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| Re: I was quoted in today's New York Times (202302) | |||
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Re: I was quoted in today's New York Times |
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Posted by BrooklynBus on Tue Jul 20 21:02:34 2010, in response to Re: I was quoted in today's New York Times, posted by N6 Limited on Mon Jul 19 15:16:39 2010. Checking ridership numbers tells you how much service to put on a route. It does not tell you where the routes should go. For that you need to do origin destination studies, asking people to fill out and mail back forms as to the trip they are taking. That costs money, money that the MTA doesn't have and doesn't want to spend. So they are using traffic counts to plan routes, one of the first things they tell you in Planning school not to do.To do adequate planning you have to have a feel for passenger habits, why people take and do not take buses, what influences their decisions, etc. The MTA is in the complete dark about this. For example, they think that people will wait for a bus until it comes even if they have to wait for an hour. They don't. After five or ten minutes, most will start walking or seeking alternate means, unless there absolutely isn't any. They don't realize that many people will only take a bus on the spur of the moment, i.e. that is if they see one coming. They don't realize that some people go to work one way and come back with another route. All they see are numbers on a piece of paper and maps of routes that don't show topography and other barriers. They have no experts who ride the system. All they know is their own trip to and from work. They have a few buffs who may be experts on the different types of buses or some history fanatics who know something about the history of the routes, but no one who knows the bus system. They have plenty of subway experts who are very knowledgeable but no bus experts. When I worked in Operations Planning many years ago, I made what I thought was an obvious statement of fact, that in poor weather (rain, snow or cold) fewer people are willing to walk to the subway and would rather ride a bus instead to the train. My boss looked at me as if I was crazy and responded. What makes you think so? Did you ever do a study that showed that? How do you know that's true? This is what you are dealing with. |
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