Buses aren't so great
Christopher Burns, 29, of Perinton, one of Rochester's many avid drivers, says he admires the efforts the RGRTA has taken to make public transportation more accessible, but that it isn't quite enough. As president of the Rochester Young Professionals, he hears plenty of opinions on all sorts of city topics. And the bus situation is one of them.
“Users of the public transportation system in Rochester are really those that have no other alternative,” he says. “You don't hear people go down the street and say, ‘You know, I'm gonna go ride the bus today.'”
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Some of the problems he cites are complicated routes, unpredictable arrival and departure times and a lack of evening and weekend buses.
“To get from point A to point B, you have to be Sherlock Holmes to put together all the routes and transfers,” he says. “And there are some suburban routes, but not nearly enough without having to go downtown to transfer.”
Even Brzezowski, a self-proclaimed bus enthusiast, thinks that the current system in Rochester has room for improvement.
“Some places are hard (to get to),” he says. “They need to add more services outside the city.”
Specifically, he'd like to see more extensive routes in Henrietta and expanded service to scenic locales like Canandaigua.
Marchaesi says that planners at RGRTA are well-aware of the more common route requests and are in the midst of focusing on that very subject.
“It's difficult to cover every single destination and route,” she says. “But there is an extensive route analysis going on now to address that issue.”
However, she says that it's unlikely you'll see many more buses traveling from the city to the suburbs.
“In the confines of the city I think there's very heavy usage and availability,” she says. “But it's the general feeling here (at RGRTA) that building out of the city wouldn't make much sense — it would be expensive, and not that many people would need each route.”
Marchaesi believes that one of the main reasons that accessibility of public transportation in the area is difficult is because of the geography and layout of the city.
“Rochester's not built like other cities in terms of how you would set up a bus system,” she says. “There's not just like 10 direct main routes you'd be able to run back and forth — everything's spread out all over the place.”
I've got a better idea
Some, like Burns, however, see that same sprawling Rochester terrain as a positive characteristic for public transportation instead of a hindrance.
And he's hoping to make the most of it.
He's president and CEO of the Rochester Trolley & Rail Corporation, a company looking to reestablish the rail travel that was vital to the Rochester region during the late 1800s and early 1900s.
“Rochester roads were once crisscrossed with street cars, and a lot of those rails are sitting dormant,” he says. “Why not use them again to shuttle people?”
The aim of the company, which would have routes stretching from Charlotte all the way to Canandaigua, isn't to replace the RGRTA, but to supplement it.
He hopes that by giving travelers more options, they'll be more likely to get out and around Rochester and use public transportation for pleasure instead of just business — which would have positive effects on local economy and bolster tourism.
“It would also give the community a defining characteristic,” he says.
But, for now, the project is still in the works.
“We've had meetings or conversations with pretty much every municipality our routes would touch,” he says. “But at this point we still need to conduct engineering and feasibility studies.”
Burns originally had hoped to have a line open from Charlotte to downtown to coincide with the beginning of fast ferry service but, after that date passed and with a lack of external funding, he says they have no specific target date for reestablishing rail service.
And recently much of the attention on mass transit amongst government officials and city planners, he feels, is focused on the underground transit center proposed to be built on the north side of East Main Street between North Clinton Avenue and St. Paul Street.
“People have a lot of time and dollars invested in it,” Burns says of the center that he envisions would work hand in hand with his trolley service.
“Connecting to the transit center is very important in our plans, as we see it as a hopeful locus of downtown activity.”
In the meantime, Marchaesi says that the RGRTA is unveiling a few new upgrades that should make the existing bus system a little more attractive and rider-friendly.
“We're putting more information on all the bus signs that will show what the fare will be, where the route goes and a map,” she says. “We're also working on LED information displays with real-time arrival information to be posted at every bus stop.”
The new signs are slated to hit the streets the first of the year. The LED displays are a little further down the road.
And while the RGRTA or even Burns' trolley company may never be able to take you directly from your door to where you need to go, at least there are plenty of ideas in the works to make traveling without a car a little easier and more attractive.
And if you find yourself on that crazy reality show and have never even set foot on a bus, maybe you'll be able to make it at least part of the way home.
And maybe you'll even ride it further, just for the heck of it.
