How the Continent's Best Transit Works
By Paul McKay
The Ottawa Citizen
Thursday 31 May 2001
A maverick city bus manager decided
to do what virtually no other transit agency has done
in North America: Ask riders what they want, then deliver
it. The results are astounding. Paul McKay reports.
BOULDER, Colorado - What taxpayer-funded
product usually arrives on time, but is empty so often
it burns money for nothing?
That would be the diesel-belching, 12-metre "loser
cruiser" that lumbers -- by the relentless hour,
day, week, month and year -- through the suburbs of Ottawa,
Vancouver, Toronto, Denver, Dallas and hundreds of other
North American cities.
Most of the time, they chug past bus stops where few passengers
get on or off.
In cities such as Ottawa and Vancouver, public transit
accounts for only 15 per cent of rush-hour passenger trips.
In outlying cities like Cumberland or Coquitlam, peak
bus ridership is a dismal five per cent of passenger trips.
Outside of rush hour, riders are so scarce they drop off
the radar screen of transit agencies apparently resigned
to running buses at a huge loss. Forever.
It's no secret where those missing riders are: Usually
driving alone, in the cars that are clogging every major
city on the continent. They may not know it, but those
solo drivers are paying for the worst of both worlds.
Out of one pocket, they annually pay an average of $9,000
to own, operate and maintain private vehicles that are
besieged by gridlock. The No. 1 cause? Other solo drivers.
From the other pocket, their taxes help pay for city transit
agencies that own, operate and maintain the 20-tonne buses
often carrying little more than the bus driver and air.
Perversely, in the rare times these buses are full, they
are often brought to a halt by commuter cars carrying
those who subsidize them.
Empty buses. Empty cars. Overloaded roads. Paying twice
for less and less mobility. Has no one found a way out
of this mess?
Yes. One of them would be Bob Whitson, an engineer with
a Texas twang and wry wit who heads up what could be the
most successful city transit system on the continent.
He works for the city of Boulder, an hour's drive northwest
of Denver, where 100,000 residents live, study and work
in the spectacular shadow of the Colorado Rockies. And
60,000 of them have city bus passes.
In the world of public transit, that ratio is astounding.
No other city in North America comes even close.
Mr. Whitson says the reason is simple: "The riders
chose their bus service. It was not chosen for them."
He means that literally. In Boulder, riders choose the
size of buses (40-footers are dismissed as "diesel
dinosaurs"), the design, the seating plans and upholstery,
the size and tinting of windows and options like hanger
straps and bike racks. The drivers get to choose their
uniforms and the music for an on-board CD player.
Most important, Boulder riders help choose the routes
and pickup spots. So buses come to them, usually in 10
minutes or less.
How is that possible? By scrapping the mindset that has
failed to fill suburban buses for half a century.
"We are outside the mainstream of public transit
thinking," Mr. Whitson says with a renegade grin.
"No one here has ever studied transit. We've learned
everything on our own. When I go to national public transit
conferences, they all talk about bus maintenance, the
latest in diesel fuels, how windshield wipers work and
counting every nickel that goes in the fare box.
"They never talk about the customer. Here we ask
people -- in their homes, schools, where they work, at
the gym -- what they want. We listen very carefully, then
go out and try to get it for them."
The number and range of car-to-bus converts is unheard
of.
At the University of Colorado campus in Boulder, 26,000
students voted to add $15 to their tuition fees every
semester for an unlimited bus pass. It takes them anywhere
in the city, virtually anytime. Or to downtown Denver,
the closest ski resort or Denver's international airport
(which costs a non-pass holder $44 for a round-trip shuttle).
Those bulk passes let Boulder bus planners know, in advance,
exactly how many riders they will have, and when and where
buses should be routed to connect the campus, residences,
major malls, even downtown bars until 3 a.m. on weekends.
A student photo ID eliminates the need to feed fare-boxes
and have exact change. In fact, the fare-box is the college
administration office, which collects the bulk fares three
times a year and promptly hands the money over to the
Boulder bus operator.
That simple, unorthodox formula also works for the Boulder
downtown merchants, the city's main hospital and several
major employers.
For instance, the municipal group that collects downtown
Boulder parking fees uses a portion of that revenue to
buy annual bus passes for 6,000 employees who work in
the city core. The Chamber of Commerce followed suit,
adding $50 per year to the fees of its members.
The employees love it because they get to commute for
free, don't have to find or pay for downtown parking and
can use the bus pass to shop on Saturday or get to a Broncos
game on Sunday. The merchants love it because it frees
up scarce parking spots for shoppers. And the bus company
loves it because it gets paid, in one advance shot, for
a year of servicing predictable, high-use routes.
The next target for Mr. Whitson and his Go Boulder staff
were private companies with hundreds of employees. Successful
pitches led several to sign contracts, pledging an average
of $50 per employee for annual, unlimited
transit passes. With up-front payments and predictable
riders, that allowed the bus company to plan the most
effective routes to and from those workplaces.
A key feature is the "safe ride home" promise.
By pooling $2 from each $50 pass, the bus company arranged
with city taxis to pick up, at no extra cost to the employee,
anyone in the office who needs an emergency ride or one
after bus operating hours. The same deal applies to all
1,200 employees of the city hospital. Nurses on shifts
especially welcomed the low-cost, flexible bus service
with taxi backup.
Next came residential neighbourhoods. So far, Mr. Whitson's
Go Boulder group has persuaded 15 community groups to
sign annual contracts pledging a minimum of $5,000 for
annual bus passes. That buys a photo ID and unlimited
bus use, for all members of each household in the neighbourhood
block.
Some of the keenest riders are kids -- including teenagers
who wouldn't normally be caught dead riding a "loser
cruiser."
Mr. Whitson says that's because "they figured out
pretty quickly that it gives them total freedom. They
know there will be a bus every 10 minutes. They don't
have to worry about schedules or fares or exact change
or how many trips they can take."
Mr. Whitson proudly notes that even primary school kids
get to help design the outside bus markings, which boldly
announce that a circular route "Hop," "Skip"
or "Jump" bus is arriving. The nicknames are
painted in huge letters and surrounded by cute rabbits
and grasshoppers.
"There is a reason for that. It lets our youngest
riders know exactly which bus to take, and their parents
feel safe about letting them take a bus to sports practice
or music lessons," says Mr. Whitson. "We're
also instilling a culture. Those kids are going to be
our riders 20 years from now."
Another novel tactic is a Boulder city bylaw that requires
developers of new residential subdivisions to buy each
household three years' worth of unlimited transit passes,
at an average cost of $50 each. After the third year,
the residents can either drop the deal or pay the same
amount through their local residents' or apartment association.
There is virtually no attrition on any of these ridership
programs. Take-up on the bus passes (average annual cost
of $50 each) has increased from 4,000 to 60,000 since
1994.
Meanwhile, traffic congestion has not increased despite
a boom in area housing and employment.
"These initiatives are driven by concern about congestion
and the worry of businesses that they can't get their
employees to and from work efficiently, or from businesses
that want people to shop and are worried people will get
blocked out by congestion," says Mr. Whitson.
"That's our main motivator. That's where we measure
our success: Have we maintained congestion levels at 1994,
even with the big growth in jobs and some housing? We
have."
Denver is finding it hard to argue with Boulder's success.
The scene of notorious smog and sprawl, it has recently
launched its own version of the mass bus pass system.
So how can Boulder afford to sell city bus riders an unlimited
annual pass for $50 U.S.?
It can't. As in the rest of Colorado, and most of the
U.S., two-thirds of the costs of public transit are paid
through federal, state and city taxes. Fare-box revenues
account for only one-third of costs.
"Our ECO pass is designed to collect one-third of
what is needed to run the buses," says Mr. Whitson.
"That's the same amount as if riders were putting
cash in the fare-box. The difference is, most of our buses
in Boulder run full most of the time. A lot of those in
Denver run around empty."
Public transit is a baseline, essential service, notes
Mr. Whitson.
"No city in North America is going to scrap its system.
It is already there, already being paid for and subsidized.
Our thinking here is: Since the buses are going to be
running anyway, let's make sure they are not empty.
"So our bus pass is designed like group medical insurance,
except it's for transit. The cost is based on an average.
Everybody has to pay. Some use it a lot; some don't. Those
who don't help pay for those who do. But everybody has
the choice to use their unlimited bus pass."
Is the Boulder success replicable in other North American
cities?
"Definitely," says Mr. Whitson. "I think
these kinds of programs will work even better in more
densely populated cities.
"They are not based on forcing anyone to do anything.
We have approached this through encouraging, advertising
and marketing. People see the economic benefits, and the
benefits of less congestion, less air pollution and a
better community."
So why haven't other transit agencies copied the Boulder
model?
"The way transit agencies are set up, they are motivated
to measure success by on-time arrivals. That is the number
1 criteria. Second is maintenance cost. Way down the list
is the number of riders. They don't do what it takes to
fill buses. They are perfectly happy for buses to arrive
empty, as long as they arrive on time."
Paul McKay is a Citizen reporter. His e-mail address is:
pmckay@thecitizen.southam.ca
Visit
the Boulder, Colorado Community Transit Network website
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