random policy concept: family transit passes
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Michael Andersen
Jan 3, 2010, 12:53:34 AM1/3/10
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I don't want to distract from Steve's awesome who-we-are email, but I had a tiny balloon of a thought yesterday about transit policy and this list seems like the best place to float it.
When I was looking through the Census data for the numbers I cited the other day, I re-encountered a number I'd seen before: 70 percent of Portland's car-free population lives in a one-person household. That compares to 37 percent of Portland's general population.
There are lots of factors keeping families tied to cars: bigger grocery trips, the high cost of space in dense neighborhoods, disagreements between partners, etc.
But that stuff aside, I bet there's a margin a couple hundred households thick who would be car-free if not for the fact that riding the bus doesn't scale. Unlike car drivers, whose insurance, maintenance, parking, depreciation and long-distance travel costs are more or less fixed, transit costs are all variable: double your family, double your bill.
So why doesn't TriMet offer a family rate, like a cell-phone company does? Maybe you'd have to pay in advance and get a set of passes mailed to your house or whatever. That seems doable, doesn't it?
Do other transit agencies offer this? I haven't noticed it, but I wasn't really looking.
Michael
When I was looking through the Census data for the numbers I cited the other day, I re-encountered a number I'd seen before: 70 percent of Portland's car-free population lives in a one-person household. That compares to 37 percent of Portland's general population.
There are lots of factors keeping families tied to cars: bigger grocery trips, the high cost of space in dense neighborhoods, disagreements between partners, etc.
But that stuff aside, I bet there's a margin a couple hundred households thick who would be car-free if not for the fact that riding the bus doesn't scale. Unlike car drivers, whose insurance, maintenance, parking, depreciation and long-distance travel costs are more or less fixed, transit costs are all variable: double your family, double your bill.
So why doesn't TriMet offer a family rate, like a cell-phone company does? Maybe you'd have to pay in advance and get a set of passes mailed to your house or whatever. That seems doable, doesn't it?
Do other transit agencies offer this? I haven't noticed it, but I wasn't really looking.
Michael
maus.j...@gmail.com
Jan 3, 2010, 1:41:36 AM1/3/10
to trans...@googlegroups.com
I think a family rate would be brilliant for trimet.
As a member of a four person family, cost of tickets is major reason we don't use transit more often.
I wonder if other cities do this. I bet an email to the Livable Streets email list would get some good feedback. I'll try that and report back.
--Jonathan
(sent from phone)
revphil
Jan 3, 2010, 6:57:04 AM1/3/10
to trans...@googlegroups.com
I've never seen any family plans tho most have a reduced fee for youth. Our fees are still way cheeper than most of the other places I've been.
Seems brilliant to me. I hope they
On Jan 2, 2010 10:41 PM, "maus.j...@gmaill.com" <maus.j...@gmail.com> wrote:
I think a family rate would be brilliant for trimet.As a member of a four person family, cost of tickets is major reason we don't use transit more often.I wonder if other cities do this. I bet an email to the Livable Streets email list would get some good feedback. I'll try that and report back.
--Jonathan(sent from phone)
On Jan 2, 2010, at 9:53 PM, Michael Andersen <mike.a...@gmail.com> wrote: > I don't want to di...
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