BREAKING NEWS
Feds give Auburn $1.3 million for buses
Federal funds are coming to Placer County and Auburn transportation, to the tune of $1.3 million. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the grant on Fri-day. Placer County will receive the money from the Federal Recovery Act to go to-ward new public buses. The grant would replace 25-foot buses for Auburn specifically, and two 45-foot commuter buses for Placer County Commuter Express Service. Jennifer Baker, who uses the bus service in Auburn frequently, said the buses themselves don’t need improvement, but she would appreciate some more stops and less wait time. “The buses are in pretty good shape,” she said. “There are spots that could be im-proved. There’s a whole stretch of Highway 49 that (the buses) don’t pick up on.” She said an additional bus or two running in Auburn could be helpful, to cut down on wait time. It can be a wait of up to two hours if you want to go to Loomis or Roseville, she said. The grant is a part of $1.44 billion that has already been doled out to 28 states since President Obama signed the act into law in February, for the purpose of improving public transportation.
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If we are going to have empty buses running around, they might as well be new empty buses.
the fees are going up as of next month for Placer County Transit. Extending the route service would be very helpful to those who use public transportation.
We could prbably set up a limo service for the few people riding busses - door to door transit - and do it for less than this pork laden project. Why on earth do we want to replace perfectly good busses that no one rides with new busses that no one will ride either.
Trickle-down socialism. Paying for buses no one uses with my tax money. Nice.
Impeach Obama now.
This would be funny if it weren't so serious. Our politicians, at every level, seem to be absolutely dead-set at throwing away money....and it's money that we don't have.
This could be a great thing if they did what Jennifer Baker said, "There’s a whole stretch of Highway 49 that (the buses) don’t pick up on.”
I know I walked 1 hour on a hot day from Taco Tree in town to Luther Road. All this stretch of Highway 49 didn't have one bus stop. The shoulder is so narrow that many times I risked being hit by traffic. Many times I walked over overgrown weeds because there was no sidewalks. Near the 80 freeway entrance was the worse. Running across the street and watching for freeway traffic was terrifying. There is bus stops by Taco Bell on Highway 49 on both sides of Highway 49. There is a bus stop by the Kmart shopping center and a transfer point near the train station. If your bus leaves early than like Jennifer Baker says you have a long wait time.
Such gaps (bus stops, safety and wait time) are maybe why the buses aren't used much. I would buy first Auburn if there was more bus transportation. But the present bus system is impossible to use to do shopping or get to a job. I wouldn't mind waiting but the bus system is not developed enough to be of practical use. Like Chunkycheese said, "This would be funny if it weren't so serious."
Where do you guys get the idea that our bus system is not used? I took the bus about 20 times last year, and never rode an empty bus. I would guess that on average the bus was filled to 50% capacity.
JP, you can't ride an empty bus, it has to have a driver. I have taken note of the buses in the last 3 months that churn up 80 from western Placer County. I have never seen one even close to half full and usually there are one or two riders. I witnessed 2 buses today with one rider on each. Spend the money on school buses at least they get some ridership or better yet don't spend it at all until we get some semblance of balance in our monetary system.
Increase the routes--they'll attract more ridership.