Route 120 – Delete It or Keep It?

Route 120. It’s been around since Ben Franklin Transit began, and has seen many, many changes. However, I think it may be time to say goodbye to the 120. Below is a map of the route in it’s entirety. Can you see the problem? *This is not actually the most current version of the map, [...]

How To Select A Seat On A Greyhound Bus (A Not-So-Very Scientific Study)

Last summer, I was on a red-eye flight between Seattle and Baltimore, and I may or may not have been awake for a period of time longer than what would be considered “normal.” During the flight, with free pretzels and free beer in hand (thanks to a stewardess who thought me being an organ donor [...]

#transitmemory – How I Became a Transit Nerd

This morning, @mamakoid posed this challenge to everyone on Twitter: “What is your first transit memory?” Mine is pretty simple. Years ago when I was still a young’un and living in Whitehorse, my Mom, sister, and myself were getting ready to leave our house in Riverdale and head up to Takhini for our youth league [...]

Subtle Changes

As I’ve mentioned several times here on the blog and on Twitter, I continue to work on what I feel is a solution to revamp the current service at Ben Franklin Transit for the better. However, in nearly every situation, as much as I try not to I find myself drifting away from what would [...]

October 2011 Board Meeting

You know the drill. Each month, the board convenes to go over the latest stuff, vote on any resolutions, and blah blah blah. Several months ago, board member Richard Bloom, who is also a Hanford employee, brought up the idea of transit service to the Hanford area. Back in the day (1940′s to ~1995/1996), there [...]

Drop Off Only

Even as we see small incremental gains in the economy, things aren’t anywhere near back to “normal.” Because of this, transit agencies are still struggling financially and continuing to cut service, or even in a few cases, completely end service altogether. For Ben Franklin Transit, things aren’t horrible. The Tri-Cities has been mostly immune to the [...]

The Roundabout Bus

Several days ago, King County Metro launched their newest “BRT” (Bus Rapid Transit) line, RapidRide B, which runs between Bellevue and Redmond. (I use the term BRT cautiously, as there is a huge debate whether the RapidRide lines deserve to even be called that.) On my Twitter feed, I saw a post from @oranv about how the [...]

Sales Tax or Demand?

The scenario: City A contributes the most tax revenue in a transit agency’s service area, but receives less service than City B, which contributes a smaller amount of tax revenue. Is this fair? Here in the Tri-Cities, which is served by Ben Franklin Transit, sales tax contributions are highly varied among the cities. For example, [...]