I was recently forced to ride the bus to work for 2 weeks due to a broken shoulder. I couldn't wait to stop using the bus. It made my 15-minute commute an hour long, and didn't coinicde with my work schedule. Which made for a lot of time out of my day. But I understand that they can't have buses running to Centerville every 15 minutes.

The maps on the RRTA website could be better. Use overlapping lines to show the direction of travel to clarify the route of the bus. And when buses are re-routed, update the website. I was standing at a bus stop, looking at the the map on the website on my iPhone, but the bus didn't stop. The reason I was given when I complained was that the bus had been re-reouted due to construction. Well, that doesn't do any good for people who rely on the bus. At least try to get word to your riders.

It was at that point that I understood the attraction of streetcars. Yes, the tracks mean they can't get around traffic, but it also means that if you stand by the tracks, eventually a street car will come. Buses can't be trusted in that way.

I did learn that just because you are at a bus stop, a passing bus may not stop. Always wave to flag it down. Just to be sure.

Here's another suggestion for RRTA: a transfer should be good anywhere, not just in a vague downtown transfer zone. When a bus failed to stop for me on Chestnut at the Brunswick, I walked 1 block to Musser Park, where I knew the Ward 6 bus would pass. When I tried to board, the driver said I was outside the transfer zone and gave me a hard time. I was 1 block away! The transfers have times on them... they expire in, like, 2 hours. Why can't they be good once anywhere within those 2 hours?

I can understand where you're coming from. I'm without a car at the moment until probably next month or so and it's not easy getting around. The buses aren't usually on time and sometimes they get there almost ten minutes early. I can't stand the park city buses-especially the 1 bus. The transfers are good for three hours, FYI.

Hope the shoulder is better.

Used to be a time that they didn't have "stops" in the rural areas of routes. If you were standing anywhere the bus passed and flagged it down, it would stop and pick you up. I understand the reasoning behind the assigned stops to prevent the bus from stopping every 50 ft. Didn't know that about the transfers having an expiry. It didn't used to be that way. I agree with your comments about RRTA. It often doesn't run regularly enough to be convenient to use. Routes run like spokes in and out of the city. I've always wondered why they haven't tried to connect some of the bigger spokes in the wheel, like adding Manheim to Lititz to Ephrata routes. (I know a recent study showed that a New Holland to Ephrata route wouldn't be worthwhile, but they should have extended the concept a little further to Lititz.)

We were looking into opening a business in a town on a bus line a few years back, and we were planning to hire people who most likely needed to ride the bus. Our plan was to work our hours around bus times and to be as flexible as possible with arrivals and as strict as possible with quitting time. A lot of businesses, however, just can't be that flexible or understanding. I've seen it when people have a hard time keeping a job because of unreliable public transportation. I've also seen some dear, dedicated souls paying through the nose for taxi time in order to keep their jobs.

If I recall the last article stated that ridership increased and it was because of the economy now it’s decreased and that too is cause by the economy. In the first case the increase was proof of the need for public transportation…..now what?