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Allow me to speak as a "retired" board member of a major rail and bus transit system. A transit system should do the following: 1: To be viable the transit system must run frequently and travel between relevant points. A bad example is Amtrak which has one train north and south through Dallas. With this frequency it is not a viable means to get to Austin or San Antonio. It must be built between business centers to be viable. Another bad example is the Indian Nation Turnpike in Oklahoma. It runs between Henryetta and Hugo-hardly major population centers. I believe it was built to satisfy local politatians. I do find it great to get to my son's home in Tulsa as it is almost devoid of traffic. 2: Keep the fares reasonable. It cost us about $4.00 to collect the $1.00 in fairbox revenue. There is not a transit system in the world that pays its total costs through the farebox, so do not even try. An industry rule of thumb is a 25% increase in fare will reduce ridership 10%. Only increase fares as a very last resort. 3: Provide a clean system. If you clean and wash your vehicles and facilities daily the riders will respect them and not litter or graffitti them. Our policy is the first driver on a route in the morning radios in any graffitti along the line. By noon on the same day it is gone. If you remove the media for the graffitti artists to express themselves they soon will tire of it. 4: Provide a secure system. Have a transit police presence as much as possible. I realize that it is impossible to have an officer on every train and bus, but have them randomly ride and patrol your facilities. Increase the police presence in high crime areas. Use video monitoring. Prosecute offenders. 5: Show that as a transit agency you care. Have a hot line for complaints AND follow up on them. Pass out flowers on Mother's day. Pass out candy on Valentines day. We do this and you would be surprised at the amount of positive feedback we get. 6: Make your system seamless. We have a one ticket policy good for travel, including transfers, on buses, light rail, commuter rail, and our sister city's independant transit system. Follow the KISS system-keep it simple, studid. 7: Encourage businesses to support transit. Develop fare and pass plans that make it attractive to subsidize employee's monthly passes. True enlightened management who care about their home city will support mass transit. This will be a means to give the employee a tax free raise with the transit pass provided by the employers and to reduce freeway congestion. Of course, there are the greedy managers, who will not give any benefits. Hopefully the word about them gets out early on and they get their just reward. 8: As a transit agency be a constructive influence in your community. Sponsor events as far as the law will allow a government agency to go. Advertise your service in conjunction with businesses at stations to show how you can get there on the bus or train. Other observations. People will ride a train all day who would never set foot inside a bus. They will ride a connector bus to get to or from a rail station. Some diehards will never get out of their cars (or pickups here in Texas) no matter what you offer including free rides. I left our agency's board last year after seven year of service due to moving out of the service area to our retirement home. I still work in Dallas, which is 65 miles from my home. I am in a commuter van which costs about $130 per month. This is about 1/3 the cost of the gas to run my car to Dallas and back daily and in addition there is wear and tair on the car and me personally. I now sit back, drink my coffee in the morning, and let someone else aim the van down the highway. At night I can dose off if needed. Do not advise doing this if you are driving. Yes, it is a 13 hour day from the time I walk out the front door until I walk in, but this is my choice (I retire in less than one year). I loose the freedom to go out at lunch, but that freedom is worth giving up for all the other benefits.
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