VBTA: So, no one rides the buses?

So VBTA, no one rides buses? Try telling that to the people sitting on this fully loaded #194. By the way: it's a 60-foot bus and ALL seats are taken with a couple of standees.

This picture was taken during an off-peak trip at Sea-Tac Airport after loading. After leaving the Airport, the bus proceeds non-stop to Downtown Seattle and runs every 15 minutes, yet it is still a fully-loaded bus.

Green Run's feelings on Reba McClanan

Click each image for a larger one

Reid: Bus Rider != Freeloader

(note how Mayor Bloomberg is standing)

Uh Reid? Newsflash: us bus riders pay to use the bus. Taxes + fares Meaning we're NOT freeloaders. Try saying that to Mayor Bloomberg who rides the subway to work (at regular fare) and even straphangs* when needed

* Forgot, VBTA has limited vocabulary: straphanging is the process of standing since there's no available seat. You're hanging your hand from the strap.

Image Source: NYC EMS Blog

Governor Kaine's Town Hall Meeting: VB Convention Center

I plan to be at the Town Hall meeting tonight to talk transportation. Couple of things:

A) The House of No: Get over your stinkin pride
B) I will be making a note that the meeting starts right as the last bus to TCC is leaving the Oceanfront
C) Reid: no one wants to hear your foolishness. I think Jessica Blaine put it perfectly: "want some cheese with that wine?"

To get home, I'm going to have to ride my bike from the Blvd & Rosemont. What fun.

It's Official: The VBTA Doesn't Give a Rat's ***

I knew it for a while, but now it's in the open for everyone to see. The VBTA doesn't give a rat's *** about anyone without a car (be it they choose not to (my case) or they're unable to).

See for yourself (it's in the Comments section) - it's right from the so-called transportation chairman of the VBTA, Reid Greenmun

UPDATE: Thanks Peter Stinson for covering this as well. See Tidewater Musings blog entry.

Go Figure

I'm not surprised that several posters are attacking HRT and Virginia Beach over the new Gillig Lowfloor Hybrids that are replacing the antique trolleys. The only bus riders who are complaining are the riders who, like myself, are stranded after 7 PM and on Sundays (and we're wanting evening / Sunday service).

I think it's time to clean The House of No before the damage gets worse. Yes folks, (even you VBTA) it does cost money to do things.

As far as transit in Virginia Beach into the evening and Sundays, we're working on that. HRT President & CEO Michael Townes charged Henry Ryto and myself to lobby for mass transit dollars for Virginia Beach.

In the long range, I support these projects:
TRANSIT:

• Expanded bus AND light rail service
• A better organized fare structure for HRT (in the works according to HRT)
  
• Transit to ORF (there's a plan in the works for the next General Assembly session)
• Commuter Rail to Richmond (bi directional, see Trinity Railway Express, which is all day bi-directional commuter rail between Dallas and Ft. Worth, for ideas)
  

ROADS:

• Tolling (I used to drive from Ocean View Station to Busch Gardens and I would've been more than happy to pay a toll to cross - this is also the reason I gladly paid $0.75 to use the Jordan since there wasn't much of a line even at rush hour)
• Expanded HRBT (4 lanes per direction at minimum in the long run from U.S. 460/Wards Corner to U.S. 258)
• The "4th" crossing, if there's demand for it
• U.S. 460 between Suffolk & Petersburg
• I-64 3 lanes from Newport News to Richmond
  

Fareset 4: Lack of Service

As pointed out by Avenging Archangel, yes, I do live in a section of Virginia Beach where, as I write, it's impossible for me to get around. Some pointers:

• $750,000 out of a $1.8 BILLION budget is all that's needed to get around evenings and Sundays
• As it stands now, service is roughly 6:45 AM to 5:45 PM (or 6:45 PM, depending on the route) over here by TCC
• TCC Night Students have no way home
• TCC, for the longest time, has requested evening bus service. I assume it falls on deaf ears
• 10:45 PM is a reasonable last trip for all routes out of TCC 7 nights a week
• Yes Chesapeake, this includes the 12 heading to 20th & Seaboard
• Reid: as you can see, it does NOT cost Billions to fund. HRT's entire yearly budget for the whole region is just under $50 million per year.

Improvements to Beach routes that should help:

• Relative to Cedar Grove, Route 20 should be every 15 minutes all day weekdays 4:45 AM to 7:45 PM, every 30 minutes 7:45 PM to 9:15 PM, and every hour until 12:15 AM (yes, one more trip at night). Weekends, service should be every 30 minutes 4:45 AM to 8:15 PM then every hour until 12:15 AM. HRT has a plan for 15 minute service under the 2030 plan.
• Route 12 should get its old 2001 schedule back, but + Sundays. It used to be the last one left 20th & Seaboard at 9:45 PM, got to TCC at 10:45 PM, and finished at 20th & Seaboard at 11:45 PM. Yes Chesapeake, you need to start caring.
  
• Route 36 should run from Pleasure House to TCC every 30 minutes 5:45 AM to 7:45 PM, then every hour with the last trip on either end at 10:45 PM. Sundays same timeframe, but every hour (seen in the 2030 plan)
  
• Route 29: similar schedule to Route 36
• Route 33: Run until 12:45 AM (last trip either end 11:45 PM)
• Route 26: Today, all this route does is put the 29 back on schedule
• Route 32: ACCEPT OUR 30-DAY PASSES, and run every 30 minutes in the afternoon
  

Now back to my Regularly Scheduled Program...

Now that everyone knows my real reason for this blog, which is that I want to work on transit policy without giving any thoughts to the political side of it, I feel good going back to my regularly scheduled program as they say on TV.

As much as I do not like the VBTA, I will not stoop to the lowness that either one of them or one of their supporters stooped to.

The VBTA

Apparently, someone who is from, or supports the ideas of, the Virginia Beach Taxpayers' Alliance is trolling both my blog and Avenging Archangel's blog. Sorry VBTA, but I actually enjoy riding the bus. Many sections of my book Rachel's Story were written while I was sitting on board a bus. I can't wait for The Tide to open so that I can breeze out of Downtown while people in their cars sit in the gridlock of City Hall Ave.

Too bad, but I'm not afraid of the VBTA. I will continue to push for expansion of mass transit that is reasonable (meaning no high priced SkyTrain - which is what Reid wants yet doesn't want to pay for since he won't stand for the tax increase required for such a system).

Please be sure to read Avenging Archangel's blog entry concerning this attack.

Transit Politics

Well, it looks like I'm starting to be known in the political arena? In a recent blog entry, I got a nasty gram from someone who...well, I'm not going to go there.

Obviously, I'm a big proponent of expanding mass transit including light rail for the whole region. I currently live where HRT service kills off around 7 PM (6:45 PM to be exact) and does not run on Sunday. I don't need much and I certainly don't need some elevated automated system to get me around (which is much more expensive than standard light rail). I've been on light rail before (Portland, Oregon's MAX and Tacoma, Washington's Tacoma Link) and it's been nothing but amazing. I start on a bus to get me to the station, then the train takes me into town. The best part is watching all the cars bumper to bumper while I breeze by on the light rail train. I can work on my book (see the Rachel's Story link) which is something that's impossible while driving.

I'm more interested in promoting transit then dabbling into politics for the most part, but sometimes, I have to say something.

Reid Greenmun: VB's biggest crybaby

Go figure, Reid Greenmun is always the anti-tax crybaby. Here, read the comments for yourself. The article is an Opinion entry from the Pilot basically speaking the truth: NSU, you're too late about crying over The Tide. I do ask, why would someone from Sandbridge even care about life in Norfolk?

I expect a nasty gram any time, so let me run for cover.