Yes, I know I am an evil right-wing Republican conservative nut-job, and I am not supposed to care about the environment. But here is a surefire way for the City of Erie to save money and reduce it’s carbon footprint.
80% of all Erie Metropolitan Transit Authority buses, including the Bayliners, should be sold and replaced with Priuses.
10% of the buses should be replaced with minivans which are handicapped accessible.
The remainder of the buses can be kept at full size.
I see EMTA buses nearly every day, and only once did I see a bus that had enough passengers to fill a minivan. Often they are completely empty.
I don’t think Erie residents place enough value in the public transportation system. Go to a city like Chicago buses, taxis, and the train are used by people of all classes to get from point A to B. In Erie, public transportation is looked down on. I think they are in need of a new, fresh, marketing campaign.
I grew up in Pittsburgh and did not learn to drive until I was 27 years old. Public transportation in Erie was (and still is) unreliable and the schedule not conducive to many commuters, shoppers and church-goers (the Sunday schedules were non-existent).
The difference between Erie and Chicago is that Chicago is about 30 times bigger and the population density is much higher. That means that it is much more likely that a busload of people will want to go the same place at the same time. Also, there very few places to live in Erie where keeping a car is a problem, so therefore nearly every able-bodied person who is not very poor has a car.
I don’t think the issue can be solved by marketing. We may just be too small to have a viable public transportation system. Either that, or we need some genius can figure out a way to re-route the bus lines so that they are useful to more people.