Sick & Tired
Posted by Fred Jandt
Editor, Mass Transit
Ever get one of those spring colds? You know the kind that isn’t quite flu, but just enough to wear you down and knock you off your feet for a while? I caught one of those this week. (I blame my kids.)
As I drove into work this morning I couldn’t help but think of something our June cover story, Gary McNeil from GO Transit, said to me when I was in Toronto interviewing him. He said how much is an extra 15 minutes of sleep worth to you? As I slogged my way through traffic into the office, I couldn’t help but wish I had that extra 15 minutes of sleep.
This got me to thinking. What are the benefits of public transit — and I mean for riders, not the community or environment. (Let’s keep this on a “micro” level this week.) There are the usual reasons — saving money and less stress — but are there other reasons people take transit?
Don’t give me the “because they have to” reason. That’s not a reason, that’s an excuse. It implies that you wouldn’t be taking transit if you had an alternative. What are some real reasons people take it other than monetary- or stress-related ones?
Is taking transit a social experience? Yes, yes it is. Stories abound of couples who met onboard a bus or train. And ride any transit system for a week and you’ll see numerous coworkers riding together, sharing stories of their day.
Does transit give you a better way to manage your time? Sure it does. From the side of someone who has slept on a bus or train or two in my time, I can attest to the benefit of not having to drive places. People have been using laptops on transit for years, but with Wi-Fi quickly becoming available on more and more transit systems, networking has reached a new level.
The point here is that we need to look at benefits other than money and stress to get people out of their cars and onto transit. People will continue to complain about driving to work and will pay for it, despite what new heights gas prices might soar to. There are intangible benefits to be gained for giving up the keys for the (fare)card. It’s these intangible benefits that really sell transit.
In the end when you see people get off a bus or train with a smile, you’ve got to ask how much is that smile worth.
Thanks for reading the MT Position, updated every Thursday.
May 17th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
Fred: A woman with whom I commuted on Concord Trailways, Londonderry-Boston, had interesting reasons to ride the bus. She was a lawyer and kept her horse on her Londonderry farm. By taking the bus she could work on her laptop, earning billable hours and, thus, get home in time to ride her horse.
May 17th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
That smile is worth about $500 a month, to me. And you are right about that extra few, or many, minutes of sleep.
The end of my commute is the only time I can wake up next to a stranger and feel very responsible and respectable.
I love MassTransit!
May 17th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Mr. Jandt,
I agree with what you said in your article.(Sick & Tired, May 17, 2007) As someone who commutes long distance, I would love to ride transit to work. I think all transit companies should try to look into more outreaching transit solutions. I work in Baltimore,Md and live in Frederick Couty, Md. With the price of housing so high, more people are moving farther away from work to be able to afford to buy. I drive 54 miles just to catch a bus for 18/20 miles. I would love to have those 15 extra minutes of transit just to relax before I have to drive that big trip.
May 17th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
Good commentary. Well thought out but how do we convince those watching the smilng people got off a bus or train to give it a try themselves? I guess this is the question that evert transit system is askng themselves. Good article - makes you think.
May 17th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
Finally, someone in the industry understands that transit is not just a means of getting somewhere. The time consumed in transit is valuable to most commuters. But, in order to take advantage of that time and “get off a bus or a train with a smile”, we must have a seat. One cannot work on his/her laptop while standing. Persons like myself have not mastered singlehanded opeartion of the Blackberry while hanging from an overhead bar in the aisle of a bus.
I use transit for the reasons listed in the article - cost, less stress, convenience - but to keep me there and to attract new riders, transit planners and operators must pay attention to my comfort and my ability to use my time profitably. My regular routine is to sit down in the bus, check my Blackberry for todays news clippings and any messages that may have been sent the previous evening or in the early morning, read the morning paper and complete a sudoku puzzle. If I am fortunate and have a seat for my trip, indeed I arrive at my destination with a smile and am ready to start my work day. If not, I have wasted 20 to 25 minutes of my day which I must make up later.
For effective marketing of transit and increased ridership, transportation planners must give more consideration to customer needs. All the other spin will not be effective in getting car commuters out of cars if you expect them to waste their time and to stand up in a wheeled tin box. They’d prefer to crawl along a congested freeway in the comfort of their cars. Get with it!
May 17th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
When I was a regular bus rider, one of the biggest plus was the comfort of knowing that I was not going to kill or maim someone in order to get to work or the grocery store. Whether we mean to or not; Whether we do anything wrong while driving or not; Everytime we get behind the wheel of a car, we’re deciding that where we’re going is more important than someone else’s life. No matter how good a driver you are, you have no control over the kid that runs in front of your car or the driver ahead of you on the Interstate that stops suddenly and causes you plough into the back him.
May 18th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
OK, I’ll not pick on the part of your article that says “As I drove into work this morning . . .” DROVE??
Not exactly mass transit, but last summer I had to pick up my daughter from summer camp in VT. From Boston, I had to drive there, pick her up, and return in one day. Left at 6 AM, returned at 5 PM, hot, tired and stiff. I looked into this with the aid of some friends’ archives. I could have made the same trip in 1948 on the B&M leaving at 8 AM, and returning at 5:30 PM, with sufficient time laying over between the two trains, to retreive my daughter from camp. And since I know precisely how much it costs to drive my car, an economical import, I know that the cost of driving exceeded the cost, adjusted for inflation, that the train would have cost. Instead of being hot and stiff, I could have read a book, the newspaper, and conversed with other passengers and my daughter with much more attention.
My time is much better used when on transit (including my daily commute) than by driving the stupid car.
May 18th, 2007 at 4:15 pm
“As I drove into work this morning…”
If you won’t pick on it, I will.
I used to be in public transport. Where I worked every employee received a pass that allowed free travel throughout the region. The buses and trains were frequent and reliable.
And yet the vast majority of executives and management drove to work - some had company cars and others were given annual passes to park free in the city centre.
Its been nine years since I worked in the mass transit industry and it appears that nothing has changed.
That “suit” standing on the podium? The one extolling the virtues of public transport, telling all and sundry that they should use it? The one that spends the day putting together bids for funding of jazzy websites and ticketless fare systems?
He has 101 reasons why other people should use public transport and 1001 excuses why he can’t. The last time he was on a bus was for a press photo opportunity.
Mass Transit can only succeed when those who are responsible for it actually use it.
May 22nd, 2007 at 11:53 pm
“As I DROVE into work..”
One more to pile on.
I worked for transit agencies for nearly ten years, and I support Steve Roper’s statement, no one will take transit, it’s potential or it’s financial needs seriously until the executives and senior management demonstrate that they actually USE the systems they manage.
In the nearly ten years I worked as a service planner for transit agencies, only one senior manager I encountered on my daily commute on the bus ever used the system he managed. He (and I)understood what was actually occurring on the system, and heard on a daily basis what the customers were looking for in service provision.
Yes, transit can be great for the environment, and peace of mind. But everyone can see through the spin and fluff from the execs and managers who don’t ride their systems, and know what their customers need. And until that happens, widespread respect for the industry will continue to be elusive.
By the way Fred, do you know which route(s) you can use for your commute?
June 25th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
I’m one of those executives that knows he should ride the bus more often to work and do when I can. My challenge - time. It takes 20 minutes to drive to work and not less than 60 minutes to use transit. I must walk about a mile to the bus stop (or catch a ride)and then another 1/4 mile from the last stop to my office. It’s good for my health but not my time. While I’m on the bus I can do all the positive things previously noted but I still have more time, in the office for those same things, if I just drive. The final dilema - I have to drive on the days I need to get back home in time for my evening activity carpool.