Smoother Transit, Just a Click Away

By Sunni Monson, Policy Associate, February 6, 2012 at 1:30 pm

In a temporarily enthusiastic effort motivated by past New Year’s Resolutions gone awry, I recently set out to create a personal budget—an overzealously organized grid displaying exactly which needs, activities, and extras I allocate my income toward.

Therein lie the usual suspects like rent, bills, and food, but the most interesting for me to configure was my transportation budget. As a public transportation user, exactly how much had I been spending on the bus?

Not all that much, it turns out.

But had I been saving?

More than I realized, it turns out.

According to the most recent “Transit Savings Report,” a monthly feature released by the American Public Transportation Association, individuals who ride public transit could save, on average, $816 dollars this month, and $9,790 annually compared to the January 10, 2012 average national gas price ($3.34 per gallon, as reported by AAA) and the national unreserved monthly parking rate of $155.22.

In Minneapolis that number is even higher, as analysts estimate that local transit riders can save $864 per month and $10,365 annually. Although the city ranks in the nation’s top 20 in terms of transit ridership, why is the number of transit riders relatively low given these figures, the environmental and fiscal benefits to Minnesota, and the convenience of the transportation system?

Perhaps the last benefit isn’t as clear: Convenience. To non-bus-riders, the idea of a long commute intermittently interrupted by transferring buses in the sometimes bitter cold can probably seem like the least desirable way to spend a morning. Add to this the fear of getting lost or delayed, and people are less likely to ride transit, according to the Department of Transportation (DOT).

The DOT is working on reducing these and other information-centric barriers to busing by working to make transit information more accessible—or a hand click away, literally, through smartphones. So far only 45 of 276 national transit agencies offer information about arrival and departure times on mobile devices, and only 15 of those 45 provide real-time information, a key piece of information that the DOT believes will help Americans access the bus with confidence and ease.

“In America, we do big things. We solve problems. And if the transit community leverages the momentum we generated with last week's meeting (regarding developing apps to make real-time transit information more accessible via cell phone), I know we'll find solutions that expand transit use and get people where they're going more effectively,” states DOT.

Posted in Transportation | Related Topics: Public Transportation  Busing  Technology