There's only so much technology can solve
June 07, 2008
JEFF OUTHIT
RECORD STAFF
Grand River Transit wants you on their bus and they're using technology as a lure.
Yesterday, the regional agency launched its EasyGo service, intended to make it easier to ride public transit. Highlights include:
A website where you can plan your trip from door to door, showing times, distances and transfers.
A telephone number to provide you with departure times at your stop.
Text messaging, to reveal the next three times the bus is scheduled at your stop.
Governments are spending $3 million on consumer-friendly technology to promote transit. Other elements, already in place, include flat-panel information displays at terminals, real-time displays on express buses, and green-light priority for express buses at 17 intersections. These are all welcome initiatives, detailed at
www.grt.ca. They will make public transit a better experience.
"The goal really is to get people out of their cars, and change their habits," Kitchener Centre MPP John Milloy said.
It's a laudable goal. Unfortunately, what EasyGo shows me is why I still drive my car.
Let's say I want to commute by bus, leaving home at 8 a.m. and returning after 5 p.m. I asked the online trip planner: What's the fastest way to get from my front door to The Record and back again?
As promised, the planner told me where to walk, where to catch the bus, and what buses to take. A helpful map was provided. But the result was disheartening. My daily commute by Grand River Transit would require a transfer each way at Fairview Park mall and consume 91 minutes. This includes:
24 minutes of walking to bus stops.
15 minutes of waiting for buses.
52 minutes on buses.
The online planner missed the closest bus stop to my house, making me walk a bit longer than necessary. But here's the bigger concern.
I live seven kilometres from work. I can drive there and back in 24 minutes. So my commuting options are 24 pleasant minutes by car or 91 minutes on transit, outside in bad weather, mingling with strangers.
It's a no-brainer.
Taking transit would consume an extra 67 minutes of my day. I have other things to do with that time. I can actually walk to work and back in two hours, which is not much slower than taking the bus.
So yes, soaring gas prices hurt, and driving is bad for the environment. But EasyGo reminds me that public transit is achingly slow. In my case, it's almost four times slower.
Until that changes, I'll be in my car.
Jeff Outhit can be reached at
jouthit@therecord.com and 519-894-2250, ext. 2654.