation. More specifically DFW/North East Texas transit. Gas prices are getting ridiculous and I'm a "green" fanatic anyways, so why not. I was telling my neighbor how one of the most exciting factors of getting a job in downtown was going to be the fact that I would hardly ever have to drive anymore and his reply was "We can finally act like we're living in the city." Ummm, perhaps it's everyone else who is acting like they aren't. I keep hearing people talking about how the down side of public transit is that they have to live on someone else's schedule. http://www.dart.org put in a starting and ending location and an arrival or destination time. Most routes take less then 30 minutes unless you're going to the urban boonies. I would love to get a candid view of anyone who uses that excuse on a typical day to see what other important activities they are doing. I don't mean to say that you should never drive because obviously there are some days when need to break away from your day to day to go off the beaten path but, if your driving up and down 75 for 5 days out of the week why not use the rail? You'll free up the highway for those who need to drive that day and if there is a common practice of using the transit system, the roads will be less congested when you need to drive.

As a daily patron of the DART system, I've grown very fond of the whole social interaction that goes on between people who are forced to share space for short spurts of time. It's not always a positive interaction but it does bring a new experience than you would get from driving east on 35 during afternoon rushhour (and it's usually quicker too!).

Anyways, I think that's going to be the topic for this weblog as a lot of development of the transit system is going to taking place in the next few years.

3 comments:

Brandontonio said...

If only I had seen this before! :)

I completely agree with you that "being on someone elses schedule", is sort of a bogus excuse, even more so when people stop and realize that they seldom do much between work and home. After work, you go home to change before going out more often than not, so why not save the money, and time? For that, I feel you have a very valid point. I think that often when we are younger we relish our freedom to go where we want when we want, and often we see having to use public transport as a barrier towards that. It may seem trivial to someone that rides Dart on a regular basis, but for those that do not, most of all in Texas, see freedom of transportation a paramount right.

Also, when you are a novice to the system, as I am, it can be discouraging when seemingly simple tasks become complicated. Some of my "little things":
-Why can you not use your CC to buy a ticket at the kiosk? (having to run around looking for an ATM is ridiculous)
-Is there anything more asinine than getting back $17 in coins?
-Why do they feel the need to ask me (rudely) to produce my ticket, it seems a waste of resources, get electronic turnstiles.
-Route diagrams can often be hard to find
-Often bus terminals are not attached to rail stations, thus creating slight confusion to new riders as to where to go when a transfer is required.

Again, having limited exposure to Dart, I show my ignorance to it's systems, but feel I am representative of those new users and limited users that find any hassle to be discouraging of future use.

My point is that what makes a transit system successful is how intuitive it is for new users to adopt. This speaks volumes also when creating systems or programs of any kind. If the system is a turnoff for first time, or tourist riders, then they will be less likely to use, or recommend the system to others. This can only serve to turn people off from even trying the system. If you look at some of the larger public transit systems (NY, Chicago, Atlanta, even the Vegas Monorail), they all share a common ease of use that I just feel is lacking in the DART system. Im sure this is meaningless, but as someone who is new to Dart, but old to transit, I just feel like they have a long way to go, including expanding service lines (which it seems they are actively working on).

Nicholas Scott Spencer said...

I agree with you that the freedom to go where when you please is a great aspect of driving instead of taking public transit. I'm more concerned with the people that congest the highways doing the daily commute. If you need to leave work early or in the middle of the day for a dentist appointment then it might be easier for you to drive.

I also agree that the system has it's flaws with usability. I've missed class twice this semester because the bus didn't show up at the stop and I was there 5 minutes before and 10 minutes after the posted time. Not being able to buy a pass with plastic is really inconvenient and those dollar coins make an annoying jingle when you're walking around campus but you're a student so get that nice UTD transit pass that is covered by your tuition. The physical route information could be more helpful but their digital resources are really good. Google maps can also be used to find route information, just switch over to "Use Public Transportation" when finding direction.

One thing to look at when comparing the DART system to other transit systems is it's age. DART took over DTS in 1988. The rail began construction in 1996. The New York City Subway has been in different phases for over 100 years, the Chicago Transit Authority over 50 years and MARTA has been around since the 1970's (That goofy monorail in the desert has 1 line with 7 stops, it's easy to use by default.) These systems have been able to test themselves with their location. They've found out what works best. I'm not sayin' that this is a good excuse for being confusing at times but it's a new public system. If you don't like it, complain and have it changed.

I disagree with you when you say that a gate system would be more efficient. Transit cops are still going to be patrolling the system and they would still have the authority for you to show them fare. The Paris system is gated and I was still required to show fare. Also, from what i remember from the metro in paris, each gate had a human assistant which would be another cost factor. With the expansion of orange and green line, ridership might be high enough to where turnstiles would be cost effective but then DART, Trinity Railway and The T would need to come to an agreement on that. As for being rude, they're doing their jobs. Not sure what you where expecting from a transit cop actually.

Ahh I have a C++ exam at 7. Must get back to studying.

Brandontonio said...

Yes, the Vegas monorail has few stops, and they promote it using 'stewardesses', not a bad idea :)

I do make reference to the transit cops checking tickets, mostly because I feel that they should be more focused on safety, versus being required to check peoples tickets.
Having one person to man multiple gates would actually serve 2 purposes (I go off of ATL as I've had the most exp w/it). With MARTA, they have a live person who works the booth, this gives them the ability to do credit transactions, refunds (if problems) instant info, and helping people get tix if there is a problem. this serves a very important part of customer service which I feel would help the image of Dart. If Dart had issues with employees, they could simply re-position them.

The free student fare is something that I will be getting soon, as I do plan on trying to use less gas by park and ride. I was looking at the more overall picture vs. my personal experience. I only bring up those flaws from my personal exp because I see them as issues affecting ridership as a whole.

Also, what is Dart's passenger capacity, and how close are they to it now? At the GB station the parking lot for park and ride is overflowing. I have yet to see others, but I would imagine it is similar. If people truly started to ride more, does Dart actually have the capacity for it? Here is a study to look at maybe: http://www.dart.org/about/expansion/downtowndallas.asp
Not sure what all info is in there, didn't know if you had a chance to look at it.

I do think Dart has it's high points. It is clean, fairly on time thus far, and the people are for the most part sane. I can't really say I have felt unsafe ever riding, and I don't feel it would take a large amt to fix those problems.