Bus Ridership

Much of the email that I have received on this evening's vote has mentioned the low ridership of the current buses in Provo.

I wasn't able to find the comment to quote it here, but on November 4th, 2015 (the morning after the general election) a Provo resident posted on Facebook that she was glad that Proposition 1 hadn't passed. She went on to explain that she never rides public transit because it is inconvenient; there are no routes by her house, doesn't go where she wants to go, is too infrequent, and takes moves too slow. I had to scratch my head at this comment, because those are the exact things that Proposition 1 was suppose to address. Similarly, these are some of the reasons that current bus ridership is so low, and highlights some of the advantages of BRT. BRT will be frequent, with buses 5 minutes apart during peak transit times. BRT is rapid, with streamlined boarding and traffic signal prioritization. BRT connects major nodes in the Provo/Orem area and extends the utility of FrontRunner.

The reasons why bus ridership is low, are the reasons why BRT will thrive.

Many of us travel to Salt Lake, even infrequently. My guess is that many more of us have ridden on TRAX than have ridden UTA buses in Salt Lake. BRT will be far more similar in function and feel to lightrail than to standard buses.

I grew up in Salt Lake and lived through the debate prior to the construction of their light rail system. The voices of opposition were loud, and predicted failure. Though I was a youth, I worried that the opponents might be right and the impact TRAX would have if they were. The controversy quickly dissipated once the system opened, and cities in Salt Lake County now compete fiercely to have the next TRAX spur service their communities.

I believe that BRT will have a similar trajectory in our County.