Fussing about Bussing: Why Base Commuters Don’t Use Transportation Alternatives

(The first in a series exploring transportation incentives and challenges around Coronado). Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) busses to Coronado do not save what many value most – Time! Existing MTS bus routes do not accommodate Coronado in a way that makes using public transport a benefit for today’s fast-paced daily-life. Often, the Coronado community blames naval base commuters for the island’s traffic woes. Frankly, there is plenty of blame to go around between non-military commuters, tourists, deliveries, and residents. But, there is a way to help mitigate base traffic – petition for better bus service to Coronado. It is true, Coronado has excessive military related traffic. To some it is the sound of freedom, to others it is a threat to public safety. Most of us support our service members on Coronado. It is perhaps, one of our unstated values. Still, residents often wonder why everyone is not doing more to ease traffic. Base commuters are just like the rest of us, parents and caregivers. They need their vehicles to drop-kids-off at school and daycare, make mid-day dental and doctor appointments for parents, respond to school requests to collect sick children, then be on time for pick-ups and attend after-school sports. SANDAG’s own iCommute Trip Tracker and Ride Matcher navigational tool can show users how long it takes to get to work at NASNI using public transportation. While the tool is designed to support those who wish to go green, ride their bikes, and take the bus/trolley, what it demonstrated is how difficult it is to use public-transportation to get to and from work on Coronado. http://www.icommutesd.com. The tool evaluated the morning commutes to Coronado – from east county Santee, north from Pacific Beach, and south from Eastlake. In terms of time, the tool showed that taking a bus is actually punitive. For a Santee resident to take alternative transportation to Naval Air Station North Island (NASNI) arriving by 7:00 a.m., they make two trolley changes and a bus-transfer. The trip takes nearly two-hours. A bike-ride would take over 3-hours because of a fragmented biking network. There are only 58 park and ride spaces in Santee. Taking an MTS bus from Pacific Beach (where there is no trolley), to arrive at NASNI by 7:00 a.m., would take 1-hour and 25-minutes. There are no Park-and-Ride locations in Pacific Beach. From the South, commuters from Eastlake (Chula Vista), must take the “709 Bus” to the Trolley “Blue Line” to the “901.” That trip takes one-hour and 35-minutes. Finally, many bus routes do not run in the early morning hours. There are very few of us who would take the bus to work if it took over an hour for what would be a ten or twenty-minute drive by car. Unfortunately, with the current bus system, their is no time benefit to using alternative transportation for most commuters, and this could be why many avoid using it to get to and from work on CORONADO. Currently, MTS is planning its 4-year projected route system. This would be a good time to appeal to them for another bus-line in and out of Coronado. If we don’t get it now, it will be another 4-years before we can request it. SANDAG is the collaborative regional transportation decision-making forum for the county. It is made up of a Board of Directors (BOD) consisting of 18-city representatives and county officials. MTS, the U.S. Department of Defense, Caltrans, and San Diego Unified Port District, do participate. Coronado’s SANDAG representative is one of our council members. The collaborative group meets monthly and “builds consensus; makes strategic plans; obtains and allocates resources; plans, engineers, and builds public transportation,” among other projects. How can you help? Petition MTS and SANDAG for more bus routes to Coronado, or write to [email protected] Suggest SANDAG BOD use alternative transportation to and from their monthly meeting to experience time costs firsthand. Contact Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) to ask to be heard at the upcoming bus route planning meetings. Attend SANDAG Meetings. http://www.sandag.org/index.asp?fuseaction=meetings.home