With the advent of traffic in Charlottesville has come demand for public transit, and that means lots of people are using the Charlottesville Transit Service, John Yellig writes in today’s Progress. Though the population of the region has increased 20% in the past eighteen years, use of CTS is up 90% in the same period. The use of JAUNT is up 70%. There’s a tipping point of congestion that’s required for people to bother taking public transit — perhaps we’ve finally hit it.
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Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
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Either that or perhaps the combination of rising housing costs and inflation are resulting in a population which is less able to afford such a basic American asset as an automobile.
There’s been no increase in the poverty rate since 1990 (the closest available census data to 1988) that would explain that.
I’m using the bus less. It seems they’re running more and more off schedule in my neck of the woods. The schedule is already inconvenient, so the irregularity makes it just plain unfeasible.
So I walk for minor things (nothing that needs to be carried), and drive for anything else.
Those are some good numbers. With Charlottesville expanding further outward I am shocked by the increased use in public transportation. I wonder though how many people are driving to town from surrounding counties and then jumping on the bus to get to their final destination (with parking being hard to find, especially around UVA). I wonder if area governments have ever considered running a shuttle bus or better yet a rail line to areas outside of Charlottesville. Imagine what traffic on Pantops, 29 North, and Ivy would look like if a couple of times a day (around the morning and evening rush) there was a shuttle bus or train that ran from Ruckersville/Forest Lakes to Charlottesville, from Zion Crossroads to Charlottesville, and Crozet to Charlottesville.
Great! Most people drive, even short distances, so if you’re walking you’re way ahead of the crowd. :) I’m a fan of CTS, but I’d much rather see people walking.
This is good but 90% of what. A percentage without other metrics is interesting but not informative. I think this kind of message attempts to justify a system that needs to do better. Smaller buses and more routes would be a start.
I have rarely seen a bus more than a third full during the week (the free UVa shuttle excepted)
I just really enjoy driving my car. If CTS will let me drive the bus to work then we’ll talk.
With regard to the poverty level, this is great news. Does this mean that all the worry about the need for a living wage in Charlottesville to combat the lack of increase in the minimum wage is misplaced?
Well, that’s quite a non sequitur.
walking is always a great alternative mode of transportation, if you can do it, I’d love to be able to do it that way daily if I could, but with CTS going up in ridership, it still helps get more vehicles off the road, which should mean less traffic and congestion, and even though it does not seem that way at times, just think how much more would be out there if the bus ridership was not up
The percentages don’t indicate how many more people are riding CTS, just that more people are riding. In other words, you increase from 100 riders to 200 riders and that’s a 100% increase!! More interesting would be to see what percentage of the area’s population are riding CTS and whether or not that percentage is increasing. If the area’s population grew did the percentage of people riding CTS (as measured by population) also increase? We might be adding people to the area faster than we are adding riders to CTS.
I would totally use CTS if the schedule were reliable and one could make easy transfers. I know a lot of people who take advantage fo the routes between UVa and downtown, but they are students who can soak up extra time before /after they need to be in class.
There’s nothing “alternative” about walking. :)
As I wrote in this blog entry: “Though the population of the region has increased 20% in the past eighteen years, use of CTS is up 90% in the same period.”
Much of the increase in ridership is due to passengers on the trolley who would otherwise be riding UTS buses or walking relatively short distances. I’d like to know what percentage of the increase in riders is due to an increase in students passengers taking the trolley to the mall and on the grounds loop and UVa employees taking it to their cars at Scott Stadium. Plenty of people who whould normally ride UTS shuttles get on the trolley because it shows up a before the shuttle to the stadium parking lot or the UTS bus to the Corner and to Clemons and Alderman. I’d also like to know the cost per passenger mile.
When my family and I moved back into town from the county 9 years ago we were looking forward to using CTS. The service is so poor though, that we hardly ever do use it now. My daughter walks to school and I walk to work. My wife, who doesn’t drive, takes a cab when I can’t drive her. CTS is just too inconvenient and time consuming to be practical. It’s also more expensive IF you already own a car and are paying all the associated ownership costs. A round trip from our house to Barracks Road Shopping Center costs $1.50 and requires transferring buses. A ride in the car uses a lot less than $1.50 in gas and it’s a whole lot quicker and reliable.
No, it just means that all the “new poor” are being steadily forced out of the city’s 10-mile circumference due to gentrification, They are now commuting from Nelson, Louisa, Fluvanna, Augusta, and Greene. They still need that increased minimum wage to pay for gas and car maintenance.
Waldo wrote,
As I wrote in this blog entry: “Though the population of the region has increased 20% in the past eighteen years, use of CTS is up 90% in the same period.”
Right, but my point was that you’re comparing two different percentages which is misleading. If you add 100 riders to CTS (hypothetically) and that is a 90% increase but you add 20,000 people to the area which is a 20% increase, is it really such great news that CTS ridership is up 90%? I’m just making up these base numbers, but the point is that percentages by themselves don’t really tell the whole story. I was suggesting that if 5% of the population rode CTS and now 10% ride, that would be big news. However, I suspect that despite the 90% increase in CTS ridership, the actual percentage of the population that is riding is probably not growing a whole lot. The end result: more cars on the road.
The 90 percent increase doesn’t mean much if we don’t know something about the riders and where they’re gojng and why. I would like to see CTS use it’s resources to move commuters from satellite lots to their jobs at UVa. Getting commuters to leave their cars at lots at Walton School, NGIC, PVCC or even Scottsville would be worth some tax support. If there were enough buses it could visibly reduce the number of cars on the road at rush hour. On the other hand if most of the increase is due to people riding the trolley from the university to downtown or to the library to study or to their cars at Scott stadium I see very little benefit worth the huge subsidy necessary to keep the faux trolley running.
Have the number of fares being collected gone up by 90% during the same period?
it is alternative to the main form of transportation is the automobile
Maybe there are more people who have no alternative but CTS living in the area now. That could be why ridership numbers are up.
From personal experience, I can tell you that CTS is still as unreliable and undependable as ever. Not only are buses often running late; sometimes they just don’t show up all.
Whether its drivers who waste time, going in stores and restaurants and failing to hustle(and talking on cell phones while driving), or just that the schedule structure is impossible to adhere to, one thing is certain. Our public transportation system in this so-called “worldclass city” is pathetic!
If you want your time wasted, ride CTS. Its a miserable excuse for a public transit system.
But I hope you realize what a western over-consumption globally-wealthy concept it is that walking — walking — is an “alternative” form of transportation. 4/5 of the people on the planet would laugh at such a statement, as would 99% of the humans who have ever walked the earth.
Report: 98 Percent Of U.S. Commuters Favor Public Transportation For Others
CTS needs major improvement, and I would argue that it should be financed by a regional gasoline tax. Drivers would pay a tiny amount more per person, but would enjoy enormous benefits in decreased congestion. I expect the time value saved would vastly overwhelm the extra cost of the tax. I got this idea from how craigslist is financed.
Also, I’ve heard something about climate change.
CTS could change for the better without spending more money. Lots of money is already being wasted on the Trolley.
A regional gasoline tax would require enabling legislation from the State Legislature and that is very unlikely and I AM VERY HAPPY ABOUT THAT! The solution to air pollution does not lie in making life more expensive for people who don’t live here and must commute from miles away to their jobs but in legislation mandating cleaner vehicle engines.