Foothill Transit gets bump in ridership

I had breakfast on Monday with Felicia Friesema, the spokeswoman for Foothill Transit. The agency provides bus service throughout the San Gabriel Valley.

She had a few interesting kernels about the current state of Foothill:

*Ridership is up between 2% to 3% this year, which Friesema said wasn't that much and doesn't cover the margin of error all that well when compiling such numbers. She said the agency believes that the troubled economy has hit a lot of Foothill's riders and they're not riding, perhaps, because they're not working.

*However, ridership was up significantly -- about 20% -- on the 690 express line, which connects Montclair to Pasadena. Foothill Transit is adding service because of the increases. It's a commuter line that runs westbound in the morning and eastbound at night. In my view, what's kind of interesting is that the 690, which takes 80 to 90 minutes to go from end to end, mimics the route of the proposed Gold Line extension. If congestion pricing was ever put on the 210 Freeway, the 690 may also benefit, since it uses part of the carpool lane on the freeway.

*Friesema was also quite willing to say that the area has not kept up on its investment in public transit for a lot of reasons -- for one, she said, it grew up in the era where "you worked in the city and lived in the country. And now that ridership is up, the system the region has will be put to the test.

"We can document the need, but you can't get blood from a turnip," Friesema said. "Here's the thing about taking public transportation -- it's a lifestyle choice. It requires some planning here and you have to be able to build your schedule around it."

The big question, we agreed, is whether the area can play catch-up and invest in enough mass transit so that it's not a big lifestyle choice.

--Steve Hymon

photo: Gina Ferazzi / LAT

Comments

[calwatch]

I drove into El Monte station today at lunch and can say categorically that the above statement is not true. There are spaces on the top deck of the parking structure (not even a quarter full), and scattered spots in the back lot west of the main terminal. And, if that fills, the overflow lot at Pioneer Park is completely empty. So with over a hundred spaces left over, El Monte Station is nearing capacity, but not yet at it.

As far as the SGV, I'm convinced that expanding Metrolink and lowering the fares there is probably a better solution for the San Gabriel Valley, since it has a better chance of serving more of the valley then a line near the Foothill Freeway. Sure, congestion is bad in the SGV, but it is much worse on the Westside, which is why a Wilshire subway is needed.

[Dana Gabbard]

As a longtime activist often admonished me: "Don't cater to the car!". So called "free" parking costs a great deal to provide--is it reasonable to expect transit agencies provide such expensive amenities to make you just consider taking public transit? And acquiring land for such facilities is often near impossible--Foothill has had several instances where it lost a lot, etc. NIMBYs fighting the creation of new lots are never counter-balanced by people who commute--the latter are nearly always AWOL at community forums where neighborhoods squelch park and ride lots.

Expensive freeway express bus routes for specialized trips also may not pencil out. The 577X that Joe likes to ride has very low ridership and likely will go away once the new service provision of the consent decree expires in 2010.

"If MTA wants more people to take public transit they'll have to provide plenty of free parking at nearly all stops along major routes."

[Joe]

Ridership is up, and parking is down.

I drove into El Monte Station today around 9:45am and discovered that there was no available parking.

Of course there seemed to be plenty of open spaces reserved for MTA employees in the parking structure where they have blocked recently blocked off half the spaces in that parking structure.

I personally drive into El Monte Station to connect to the 577x to Long Beach.

And forget about the Green Line. Norwalk Station never has available parking.

If MTA wants more people to take public transit they'll have to provide plenty of free parking at nearly all stops along major routes.

No one wants to sit on a local route that takes 45 minutes to go 10 miles only to connect to an express bus later that takes an hour or so to finish the route.

[RE]

I rode the 690 for almost a year in '07, driving up to Glendora from the Diamond Bar area. I never understood why FT doesn't have connecting service to the 690 stops. I hated the drive and eventually started taking Metrolink from the Industry station instead, even though the 690 to Pasadena took much less time.

[RE]

I rode the 690 for almost a year in '07, driving up to Glendora from the Diamond Bar area. I never understood why FT doesn't have connecting service to the 690 stops. I hated the drive and eventually started taking Metrolink from the Industry station instead, even though the 690 to Pasadena took much less time.

[Tom A.]

calwatch:

Buses travel on roads and freeways. During rush hour, the major east/west arterials in the northern SGV (Foothill Blvd., I-210, Arrow Hwy., etc.) already get extremely congested, a trend that will only accelerate with time. Unless you plan on appeasing us with buses that have been crossed with helicopters, we're going to need a rail alternative in our neck of the woods sooner or later.
Hey, sometimes the truth hurts.

[calwatch]

Let's be honest here, though. Even if each bus averaged a full seated load (which it doesn't), that's still 7 X 40 = 280 potential passengers. If the Gold Line people want the line, let's run a limited stop version of the 187 bus (which parallels the Gold Line) and see how much ridership it gets. The fact is, Wilshire Boulevard has a bus running on literally every 60 seconds, packed to at least 80% capacity, during the rush hour NOW. Routes that parallel the Expo Line extension, like the Big Blue Bus 10, Metro Line 33 on Venice, and Big Blue Bus 5 on Olympic, already have significant service. As much as I dog Crenshaw, even it has a bus on it every 5-10 minutes. Foothill Boulevard? Every 20, tops, and they aren't full. This is why enhanced bus service is adequate for the Foothill corridor.