Last Wednesday, a dozen Atlantans braved the rainy weather to meet at Atlanta City Studio for the first meeting in a book club series on Steven Higashide’s “Better Buses, Better Cities”. The purpose of the book club is to learn how individuals, organizations, and agencies can win the fight for effective transit in Atlanta and to provide a space for people to meet others who share the same interest or curiosity in buses.
The meeting began like the book’s prologue where Higashide shared his personal bus story and why he came to write the book. Each of the participants shared their own stories on the following:
Their favorite bus memory
Their least favorite bus memory
What brought them to the book club
Common themes emerged as we shared our favorite bus memories, despite each person holding a different perspective on riding the bus. There is a sense of community gained from regularly riding the bus. For Audrey, this was when her bus driver checked in with her after she’d been gone a few days: “Where’ve ya been?” Nava recalled sitting on a bus in New York and relishing the conversation and community among elderly residents going about their daily business by bus. On one ride on the old Route 16, a small child climbed in Sonia’s lap and started playing angry birds with her. Morgan and his wife met a new friend from South Korea on the bus. Josh recalled a bus ride where two guys convinced the entire bus to play heads-up. We all appreciated these opportunities for community that we would have missed riding alone in a car.
Participants also shared a negative experience they’ve had while riding MARTA buses. A common frustration was buses that disappear from the tracker or never show at all (aka “ghost buses,” which were quite appropriate with Halloween the next day). Less spooky, but equally frustrating, was the experience of having a bus fly by while someone was waiting at the bus stop. One participant described his frustration of the bus being treated as second class by transit agencies - far less of a priority than rail service. Another recalled bus routes that used to be direct — until neighborhoods pushed them off their streets and forced a winding, circuitous route (looking at you, 27 and 36).
As for what brought us together, the common theme was the deep appreciation for the bus and the perception of missed opportunities to take action and make a better bus network. “All I hear is people complaining about traffic. It seems obvious that we could do more with buses here,” one participant observed.
The night’s discussion was dominated by the topic of the false dichotomy of choice and captive riders, raised in chapter one of the book. For those unfamiliar, “choice” riders is a term used to indicate those who have the financial means to choose to ride transit or not. “Captive’ riders do not. “Choice” riders are prized by transit planners; “captive” riders are taken for granted. Yet, as Sally pointed out: we all have choices. We could walk, or bike, or rideshare, or not go out at all. Frequently, especially for older people, the choice is to not go out, and the subsequent social isolation and lack of access to community that comes from that. The book supports this argument by providing evidence showing when transit becomes really poor, even the “captive” riders will leave.
Not only is the distinction between choice and captive meaningless for riders of the MARTA system, it may be missing the point. Josh related his experience of boycotting cars for the summer. Josh is the kind of guy who emails event organizers when they neglect to put transit directions on their advertisements, and he got the idea to go all summer without riding in a car. He observed that, for example, when his friends went to Ponce City Market, they didn’t want to leave, because they’d already paid for parking. By contrast, he could hop on one of three MARTA buses or on a bikeshare or a scooter and zip off to the next fun thing. In some sense, his friends were captive - to their cars.
The consensus in the room was that a transit system functions best by providing convenience, access, and reliability for all riders, period. Transit planners, agencies, and advocates should not be focused on “Choice vs. Captive”, but rather focus on what makes transit worth riding for anybody. Over the next four weeks, we will be doing just that by exploring the seven hallmarks of good transit systems:
Service goes where you want to go
Service runs frequently
Service is reasonably fast
Service is reliable
Service is walkable to final destination
Service is safe and comfortable
Service is affordable
Join us this Wednesday at Atlanta City Studios as we discuss Chapters 2 and 3 that deal with . coverage and frequency, reliability and speed.