DATA looks for input on service directions

Durham's local bus system, DATA, is asking citizens to submit feedback on its services and programs to guide service directions in its next short-range transit plan:

Durham Area Transit Authority (DATA) is seeking public input on its short-range transit plan to guide its service improvements over the next five years.

“With the increase in ridership, it is a great time to start looking at the future of transit and how we can best serve the residents of Durham over the next five years,” said Cha’ssem Anderson, transportation planner for the City of Durham.  “Receiving public input has always been a large part of how we plan for improvements to our system.  This request for public input is the first of a series of public input requests over the next six months.”

Want to give input? Complete DATA's online survey form before August 1. (We trust the DATA team has also made surveys available in paper format to be convenient to riders, or folks without Internet access?)

Among the possible improvement priorities include 15-minute headways, increased night service, more bus shelters, fare-free service (a concept rejected to date by City Council), and more park and ride lots.

Personally, I'm hoping to see more information in the short-range transit plan about the level of capital investment in the DATA service, particularly after encountering the numbers we looked at here a few weeks ago that showed Durham's fleet carries twice as many passenger miles per bus as the Chapel Hill or Raleigh systems, raising questions in my mind as to whether the City is investing enough in bus services (or alternatively, whether it's just running an efficient, popular system.)

Comments

[David Rollins]

I love the suggestion to choose *five* improvements. At least you get to write in a suggestion.

Mine is that they should participate in the RTP SmartCommute Challenge like they mean it. A few years ago you could take the challenge and get a bracelet allowing you to ride free for one week. It was fantastic to see all those people riding the bus. This past year I think you got a discount coupon.

[Visconti]

It would be great if they could start an electric tram or cable car line along Main Street, from the 9th Street area to downtown.

[barry]

why only from 9th street to downtown? How about East Main, at least to Alston, if not all the way to Miami? other E/W lines could run on Morehead/Pettigrew, Club, Holloway, and, eventually, Carver. N/S lines from West Point on the Eno to downtown, split at the North Duke Mall (The Mall That Time Forgot, as Joe calls it) to run on Duke and Roxboro at least to the ballpark and the new DPAC, Guess/Broad with a spur somewhere that runs to the hospital, and Fayetteville.

Thirty years from now, very few people are going to be using their personal automobiles to get around in Durham. Durham's leadership needs to be planning that system now if the city is going to thrive in that environment.

[Paul Dudenhefer]

Thanks for the news about the survey. I completed it and said that a bus service needs to be super-convenient for me to use. By super-convenient I mean (1) stops must be within a quarter mile of my residence and destination (I'm willing to make it a half mile); (2) a bus must come every 5-7 minutes (15 is too long); (3) stops must be more than places on the side of the road; and (4) the travel time should not exceed 133% of the time it takes in a car (e.g., a 30-minute trip by car should take no more than 40 minutes by bus). Other cities have such systems: London, New York, Amsterdam, Madison (Wisconsin, when I lived there, at least). It is entirely possible for Durham to have one too.

[Loretta Alford]

I want to ride the bus to Duke, but I would have to catch the bus on Leon St, go to Northgate Mall and then go downtown to catch the #6 to Duke. I can drive in less than 10 minutes.

[Philip]

Thanks for providing the link. I probably would not have been able to participate but for BCR.

I'm constantly amazed at the amount of car traffic going 15/501 from Durham to Chapel Hill and back and the number of people (including myself) who complain about going back and forth. It's a lot of mileage, a lot of people and, I would think, a great chance to convert those people miles to more efficient bus miles.