Left In Lowell

What Needs Doing With the LRTA?

15 Responses to “What Needs Doing With the LRTA?”

1. MOONLIGHT Says:
   January 5th, 2009 at 3:32 pm

   What is all the hyperbole about the LRTA
   Every time i see a bus go by me, ITS EMPTY!!!
   Nobody on it., why break the bank for all this
   How many buses do we really need ??

2. Prince Charming Says:
   January 5th, 2009 at 3:45 pm

   If the LRTA accepts state money, why can a legislator (who says where that money can be spent) be at the bargaining table with either party? Murphy reeks of conflict of interest every time he gets his name in the paper.

3. Christopher Says:
   January 5th, 2009 at 3:58 pm

   Lynne, there was an editorial in the Sun the other day which was (surprise!) anti-union with regard to the LRTA situation. I was actually kind of hoping to find the other side of the story here.

4. Mr. Lynne Says:
   January 5th, 2009 at 4:08 pm

   People with knowledge of the other side of the issue are more than welcome to post here (please do). Disclosure is, of course, appreciated.

5. Lynne Says:
   January 5th, 2009 at 4:19 pm

   Unfortunately, this is one area I’m woefully lacking strong knowledge, but yeah, one has to take ANY editorial from the Sun with regards to unions with copious amounts of salt. I too was also hoping to hear another side, one which likely didn’t get into the paper whether it deserved it or not.

   I do know that the bus system is underused, but I suspect it’s largely an issue of it not being as useful as it should be - most people, for instance, need transport past 6pm. How is a working person supposed to rely on transit that doesn’t supply buses for when they need them to get home from work? As I said, I’d seriously consider the bus instead of using my car to get around town, but I’d be stranded pretty much every day, or have to cut my work day short, in order to do so.

6. Corey Says:
   January 5th, 2009 at 5:43 pm

   The best thing I can say about the LRTAs service area is it pretty well covers the spiderweb of old streetcar routes that Lowell was built along. If you go in the Gallagher terminal, they do have a full system map that for some crazy reason you can’t get online. You can * technically* get just about anywhere in Lowell by bus, and the suburban coverage is decent as well (except there is no connection to the Nashua bus system at all!). But, everything else is wildly impractical. I am one of a handful of people that both lives and works on the same LRTA line, and I never use it. Let’s do the math:

   It takes me 20 minutes to get in my car and drive to work down by the Burlington Mall, 11 miles away.

   I live downtown, and the downtown shuttle runs every 15 minutes. Since it doesn’t run like clockwork, you need to be concerned about missing the last one that shows up before you need to be at the station. In other words, my time waiting for the shuttle and actually riding it is 20 minutes, the time it takes to get to work by car, and I haven’t even left walking distance from my home yet. Then, I have to wait for the hourly bus. The bus takes 45 minutes to get to my office. I’ve been in transit for nearly 90 minutes by the time I get to my desk. Now, to go home, I have to make that last bus out of Burlington, walking across arteries unsafe for pedestrians, to repeat the process to get home. Again, due to the route’s unpredictability and the infrequency of service, missing the bus is simply not an option, enter standing on the curb for 15 minutes or so. Could have driven back into Lowell by the time I’m on the bus. Final kicker? Bus fare to suburbia and back: $4, less with a monthly pass if you use the bus a lot, to be fair. Gas to drive myself 22 miles? $2 and change, plus maintenance, and my car is a guzzler.

   Want to take one route to another? Sorry, can’t do that. I don’t have a concrete example, but no point in Lowell is more than 6 miles or so from another. At 15 MPH even, that should take 20-30 mins to travel, maximum. Not as if we have dedicated bus lanes, they get stuck in traffic and fry the whole system. Try catching an hourly bus that just misses your connection going back out in another direction. You may be 50 minutes at Gallagher just waiting for your bus, and if it’s the end of the day, you’re paying a ludicrous cab fare instead. Same deal with a simple errand midway on a line - step off the bus for a 10 minute errand on your way to another further down the line, you just cost yourself almost an hour.

   Anybody that can drive, will drive, unless they somehow get more buses on these routes. And that won’t happen without more passengers. It’s circular, I think, but I don’t think more buses would be profitable. It’ll always be far easier, and often actually cheaper if you do the math, to drive. And as was mentioned, they don’t run nearly late enough for anyone to use them to do anything downtown or anywhere after work, which would probably be one of the biggest markets to pick up.

   The only solution to all of this is that Lowell had a beautiful streetcar system back when downtown Lowell was a central business district. Just like all roads lead to Rome, all roads lead to the mills. The only major city street I can readily think of that does not go into downtown or at least make progress in that direction is Stevens Street. And unless we go back to that urban model, no mass transit system will ever work efficiently.

7. Corey Says:
   January 5th, 2009 at 5:50 pm

   OK, as soon as I wrote that School St, Riverside St, and maybe Fletcher St popped into my head as non-arterials. But my point still stands - there are parts of Lowell that are really hard to get to from another because of their street design, and the LRTA follows the major roads with very few connections outside of downtown. This isn’t an LRTA problem, the T does this as well, and they keep talking about doing something about that (but I bet they never will). Try going from Alewife to BC by subway. Takes way more time than the physical distance seems like it should. But Boston is a very desirable place to live and work, so they get away with it. We don’t have that luxury in Lowell, it’s much easier to set up shop in the suburbs or tear down another building for more parking.

8. Mimi Says:
   January 5th, 2009 at 6:05 pm

   It will be those who cannot afford a car or who cannot drive are the ones who will be hurt the most by a work stoppage of any kind; the most unfortunate ones in our communities.

   And Christopher, it would be helpful if the union spoke to the press so that we can all understand “their side” of the issue.

9. -b Says:
   January 5th, 2009 at 9:42 pm

   Totally agree with the comments on Rep Murphy. When I read he was a State Rep and also the lawyer for the Transportation Union I did a double take. I really couldn’t believe it. Then again, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.

   Comments about seeing lots of empty buses also ring true for me.

   I have a stop right near my house. I suggested to my wife that we take one of the buses downtown some day, but she was kind of disgusted with the idea. I’m guessing there are lots of others in the city that would side with my wife. Really though, I don’t think we’re the demographic that the LRTA is looking to serve.

   Do the Lowell High kids use those buses?

   I have no idea what the ridership on the LRTA is, so my comment may be completely ignorant, but I’m guessing all those buses, the big LRTA building on Hale Street, the employees, and their union lawyer cost lots of money. What if we were to scrap the whole thing and just give people some kind of taxi waivers or something?

   Here would be a good calculation to know - what’s the cost per rider?

10. Brian Flaherty Says:
    January 6th, 2009 at 7:43 am

    I never see more than a handful of people on those buses. Lowell is way too small, in my mind, to need a bus service. I have never once considered taking the bus.

    I could not believe that Murphy was the lawyer either. He is also the attorney for the Dracut School Committee and for those Lowell school administrators who got those raises last year.

11. Corey Says:
    January 6th, 2009 at 9:13 am

    B,

    Northern MA Council of Governments (http://www.nmcog.org/Tran%20Plan%20update%202030/Draft%20RTP_Sect.%20VII.doc) said in 2006, 1.2 Million Fixed-Route trips were made. That’s down from nearly 1.7 million in 2000.

    FirstTransit gives budget figures below:
    http://www.firsttransit.com/FirsttransitView.php?id=107

    Assuming all this data is correct (that budget may include paratransit, but doesn’t seem to include that in the ridership numbers, so maybe not?), the LRTA needs 8.8 million a year for 1.2-1.5 million rides. That works out to $5-7 a ride. Still less than a taxi fare in many cases, so it’s not a total racket. But like we’re all saying, very few people take the system by choice, so it’s really the most vulnerable that ride it and can’t absorb higher fares.

    And a lot of LHS kids do ride the bus, some lines actually run extra busses on school days.

12. Eleanor Rigby Says:
    January 6th, 2009 at 1:48 pm

    With the number of half full/nearly empty buses I see driving around the city wouldn’t it make $ense to replace the majority of the large diesel buses with smaller alternative fuel buses?

13. -b Says:
    January 6th, 2009 at 2:25 pm

    Interesting stats Corey. I saw a recent quote that ridership was up significantly when gas prices spiked last year. Seems like the LRTA offers a marginal benefit to the community.

    I’m sure that some percentage of their riders are using it to commute to their jobs, and that if they did have the bus they’d probably just live off the system.

14. Lynne Says:
    January 6th, 2009 at 3:10 pm

    Well, then, should the LRTA be looking to extend ridership?

    For instance, playing into the green and historic elements that are popular these days?

    If the LRTA ran a little later (just a little, mind you!) and replaced their buses with all hybrids (even better if they were some other vehicle like electric running on renewables!), maybe using smaller buses with more routes and exchange points within the city, would more people ride them? If you knew you could get anywhere in Lowell and parts of outlying towns within 20-30 minutes using less energy per person, would you do it?

    I would, especially, as mentioned, to get downtown so I wouldn’t have to deal with parking.

15. Corey Says:
    January 6th, 2009 at 5:55 pm

    I don’t think smaller buses would cancel out more routes, or more runs and make the system affordable. It’s already heavily subsidized. Twice as many motors and twice as many salaries and benefits doesn’t add up to twice as much gas, if that.

    I don’t understand why aside from the horrible schedules, more people don’t like the bus. Why is there such a stigma to it? 100 years ago, being able to use mass transit instead of walking was a luxury! I would love to be able to turn my brain off and get driven around, if it was practical. Plus, the environmental stuff you mentioned, etc. My girlfriend, who is still in school so she doesn’t have a car, uses the LRTA almost daily. She has very few problems with it aside from the service shortages.

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