An idea for Dr. Gridlock or the "Sprawl and Crawl" column or the new Riders Advisory Council

Metis Transit bus. Image from the system website.

In "Wanted: Passengers for bus line," today's Toronto Star has a story about a guy in greater Toronto, Darren Parberry, who has created a privately-owned for profit transit service, Metis Transit, that is having a rocky start from a revenue standpoint.

While looking into this futher, I came across a link to a transit columnist for Metro, Toronto's free daily newspaper (Metro has sister papers in cities like Philadelphia and Boston, but in DC, the free daily papers are produced by other entities, including the Post-owned Express). The column, called In Transit, by Ed Drass, looks interesting, especially the most current column, "Commissioners set goals." From the column:

Each January, I ask TTC commissioners to describe their aims for the coming year.

Maybe we need the DC-area press to do something similar with the WMATA board of directors.

I'm not too worried about the responses from people like Chris Zimmerman or Jim Graham (who led WMATA to extend hours on weekends as well as to install bike racks on all Metrobuses), but I'd be curious to see what's on the agenda of Board member Robert J. Smith, etc...

From the "In Transit" column:

The first up is TTC vice-chair Adam Giambrone, who writes, “In 2005 I succeeded in working with the TTC and the Cycling Committee to launch a ‘bike-racks-on-buses’ pilot project on a number of routes. In 2006 I will work to expand the scope of the project to include additional bus routes across Toronto.

“In 2006, I will work to include TTC system information on Google Transit enabling TTC users to quickly determine the most effective step-by-step route to reach their destination. The City of Mississauga has a version of this service. “In 2005 I also succeeded in working with the TTC to expand overnight bus service to previously unserviced areas around the city, including the former cities of Etobicoke, Scarborough and parts of North York.

“Another big priority for me will be to work with the other commissioners in order to bring Toronto’s transit system into a state of good repair, including the station modernization program that was just approved by the commission. Funding has also been approved for the much needed purchases of new buses, streetcars, and subways.”

That's a full plate. Even if we could just get some WMATA board members to ride buses every once in awhile...

For more on Toronto transit, see "Area transit use hits record levels: Improved service, fuel costs, hot economy credited: Transferable TTC Metropasses go `through the roof'."

Index Keywords: transit