Comments and concerns were voiced this week as the city of Tempe held public meetings to gather feedback about the transportation systems.
Tempe in Motion has been gathering feedback from passengers and residents about proposed bus and Orbit reroute changes that, if approved, may be put into action in July.
The feedback has been great and highly helpful and is something to be taken seriously, said Sue Taaffe, community outreach and marketing coordinator.
“It’s very important to us [to hear the community comment] whenever we look to make changes to the Orbit system or bus routes,” Taaffe said. “Their feedback is crucial to the decision-making process.”
Two public meetings held this past week and an online comment forum have been instrumental in gathering the feedback, she said.
Because of the comments to the proposed new routes, modifications — if approved by the transportation commission — may be made to routes 30, 40, 44, 62 and 92, as well as the Orbit Earth, Taaffe said.
The city hopes to have decisions made by the end of April or early May so changes to these routes can be implemented in July, transit administrator Greg Jordan said.
Tempe resident Meghan Ridgely expressed her concern with the current Orbit Earth route, saying it attracts riders in an unhealthy manner to her home.
“Where we live, it’s a flag zone for the bus,” Ridgely said. “It’s not a stop, but it’s where everyone congregates.”
People waiting in front of her house by the bus sign have left alcohol and other trash in her yard. Some have even slept in her front yard and knocked on her front door to ask to use her bathroom.
“I think I’m just fed up,” she said. “It’s frustrating.”
Ridgely and others at the Thursday meeting agreed on an alternate route for the Orbit Earth that would service McKellips Road, Scottsdale Road and Weber Drive, rather than the residential roads.
“It would still service the neighborhood and make use of the infrastructure,” she said.
Additional planning for the Orbit Mars route would take a longer period of time, as specific proposals have not yet been made because it involves additional outreach to the school district, Jordan said.
“The meeting on Tuesday for the Orbit Mars route was more of an exploratory meeting as no proposals have been made yet,” Jordan said.
Taaffe said that a year ago feedback was received on the Orbit buses ?? specifically the Orbit Mars ?? were performing at the lowest level.
Next month the city plans to go back out and talk with residents and riders about the Orbit Mars to get ideas for specific proposals, Jordan said.
“We’d like to modify and refine Mars to make it more effective to attract more ridership,” he said.
Because the city is on a longer timeline with the Orbit Mars, if proposals do get approved, the new changes could be implemented in January 2010.
All transportation feedback can be submitted online through March 31.
In addition to planning the new routes, the city is researching a tool to develop a technology where riders can log onto their computers and see a visual map of where the buses are at any given moment, Jordan said.
“One of the complaints you hear is the buses’ getting off schedule,” he said. “[With the online tool], people can get better decisions about their transportation.”
It’s also an accountability tool because it would help dispatchers and managers to space the buses as well, Jordan said.
But Jordan said the technology idea is a hope for the future and that the bus reroutes are the main issue right now.
“We take public participation seriously, especially anything like this where it impacts the people directly,” he said.
Reach the reporter at brianna.mattox@asu.edu.
