We had six riders for today’s Bus Party. We rode Route 8 through the southwest side of Cedar Rapids, out to Stoney Point and back. Johnson Ave. is the backbone of this route and the route links quite a few schools including Hoover Elementary, Taft Middle, Truman Elementary, and Coolidge Elementary. The bus wasn’t very full besides our group, and having been a daily rider when I lived on that side of town, I can say that its ridership is mostly made up of people working downtown and students going to school, so that makes sense. The best thing about today’s bus party was that we finally rode one of the brand new Gillig buses! Right away, all of the riders noticed how much quieter and smoother this bus was compared to the other buses we’ve been on. It was even quite comfortable on bumpy, pothole-filled Johnson Ave.
Most of our bus discussion was about the new Gilig, but one of the riders was scouting a drop off/pick up point for potential future use of this route. This is how I ride in the winter and many times throughout the rest of the year, so we talked a little about what makes a good location.
We ate outside of downtown this time, and enjoyed authentic Mexican food at El Super Burrito which happens to be on Route 8.
Next month will be Route 9. See you then!
Tags: bus party, cedar rapids, route 8
2010-02-20 at 4:38 pm |
I noticed a Gillig running on route 8 back around New Years. Any idea if they keep them on the same routes now or if they rotate them around the routes like the did at first?
2010-02-20 at 5:06 pm |
I can’t confirm it because I haven’t asked someone who knows, but I have seen one on Route 4 and Route 12 for a while too. Route 3 has had one sporadically, so maybe they keep three of them on certain routes fairly regularly and use the 4th to fill in where needed or rotate it. Just a guess, but I’ll try to find out more.
2010-02-24 at 7:07 am |
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