School board votes down “metro plan”
I was surprised to read this morning that the school board voted down (4–3) their plan to move from yellow-bus service to metro-bus service for high-school students in Seattle.
This was to save tons of money, and provide transit flexibility (since the students would have a metro bus pass to use at other times also) for the students.
But it got voted down. And why? Because there was concern that the bus routes were not optimal, or with confusing transfers, etc.
Hmm. I wonder if there might have been some transit optimizations made when the ridership to/from the various schools dramatically changed over the next year or two. I’m guessing Metro routes would have been altered to accommodate the sudden shift in ridership. Right now there’s no need to have a direct route between the various (extreme) examples called out in the article (and the companion piece) BECAUSE MOST OF THESE STUDENTS RIDE THE YELLOW BUS! (the Nathan Hale example, notwithstanding…)
It’s a shame. As much as it would have added significant congestion to the 48 route I rely on each day, in the end it’s clear – more transit riders leads to better transit for all. Inevitably.
Evan Dodds - Non-work-related blog » Wait, ok, now they WILL ride the metro buses said,
March 4, 2006 at 7:57 am
[...] I was surprised to read on Thursday that the school board has now reversed itself and WILL have students at some (additional) high schools ride the metro bus. This is a reversal of what they had decided on Wednesday (and I blogged about here). [...]