A Few More Answers to Chat Questions

Wednesday, January 23, 2008 3:58 PM

Last week some of you participated in our first lunchtime Web chat, Transit Talk. We promised to try answer all the questions that you asked our president and CEO, Frank J. Wilson.

Here are a few more answers for you.

Q: What type of timely police presence will be available for bus operators when the Q Card goes into full effect?

A: “The Q Card will allow us to reduce the number of fare items to two fare items from 65, once the Q Card is fully implemented. We believe the long-term result will be fewer fare disputes between customers and operators,” says Tom Lambert, METRO’s chief of police. “Police response is something that we continue to focus on – from how we are actually deploying officers to how we are using cameras and other technology to deter incidents from occurring on our system, or when they do occur, to arresting the offender.

“We track when and where incidents are reported on the system and adjust police staffing to focus on how we can not only respond to an incident sooner, but also how we can visibly deter it from occurring in the first place,” Lambert continues.

Q: Do you think assaults on bus operators will increase because of the new fare structure?

A: “No, we believe that fare disputes should be reduced once this system is fully implemented,” says Lambert.

Q: With the new Q Card, METRO police will have more work checking to see if people paid. Do you plan to add more officers for this job alone?

A: “We are in the process of hiring more officers today to support all of our police and security initiatives,” says Lambert.

Q: Will METRO extend the 286 to Cypress Park & Ride/Cypress Village Station? I live at 290 & Barker Cypress and work around Post Oak Boulevard. Why should I have to drive 30-plus minutes to West Little York when there is a Park & Ride 10 minutes from my house? Transferring to the Northwest Transit Center is not easy. I have been late to work several times.

A: (From operations:) First, thank you for riding Route 286. We appreciate your ridership. At METRO, we’re responsible for ensuring sound use of the taxpayer dollars entrusted to us in the operation of service. Right now, the potential ridership for such an extension doesn’t appear to compensate for the additional cost of the extension. Since you’re riding the route, you’re probably aware of the fact that ridership on this service is not as high as on other Park & Ride routes. As a result, Route 286 has the poorest performance ranking of any Park & Ride route in METRO’s system in the most recent comparative ranking model.

Second, an extension of Route 286 to Cypress would result in a substantial increase in operating cost – more than 50 percent. Route 286 has had a ridership increase during fiscal year 2008 to 454 from 436 boardings. However, Route 286 would need an additional 206 boardings per day on an extended service simply to equal the current level of performance or +45 percent.

Third, METRO recently conducted a customer satisfaction survey at Cypress and found that only 20 people riding Route 217 indicated that they worked in Uptown or Greenway. Even assuming that these 20 people were to ride Route 286 daily, the extension would still need 80 plus more people willing to do so.

In other words, the potential market for new riders on this service does not appear to be as large as would be needed to support the extension.

Finally, even with 206 additional boardings per day, the service would simply perform as it currently does – poorly, relative to other Park & Ride routes. We’ll keep assessing the market to see if an opportunity arises in the future that is cost effective.

Q: Annual renewal of METROLift ID for a person with a permanent disability is a pain, and I don’t expect to be cured from muscular dystrohy any time soon. Why is it annual for someone like us who will most likely live forever with our disability?

A: Each rider’s length of eligibility is based on that person’s situation and abilities. Not everyone with muscular dystrophy rides METROLift. Some people are able to ride the fixed route and rail,” says Art Jackson, director of transportation.”We try to make the process as friendly as we can with regards to scheduling an appointment, providing transportation, having a location that is accessible using different forms of transportation.”