Location Transport

How do public transportation agencies select new routes or improve/discontinue existing ones?

I am a huge public transportation fan, but I often wonder how agency officials decide where buses should drive, how far apart to place each stop and so on. Do they use computer models and other sorts of computerized technology to come to these conclusions, or do they simply get out there and create task forces to gauge what citizens want and/or need?

Public Comments

1. There was an express bus that I used to ride from near my home to work. Because ridership on that route was low, the company decided to discontinue it. There was a Community meeting held in the area affected by that bus where we were able to speak to a representative from the bus company as well as the City council member for the area. Despite our pleas, they discontinued the route and combined it with another route that went nearby. There are frequent changes to stops and routes with our bus system. Complaints, traffic accidents and school schedules are all reasons given for the changes made. So, they use current ridership and traffic flow data as well as comments from the community. If your public transportation system is subsidized by the government, you can also speak to your representative or the Department of Transportation.
2. It depends. The larger ones, such as the LA MTA, actually have quite elaborate models and they keep track of ridership on each route and all. They also have public meetings once in a way for people to give their input, and every once in a while they have public surveys. Smaller agencies might do it more informally.