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Politics & Government

Bus Plan Sounds Great ... Now It Just Needs More Riders

A slick public transit system doesn't become a selling point until it is used by people who don't have to use it.

What if a group of Guy Fawkes Mast-wearing anarchists shut down Novato’s public transit system? Would it make the news? Would the city be crippled if the trains (in Novato’s case, the buses) stopped running?

Obviously not. Unlike in San Francisco, when BART protests ruined the commute for thousands, the majority of local residents would experience a Marin Transit protest as something flashing past through the windows of their automobile.

There are Novato residents who count on the buses. Some of them are laptop-toting commuters who work in San Francisco or other nearby cities. Novato City Council member Pat Eklund owns a car but is a dedicated bus commuter to her job in San Francisco and an advocate for better and safer bus service for Novato residents.

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But the majority of riders are not well-off folks heading to the Financial District. According to the recently-completed Novato Transit Needs Assessment, 60 percent of transit riders in Novato are employed and 65 percent of them earn less than $20,000 annually. Sixty-six percent of them don’t have a driver’s license and 76 percent don’t have access to a car. Ridership is heavy among teenagers, young adults and the working poor. These people count on local buses, often walking several blocks or more to find a stop.

But what should that that mean to a car owner who never rides the bus? Should you care about public transit if you never ride it?

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Novato’s public transit system is among the least-used in Marin County. Routes 49, 51 and 52, according to the study, “are three of the four lowest-performing (routes) in the local system.” All local routes, it continues, “operate below the agency’s productivity goal of 20 passengers per vehicle service hour.” That’s because 76 percent of the people riding the bus are doing it because they have no other realistic options.

When Marin Transit announced the findings of the Novato Transit Needs Assessment then outlined a proposal to improve Novato bus service, the room erupted into cheers. The plan was that good. It would cut costs of routes 51 and 52 by consolidating them, allowing an expansion of the overall system at a yearly cost of $131,000. It would also improve existing bus stops and introduce weekend shuttle service. The city’s ultimate goal would be to add a downtown transit hub.

A slick public transit system doesn’t become a selling point until it is used by people who don’t have to use it. To make an impact, public transit can’t be an abstraction.

The National Association of Realtors, in a study of the relationship between public transit and property values (see attachment), states that “most transportation planners believe bus transit routes don’t attract significant land development investments.” Part of the reason, they say, is because of a perceived relationship between buses and “low-income and disadvantaged populations.”

If you want Novato’s buses to shine — and to create a healthy relationship between day-to-day convenience and the bottom line on your house — you’ll need to consider riding the bus even if you’ve got a Ford Explorer in your garage. Marin Transit and Novato are making an effort, people; the rest is up to you.

The Marin Transit board loved the ideas so much that the board members suggested that other cities, specifically Belvedere and Tiburon, were eager to begin their own transit studies.

That last part raises an uncomfortable question. Are there cities that don’t need a robust public transit system? What will improved bus service do for Tiburon and Belvedere? They are wealthy towns; only 1.6 percent of Tiburon residents and 2.9 percent of Belvedere residents live below the poverty line. The have narrow, often winding roads and locals used to driving everywhere. In their case, the value of improved public transit might be an abstraction, but in middle-class Novato, it could work.

Marin Transit’s plan for Novato includes several elements designed to make using public transit easier such as more attractive bus stops, better signage and streamlined routes. But the biggest challenge will still be getting people out of their cars and onto the bus.

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