The Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority (DART) is the transit organization that runs the Des Moines buses. They’ve had some negative publicity about hitting pedestrians lately, but it looks like they have some great services going on. Side note: I wouldn’t recommend using it, but I do enjoy my local friend’s slogan “you can’t get hit by us if you’re riding on us”. It’s funny, you know it. Anyway, I was checking out their programs page and discovered that there are around 50 organizations (35 listed on the site) that currently support employee transit benefits to varying degrees! I am jealous.
I wrote about this in Cedar Rapids, wondering how many people would be interested, but perhaps it would be better to start with the employers. The DART site does a good job of listing benefits for employers who choose to support transit through subsidized fares, and I’d add the benefit of publicity for those employers. It’s an additional perk for employees, plus it helps the community with things like congestion and air quality which can help foster a good feeling toward the company. I’m obviously a big supporter for this type of program and I truly believe it’s worth it for employers to provide this.
I am starting to look at other transit systems in cities of comparative size or location to look for easy improvements for Cedar Rapids. While the DART site isn’t the most gorgeous website ever, I do appreciate the level of detail they seem to be sharing. I love the idea of pages dedicated to new riders and how those pages walk a rider through the basics. I also like that they have a ton of information (ton means significantly more than CR provides) about how to use a bike with the bus system. Has anyone out there used DART to know if these pages are helpful in practice? How about other transit systems’ programs or sites. What do you like that could be added in Cedar Rapids?
Tags: Des Moines, Funding, iowa, Transit experience
2009-11-21 at 6:58 pm |
It’d be a nice show of support and corporate citizenship for Cedar Rapids’ major employers (Rockwell Collins, AEGON, hospitals, school districts, etc) to offer free or reduced transit passes for employees. Imagine the potential increase in ridership (and ultimately service) if transit was encouraged at these large employers.