A couple of years ago, I did not have a car. Also, and unfortunately, a couple of years ago I had surgery on my right knee. I had to get around through public transportation to go from school to a rehabilitation center. I would have to take two bus to get there. Typically, I would get out of school at 10:50 am. The first bus would pass by every hour...at X: 40. I would therefore have to wait almost an hour to catch the next bus. Afterwards, when I would get off to my second stop, I would have to wait 40 minutes for that bus to get there and take me to therapy. All this waiting time does not include the 10 to 15 minutes I would spend walking to either my destinations or bus stops. After therapy I would wait half an hour to catch my first bus and then another half an hour for another bus to take me home. Needless to say, there is a lot of time wasted waiting for a bus in Kendall. This is typical of almost any route. Some routes are more efficient by having limited stops but because they are not wasting time as much they compensate, by costing more.
Although, I failed in my interviewing skills, I did learn that a better system for public transportation is needed. All three of the participants agreed with that principle.
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I personally cannot relate to a faulty public transportation system because I have only lived and Gainesville and believe they have such an amazing system in place. My entire freshman year I had to take the RTS bus and can honestly say I would not have had it any other way for many reasons such as, there is never any parking on campus, and the bus actually saved me time on the commute, and had A/C unlike my car. I couldn’t even imagine having to deal with Miami’s hellish transportation system in a small town like Gainesville. From your summary as well as the interviews it definitely sounds like there is a city-wide unmet need. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteMy link: http://collinschramm.blogspot.com/2016/05/forming-opportunity-belief.html
I envy you and the system you have! Although, not so much anymore, as I have a car now.
DeleteHi Karen! I live in Kendall too! Cool! And I have a car but that was not always the case. Before I lived on Coral Way and 27th Ave. I worked in the Gables. By car, it was roughly a 10 minute drive. With bus, it was AN HOUR. A WHOLE hour. I would stand in the pouring rain sometimes since many of the stops didn't have shade. There wasnt even a bench. The transportation here sucks. Even the app that supposedly tracks the bus is WRONG. God forbid you arrive a few seconds late to the stop, the bus is already leaving. We need MASSIVE improvement here.
ReplyDeleteYES! Transportation is really bad here! A couple times the bus broke down. I had to wait until the next bus which was anywhere from half an hour to an hour and a half
DeleteHey Karen, now that you have identified a problem, how do you wish to solve it? Do you want to add more routes, or create a whole new system entirely? The rest is now up to you! Great post.
ReplyDeleteWe definitely need a new system. Sometimes buses are really packed, sometimes there's no one on them. But mostly, you always have to wait forever to get on one.
DeleteHey Karen! I grew up in Miami and visit Kendall a lot because of family. Transportation in that area is horrible. The buses are extremely unreliable, and even expensive these days for poor quality. A taxi would come in pricey and can also be a hassle to use. There has to be a more efficient solution whether it be to fix the current bus system or start some other transportation business.
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