After moving away from Rochester and living in Florida for 14 years and riding buses for over twenty-five years, I have some suggestions that may make the RGRTA system much easier to use and better overall. I have prepared a more formal proposal to give to them but for the public, here are the basics of it.
NAME CHANGE.
Saying RGRTA is just shy of a tounge-twister and it doesn't have a "nice" sound to it. Something less corporate and friendlier would be better. Tampa shortened Hillsborough Area Regional Transit to HARTline and it made a great difference. Applying a similar approach to RGRTA, we might use a catchier name like "GREATride" which comes from Greater Rochester Extended Area Transit (G.R.E.A.T.)" There would be a wide variety of marketing slogans and tag lines available.
Another option for a new name would be "ROGER transit" which comes from ROchester GEnessee Regional transit authority. The marketing might go something like "Ride with ROGER" to work, for errands or to play. If they want an icon to put a face to, use the front of the bus and make it look more like a face. A third version might be "Reggie" from the "REGional" part of the RGRTA.
ROUTE CHANGES.
Looking at many of the routes, they are misleading. "15 Latta" only hits a small part of Latta Rd and "6 Jefferson" only goes a very short way on Jefferson. Many of the routes are like this, as well as not running on a defined easy to read or remember schedule and route. They need to update ALL the routes and run them in a grid (with a few exceptions). Then number them in an easy pattern. I know many of these routes have been in service for more than 30 years but keeping them just because they have been there has created many challenges and conflicts in using RGRTA.
ROGER would have service running routes with even numbers East-West and odd numbers run North-South. Since some streets run diagonal there would be a few routes that might have a grouping like all numbered 60s or something. The numbering could also be broken into regions like NE, NW, SE, SW, and outer/extended areas.
Another suggestion in this area is to have the buses run "dual alternating routes" which it like having bus #101 run the Route 1 Lake Ave to downtown then when it hits the downtown transit center it becomes #1 again. This pattern lets buses run more routes while shortening the time between routes to have stops every hour or so instead of every 73 minutes like the Lake Avenue route. While we are talking time, run major buses earlier and later in the day so evening and night shift workers can get to & from work a little easier.
Simple, easy to remember routes and schedules are what people want when using the transit system. Making it too hard to remember how the system works will turn riders away.
TRANSIT CENTERS, SIGNAGE AND SYSTEM MAPS.
The few major transit centers are the malls and the downtown square. While these work, they could use a little improvement. Make them more "welcoming" and have routes that serve the area and that connect to "crosstown" and local routes. This makes it easier to catch a bus from a local area to transit center, then crosstown to another TC, then on to a local route.
While marking bus stops with signs is nice, LABELING the sign with the route numbers that stop there would be much better for riders. Many transit systems do this and it makes a big difference in finding your way along the system. Think of it this way, a new rider or an infrequent rider is less likely to ride the bus if they do not know what routes stop near their home. By labeling the stop with route numbers it makes it easier for new patrons to see that Routes 1,6,& 16 stop there so they can see what buses they live near and what buses connect at that stop. Since RGRTA has the confusing system of running alternate segments (like the Route 1 with its 4 route variations), GREATride/ROGER would improve signage to show at a glance that this is a limited stop and is not served on every run. I know there is a bus stop in front of my apartment complex but I and others have not seen a bus actually stop or even go by it in over two years. Limited stops could be signaled by color bands or color circles behind the route number that it refers to.
Along with this, the large system-wide route map that shows where routes run should be readily available like route schedules are.
WHAT IS WORKING NOW.
The Freedom passes are a good thing. The one-zone-one-fare is not. It was created to make money for RGRTA. They disguised it by saying it is easier to remember. Transfers were easy to remember. One transfer, one connecting route. But now if you are going to take two buses somewhere, you have to take two to get back so spend the $3 for the one-day unlimited pass so you can stop along the way as needed.
So what do you think about these ideas? Will they work? Would they make it easier to "Take a GREAT ride" or "Ride with ROGER" or am I just wasting my time? I invite the public to comment on my proposal to gauge how riders and the public view my suggestions. Provide your input by posting your comments on this blog topic. I would be interested in hearing from current anf former RGRTA employees, and riders.
Thank you for reading my suggestions to improve RGRTA to benefit all of the Greater Rochester Area.
CHEEBURGER CHEEBURGER is a casual 50s era restaurant that serves cheese burgers, fires, rings, salads, and shakes. They are located mostly in the eastern United States. What draws people in are the Cheeburgers which come in 5 sizes. You can find them online at www.CheeburgerCheeburger.com (note the spelling is correct. there is no letter "S" in their name.)
