Fairbanks North Star Borough ponders public transportation solutions
Published Monday, September 22, 2008
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Stumble It!FAIRBANKS — The Fairbanks North Star Borough cannot meet transportation needs without the help of various local agencies, borough officials said at a public transportation forum last week.
In an effort to solve the problem, borough transportation officials are trying to coordinate with outside agencies to offer a wider variety of options for people who want access to public transportation.
Borough transportation manager David Leone met with residents Tuesday to find out how to accommodate daily commuters who are feeling the crunch of high fuel prices.
Long wait times and a lack of buses were among the biggest complaints, along with the need for an increase in bus routes.
“If you’re only waiting 30 minutes for the bus, you’re lucky,” Leone said. “On some routes, riders wait an hour or longer depending on the time of day.”
According to Leone, he’s received requests for service in Goldstream Valley, Salcha, Nenana, Two Rivers, Chena Hot Springs, Delta, Fox, Ester and even Livengood.
“Service is needed longer during the evening as well,” Leone added. “We really should be going until midnight or later on the weekends.”
As a potential solution, the borough is taking part in a national trend called the mobility management project.
“In essence, the idea is to streamline transportation services so anybody who needs a ride has one number they can call, and a dispatch center will ascertain what type of transportation specifically meets the caller’s needs,” Leone explained.
Mobility management is a way to coordinate rides for commuters without necessarily setting up new standardized bus routes.
“This is a step back from the traditional bus-riding experience,” he said.
The Department of Transportation plans to offer three years of funding for the project to help coordinate the various transportation agencies.
In the first year, the project will initiate a dispatch-like center that will allow riders to make a single call to have a ride coordinated to meet their needs.
In the second year, Fairbanks Resource Agency has offered to help the borough by taking part in a pilot project to test the idea.
“Everyone is entitled to public transportation, and it’s a very vital part of living a productive life,” Leone said.
FRA has offered transportation for people with disabilities throughout the last two decades, FRA Executive Director Emily Ennis said.
The nonprofit agency would contribute with the purchase of a van that could accommodate riders with disabilities and regular commuters.
“With this, we could do more for our own clientele and also have some fixed or flexible routes to pick up other folks along the way,” Ennis said.
Ennis noted that FRA doesn’t have an exclusive ridership, but limited space has made it difficult to accommodate a wide variety of commuters.
“We’d like to try this out on a small scale and be a pilot project for other independent agencies,” she said.
In the future, Leone hopes to incorporate local taxi drivers, tourist buses, trains and church vans to help meet the demand.
“The overall goal is to engage the private sector to try and get more service,” Leone said.
By year three, Leone expects there to be a full-blown program.
“There are all kinds of possibilities to grow,” Leone said. “But we need to here from the public for a specific plan.”
Community Discussion
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I don't get it.
I use the bus, used to use it pretty regularly before I got a job closer to home. I had to because the job I had forced me to work part-time (I could not work till close because of the bus times). AFAIK, there are only two options available in public transit. The bus lines and taxi cabs.
We have a decent bus system that a person can call (during business hours) to get info if need be. Now they want to create a new, separately funded call center to tell them what, the exact same thing as the current bus center tells them?
The only difference is admittedly the Van Tran which exists for the elderly and disabled amongst us, and this FRA shuttle for people with disabilities. There is also a UAF shuttle that goes downtown on odd times and a seperate non-public bus that hits the bars now.
Would it not be easier (and a lot cheaper) to just keep someone at the bus center until later, give them a little more info (on FRA and the UAF shuttle) and promote their call-in number!?!
We need later bus runs. I can't afford to go to UAF part-time because I work and their last bus leaves before 9PM. A friend of mine who uses the grey line, her kids have a hard time doing anything because the Grey Line doesn't run on the weekend. Yes it would help some people if a Green-type line (Green Line heads to North Pole) were to service some of the nearby communities. The Green line seems to draw a decent number of people who work in fairbanks, and if nothing else it cuts down on potential accidents in the winter. Still I acknowledge lines that go that far cost a lot. As much as I want to be able to go see Chena Hot Springs someday it just costs too much IMO.
The Borough still has the old buses from before the new ones came, so its just a matter of fuel and drivers to increase the frequency of runs. It is the same with extending hours, just the manpower and operating costs. IMO the people who work our Bus Line are good people with good jobs. If we are going to spend money, lets put it where it helps people. Lets run later hours, and maybe more often too.
They have the buses and the equipment!
They touted the system as a way to help w/ higher fuel prices and now they don't have what they need to operate?
Are they waiting for a government "bail-out"?
HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
FIX WHAT YOU HAVE!!!!
Are you to good to flip burgers?(as the saying goes)
Use what is available, fix what needs fixing and GET THE JOB DONE!!!
We know the ridership is there!
I agree wholeheartedly that the system needs to be tweeked so people don't have to wait and they can run more efficiently.
Heck, Sarah Palin could do this one in her sleep!
Peace
Maybe smaller van like vehicles, would make more sense than the mobile billboards they have running around this town empty most of the time. Has the Mayor ever thought if your head of transportation can not do the job, maybe you need to replace him with someone who can.
Good Point regarding people who moved to remote areas to be, well, remote. Now a few folks those areas have the temerity to ask for mass transit?
Back in the 1970s, when the FNSB first got into the mass transit business, the Assembly mantra was "It will work only if we have a MASS TO TRANSIT!" Mass transit (public and subsidized by the taxpayer) can provide several valid benefits: reduced traffic, reduced pollution, helping people without personal transportation get to work or school (which theoretically will eventually contribute to the economy), and providing economical transportation for those of us who are frugal enough to accept the inconvenience of mass transit.
Yes, it is inconvenient. It has been said that mass transit is OK if your time is not worth anything. That seems cynical, but there is a ring of truth in it for those who can afford independent transportation, or need it due to the nature of their schedules for work, education, kids, etc. The FNSB is not the first community with a vast rural service area needing a plan to serve a wider population; but providing an entire bus for a handful of people, who in their wisdom or circumstances live in remote/rural areas, is impractical.
What are other communities doing to manage this issue? The story was not clear on this point: Are we reinventing the wheel? Or, is this three-year plan based on valid input from others who have been down this road? Can those old buses be rehabilitated, or were they retired because they are just too old to be economically viable?
Can we, as a community, afford an expanded mass transit system. Most of us are feeling the financial pinch these days. Does the taxpayer have to be pinched even more to help support people who, through bad luck or poor planning, need more social welfare? I do not have the answer. I try to be self-reliant and frugal, which sometimes means deferring gratification, living in an urbanized area, driving a fuel thrifty car (1988 Honda Civic, 42mpg) and putting my windfall income (PFD, energy rebate, for instance) away for that metaphorical rainy day. And look! It's metaphorically raining!
"“Everyone is entitled to public transportation, and it’s a very vital part of living a productive life,” Leone said."
What a bunch of drivel. Since when is public transportaion an entitlement? And people wonder why the citizens want to limit the borough's abiblity to collect taxes. As geographically spreadout as we are, it will cost an arm and a leg. Who does the borough expect to pay for it?
I have to echo a point mentioned by AlaskaPhil: There are people who deliberately (or apparently deliberately) moved to remote suburbs outside the existing scope of public transit. When they moved far away from our not-so-dense urban population to have isolation, they accepted the burden of private transit. Now "everyone is entitled to public transportation", even those who chose to live where it is not viable?
That reasoning reminds me of those in other cities -- haven't we all heard cases like this? -- who develop or move to properties near the airport, then clamor years later for noise limits on airplanes or restrictions on their hours of operation.
Don't get me wrong -- I am all for expanded public transportation. The return on a well-run and well-used transit system can be many times more than its investment. But we need to be careful about what we mean when we say that everyone is entitled. I would say, all people are entitled to public transit, insomuch as they live in an area densely populated enough to make transit viable. Beyond that, it's iffy.
If we would like to allow as many as possible to enjoy the cost savings of public transit, we have an obligation to promote dense and affordable development within our cities.
--Paul Adasiak
"The Fairbanks Pedestrian"
(http://fairbankspedestrian.wordpress.com...)
Good one! The idea of entitlements MUST be taken into account. Bureaucrats tend to use "the people are entitled" as a means of expanding their budgets and empires.
Indeed entitlements cripple our independent way of life -- as if there were not enough other cripplers. People who decide they do not want a given entitlement, say by living remote, and then change their mind without changing their location, are not entitled! Sure, things change. So should they. In fact, none of us should feel entitled without paying some price -- that would be socialism, the ism dismalest of all.
I like the airport analogy. There are countless examples of people moving close to a landfill, airport, pig farm, or industrial site and then protesting the pre-existing entity while demanding their "right" to live without it. Geesh! Whatever happened to personal responsibility?
The "Coordinated Transportation System" is David Leone's pet project. He has been trying to get it off the ground for several years now. He even wants to provide classes to teach people how to ride the bus! Several local private non-profit agencies have felt coerced by being included in Mr. Leone's plan against their will. Many of those "inside" the department feel the "Transportation Manager" position is unnecessary and a waste of money. Why do we need both a Transportation Director and a Transportation Manager?
Oh for the days before oil when no one would have even bother to think about today's topics. Remember when we had one bus that ran from 2nd ave down College Road to the University? Memory fails me for the name of the bus driver(looked like Santa) and all you had to do was wave your hand and flag him down. Use to be a dollar a ride. People seemed to get around town just fine then. Why do we even need a public transit system.
By the way, Paul please do not degrade outlying areas by calling them "remote suburbs." Most people live out here in order to avoid entitlements, such as a police department, paid fireman, garbage collection, ten feet between your house and your neighbors, transist systems other than your thumb, etc. We can take care of ourselves. Thanks but no thanks is also an answer.
Public transportation in Fairbanks DOES need help!! I ride the bus, and would do so more often IF I could better rely on the system. Far to many times I have taken it to get to and from my Dr. or treatment appointments all to find that the bus is running late...or that it came 5 minutes earlier than listed. One time after a hard day of chemotherapy - I went to wait for the bus ( driving is just not an option when you feel that sick ) the wait should have been about 15 minutes.... and ended up being 2 HOURS for a ride home. I felt so ill that I just had to wait it out - but when I told the driver - she actually laughed and told me that the other drivers must have been re-routing because of a tiny bit of construction going on near the bus stop. I told her that passing these regular stops can really make things hard for patients that ride the bus. Then she actually had the nerve to tell me not many hospital patients even ride the bus. I was livid - but sick - and I just wanted to get home. During the ride - the driver and another passenger made rude remarks about my "complaint" - I had to remind them I was a paying customer and still on the bus. It made me feel very odd - very angry, and it was obvious I was not feeling well as another rider came to my rescue and let them have it! Complaining to the transit system is a joke as well - I couldn't even get a live person to answer the phone - and it WAS during norman business hours when I called. I left a message saying I had an issue I would like to discuss - please call me back. No one ever called! I really just wanted to let them know that the Hospital needs updated schedules - as the ones they have are OLD and not even close to correct. I enjoy using public transportation no matter where I live - but in Fairbanks, I find it easier to just walk if I can, or take a taxi if I can find one with a driver who does not smoke. Needless to say I stay home alot!
Now that my health is better, and I am ready to get back to work - I hope that I can trust that public transportation will face some improvements, so I can get where I need to in a fair amount of time. If not - I will have to buy a car and drive. Just 1 more car out there with only 1 person in it killing the air and wasting gas! Most cities I have lived in are much bigger than Fairbanks, but perhaps a car pool program would be a helpful way for commuters and drivers to match up. I don't know - I just know that right now, taking the bus in Fairbanks is NOT worth the fee or the wait! If busses could be on time, run more often - later hours, and the drivers be a little more people friendly to ALL riders that would be a start! Oh - and the call center should answer the phones - that would be helpful.
I wish I had the time that alaskaflower has to know EVERYTHING about EVERYONE. Do you have a job? I looked back at some of your other comments, you are on here all day long, every day. Where do you get your information? I ride the bus to and from work everyday, I am a single dad with two kids in school and can't afford a new vehicle. So I have to wait a few minutes for the bus,BIG DEAL, at least I can get up every morning and go to work. For me who chooses to live in town because of financial issues, riding the bus is the only way to go. The schedules and the routes could use some slight adjustments, but hell, nobody's perfect. Since you seem to be so perfect, maybe you should work for the bus department and make it all better.
Instead of imposing a bus system borough wide, perhaps some communities (ie Ester or Salcha, for example) start a TRANSPORTATION SERVICE DISTRICT tailored for their needs.
One Suburban and two part-time drivers could probably meet the needs of Ester.
Residents could tailor the service to their needs.
Cancergirl,
if you are using FMH cancer center, there is a rider program by donation where you can get a cab ride to and from for free. ask the girl at the desk next to them (to the right as you come into the doors)
Good memories, FreeDarfur. I believe the bus driver was Walt Conant...
Eve,
Some of us care enough about our community to get involved.
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