4 ms·

Iowa city doesn't even run buses on the weekends/holidays. I really don't think this should be a model for real urban centers

by mtoner23 11mo ago

righthand 11mo ago
Good thing there are plenty of other cities with free bus lines and no one saying “no we have to do everything exactly like Iowa City”!
SapporoChris 11mo ago
https://www.icgov.org/government/departments-and-divisions/transportation/transit/bus-schedules https://www.icgov.org/government/departments-and-divisions/t... Most of the routes run Monday thru Saturday. Schedules are something that are easily changed to support demand.
deadbolt 11mo ago
So there is nothing to learn her at all?
- panick21_ 11mo ago
  If you want to look at successful systems, would you look at Paris, London, Berlin, Tokio, Münich, Zürich .... or Iowa City?
  - chrystalkey 11mo ago
    I wouldnt call the Munich one successful as in "nailed it". the shortcomings are many and increasingly visible
    - panick21_ 11mo ago
      Everybody loves to complain about their own city, but compare it to US cities and its fine. I just listed a bunch of European cities that I have visited and seemed fine. My point is that if you want to 'learn' there are lots of places that you can take a look at.
  - IAmBroom 11mo ago
    Why are you picking on Iowa City? Anti-Americanism? Or is your prejudice more narrowly against the Midwest? If I want to look at succesful systems, IDGAF where they are, but how they operate.
    - panick21_ 11mo ago
      Are about being serious? Its not 'Anti-American' to point out basic facts that literally everybody knows. Let's just look at some basic comparison between Iowa City and my own city of the same population (mine is somewhat larger in metro city): about 1.05 million trips about 50.1 million trips Its not even close. Why would you look at some tiny US city that doesn't even have actually good results if you compare it to anybody even halfway competent. Why not look for evidence in systems that are better by LITERALLY EVERY METRIC? That's the basic issue with looking to the US cities for evidence. Their baseline is so pathetic that 'improvements' isn't really that significant. So maybe its time to start giving a fuck, and not cherry-picking examples to confirm your bias. Actually learn from the systems that achieve the best results.
yesfitz 11mo ago
Models are typically smaller scale/scope... So a "real urban center" could probably easily provide service that smaller cities can't. As to why Iowa City doesn't run on Sundays and Federal Holidays: The University is about half the population of the city. The University runs a separate "Cambus" system[1] (that the community can also use) and after-hours routes for students[2]. We're also still in relatively early days of finding out how Iowa City residents use public transit when there's no barrier. For instance, they stopped running the downtown shuttle and reduced the number of stops downtown[3] because downtown is relatively dense, walkable, and student-heavy (i.e. mostly young, healthy, ambulatory people) and served by the University. There's also a growing interest in adding service to nearby towns and adding Sunday service, even if it's in a limited capacity. 1: https://transportation.uiowa.edu/cambus/cambus-service-calendar https://transportation.uiowa.edu/cambus/cambus-service-calen... 2: https://safety.uiowa.edu/nite-ride https://safety.uiowa.edu/nite-ride 3: https://www.icgov.org/Home/Components/News/News/2165/390 https://www.icgov.org/Home/Components/News/News/2165/390

Iowa city doesn't even run buses on the weekends/holidays. I really don't think this should be a model for real urban centers

righthand 11mo ago

Good thing there are plenty of other cities with free bus lines and no one saying “no we have to do everything exactly like Iowa City”!

SapporoChris 11mo ago

https://www.icgov.org/government/departments-and-divisions/transportation/transit/bus-schedules https://www.icgov.org/government/departments-and-divisions/t... Most of the routes run Monday thru Saturday. Schedules are something that are easily changed to support demand.

deadbolt 11mo ago

So there is nothing to learn her at all?

panick21_ 11mo ago
If you want to look at successful systems, would you look at Paris, London, Berlin, Tokio, Münich, Zürich .... or Iowa City?
- chrystalkey 11mo ago
  I wouldnt call the Munich one successful as in "nailed it". the shortcomings are many and increasingly visible
  - panick21_ 11mo ago
    Everybody loves to complain about their own city, but compare it to US cities and its fine. I just listed a bunch of European cities that I have visited and seemed fine. My point is that if you want to 'learn' there are lots of places that you can take a look at.
- IAmBroom 11mo ago
  Why are you picking on Iowa City? Anti-Americanism? Or is your prejudice more narrowly against the Midwest? If I want to look at succesful systems, IDGAF where they are, but how they operate.
  - panick21_ 11mo ago
    Are about being serious? Its not 'Anti-American' to point out basic facts that literally everybody knows. Let's just look at some basic comparison between Iowa City and my own city of the same population (mine is somewhat larger in metro city): about 1.05 million trips about 50.1 million trips Its not even close. Why would you look at some tiny US city that doesn't even have actually good results if you compare it to anybody even halfway competent. Why not look for evidence in systems that are better by LITERALLY EVERY METRIC? That's the basic issue with looking to the US cities for evidence. Their baseline is so pathetic that 'improvements' isn't really that significant. So maybe its time to start giving a fuck, and not cherry-picking examples to confirm your bias. Actually learn from the systems that achieve the best results.

yesfitz 11mo ago

Models are typically smaller scale/scope... So a "real urban center" could probably easily provide service that smaller cities can't. As to why Iowa City doesn't run on Sundays and Federal Holidays: The University is about half the population of the city. The University runs a separate "Cambus" system[1] (that the community can also use) and after-hours routes for students[2]. We're also still in relatively early days of finding out how Iowa City residents use public transit when there's no barrier. For instance, they stopped running the downtown shuttle and reduced the number of stops downtown[3] because downtown is relatively dense, walkable, and student-heavy (i.e. mostly young, healthy, ambulatory people) and served by the University. There's also a growing interest in adding service to nearby towns and adding Sunday service, even if it's in a limited capacity. 1: https://transportation.uiowa.edu/cambus/cambus-service-calendar https://transportation.uiowa.edu/cambus/cambus-service-calen... 2: https://safety.uiowa.edu/nite-ride https://safety.uiowa.edu/nite-ride 3: https://www.icgov.org/Home/Components/News/News/2165/390 https://www.icgov.org/Home/Components/News/News/2165/390