Brewing bus battle * USA / Minnesota: Fancy vs. frill-free
More officials are asking: Are two tiers of bus service really fair, and are affluent suburbs getting more than their share of the bucks?
Minneapolis,MINN,USA -The Star Tribune, by DAVID PETERSON & KATIE HUMPHREY -August 25, 2010: -- It's not that she hates city buses. She takes them all the time. But when she steps from the floral-scented atmosphere of the Eden Prairie station into one of the gleaming black coaches of SouthWest Transit, Lori York enters a different world than the one she encounters on Metro Transit buses... Here, unlike the city bus, she feels like a first-class airline passenger, from the style of the announcements over the loudspeaker to the reclining coach seats, the footrests and the cup holder... But that two-tier Twin Cities bus system, with fancy coaches serving some suburbs while bare-bones buses cruise city streets, has long rankled those who get the frill-free treatment... And key city legislators are now openly suggesting it's unacceptable -- especially in light of data suggesting the suburban services cost significantly more per passenger. The legislative auditor is in the midst of a major study, the kind that can lead to landmark legislation... The rumbles of change have civic leaders in the "golden crescent" of upscale western and southern suburbs worried that they could lose the ability to provide the high-quality service that draws longer-range commuters out of their cars... (Photo by Brendan Sullivan/The Star Tribune: On Saturday afternoon, Metro Transit bus users wait to arrive at their destination while riding the No. 4 route city bus throughout downtown Minneapolis. The city buses are recently being compared to the suburban buses which are considered more of a luxury)Labels: public transport systems
posted by Unknown @ 5:52 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home