Would you ride your local transit system even if it was free?

[Anonymous]

Also how many of your boses are willing to pay for your monthly bus or train pass?

[Anonymous]

Over here in Western New York there are major cutbacks with high taxes and less and less services. Chautauqua County and Jamestown NY have cut buses back to the bone. At one time even this somewhat rural county had 190 miles of Interurban lines. They even had steam boat lines that took workers from Downtown Jamestown to there homes along the lake
Major Traffic was workers in the furniture capital of the US Jamestown NY as well Summer Tourists to Lake Chautauqua. The County has two population centers Dunkirk-Fredonia(SUNY U is here) NY on the old New York Central Main Line as well as the Former terminus of the Erie Railroad or Erie Railway. In the South is Jamestown NY on the Erie which has a power plant on the Old Erie Mainline. Between the two is a lot of rural areas
and of Course Lake Chautauqua.
The problem is that CARTS transit is mandated to serve our senior citzen population and cover a lot of ground. They get rembused from the state and feds for serive the disabled but dont get money for local transit service for working people to get them to and from work.
The county has given up by having the last bus going anywere at 3:45 making impossible to work a 9 to 5 job or even use the bus at night to go shopping.
The Local Chamber of Buisness has come up with a idea to make the Buses free in the evening to the Mall (Owned by the Simon Conglomerate) , This would be paid for by local business in the Lakewood NY Shopping District.
Passengers would get coupons from the driver to spend at sponsering buineses along the route and the Mall would paint up the Bus in its Logo. The Bus run is about 5 miles long.
So how does this tie in to rail?
Well If subway riders in DC or NYC could have there tickets redeemed or get free tokens from Downtown merchants when they spend X number of dollers it would be good for buisness and a incentive to shop downtown. Too often Suberban Workers ru***o and from there jobs and spend there money at home far awy from the inner city. Buffalo lost its last Department Store 4 years ago (AM&E?) as well as other citys in the Midwest have lost retail in the Downtown core. The reason has been free parking at the malls and not having to contend with Meter maids. Of course how could you get home a 24 inch color TV home on the bus or train? In the good old days Downtown deparment stores were located near train stations and used Railway Express extensively. Shoppers from 100 miles around would journey into town and pick out there items and place it on a order form and it would be picked from a warehouse and loaded on the next train or interurban. Oneils Department Store in Akron OH had a extensive system of tracks in its basement to faciltate loading and unloading. Sears Robuck still does home delivery via Truck to local customers.
But Baby Boomers and there SUVs will have to face up the facts that someday they will have to quit driving there cars due to bad eyesight and health reasons and use some form of transit to get around.
What I am proposing here is to have local buisneses and Property Owners who live say within walking or short driving distances be assesed for the Contruction and operation of a Light Rail Line or Bus Rapid Transit. Then make the service free to them. Free? Yes Free.
Are you charged for the use of your public library or your police? No I dont think so. To prevent over crowding farecards would be purchased but on the back of the farecards would be coupons to spend at local buisneses along the Rail or bus line. So you buy a 2.00 farecard but redeem that card for free coffee at Starbucks so no big deal.
Tell me what you think Already in this area there are free casino buses with preliminary talks of Indian Casinos sponsering a steam train to there casinos.[:)]