Cedar Rapids Bus Party

On August 24th the bus fares for Cedar Rapids Transit increased as part of the city of Cedar Rapids’ fiscal year 2010 budget. At the first Transit Study Open House, I learned that Cedar Rapids now charges rates above the national average. A single route, one way trip is $1.25 and transferring is $2.50 for the general public in Cedar Rapids. The national averages are $1.16 and $1.68, respectively. This is irritating for some, but a real burden for many of the riders who depend on the transit system.

Bob Bourne of Bourne Transit is one of the consultants for the transit study, and seems to know the ins and outs of running a transit system (he did spend 25 years improving CyRide in Ames). He said that the most successful transit systems are in states with strong state backing, but Iowa isn’t there yet. We need public transit to become a higher priority so adequate funding can flow down. This would help improve public transportation in our state and distribute more of the load to the government instead of the citizens. Given the billions of dollars that go into roadway infrastructure each year, more money could be diverted to public transit, encouraging more people to use it and help lessen the wear and tear on our streets.

Iowa has started to dive further into passenger rail, which is a good sign, but now we need systems to get those riders to their local destination once they arrive on a train. Many discussions about commuter routes between Iowa City and Cedar Rapids bring up the problem of local bus systems once people arrive in the cities. Right now it would not practical for someone to use a fixed transit system to commute from Iowa City to Cedar Rapids unless they worked near where the Cedar Rapids drop off was located. That means we need to work now to improve the local systems if we truly want to move toward a better connected corridor. As usual, this requires money, but most importantly it requires backing from citizens. If you’d like to see public transit move up the priority ladder, make sure you let those representing you know.

You can find your representatives here and here. I’m not into writing the pre-made letters yet, so I’ll just suggest letting them know you care about public transportation in Iowa. A quick email is all it takes to start climbing the ladder.