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Yavapai College Teachers Dental Apache Dental Porcelain Techs Health Care SOUTHERN ARIZONA ENDODONTICS I NSURANCE PROCESSOR Health Care Carondelet Foothills Surgery Pre-Op Nurse Retail TOTAL WINE & MORE WINE TEAM MEMBERS, CASHIER & STOCK MEMEBERS General Prestige Maintenance USA Area Manager Health Care Freedom Manor Caregivers Tucson RegionRoad Runner: Sun Tran has service gaps in Foothills, Northeast SideArizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 10.13.2008
Sun Tran has been expanding its service on nights and weekends all over town in the past two years, except in the north and northeast areas of town, where any service would be more service, reader Laurie Soloff said.
Sure, there are three express routes that cross the Rillito River to get to the Foothills and northeast areas, but Soloff said those routes don't very well serve the thousands of people who live on the other side of the river.
Soloff said she has tried to adjust her schedule to meet the express-route schedule, but the service, consisting of a couple of round trips per day, doesn't accommodate very many work and family obligations.
"I have been told that there are plans in 2010 to add two more runs of the (express routes), but that doesn't address needs that have existed for years and are now increasing with greater fuel costs," Soloff wrote in an e-mail.
She also doesn't buy into the idea that the express routes must attract more riders before they can expand. More people would ride if there were more options, she said.
All of the express routes in the area north of River Road and east of First Avenue are scheduled to get more round trips in 2010, said Michele Joseph, marketing director for Sun Tran.
The Route 8 service on Broadway, which now goes up Wilmot Road to Tanque Verde Road, is scheduled to be extended to the Catalina Highway, Joseph said.
On the west end, Route 10 is scheduled to get more frequent service in five years. All of these additional services are to be funded by the half-cent-per-dollar sales tax we pay here for our 20-year Regional Transportation Authority plan, approved by county voters in 2006.
"It's a question of funding," and the jurisdictions have to pay for their own service if the RTA funding isn't paying for other expansions, Joseph said.
Local governments would go crazy trying to make everyone happy, but a map of Sun Tran routes does show a big, empty space north of the Rillito River and another east of Harrison Road. Sun Tran can't be all things to all people, but no-service spots are even more of a concern if someone needs the Van Tran services. Van Tran, which provides transportation to the disabled, travels only in areas that Sun Tran serves.
Sun Tran should try to keep expanding night and weekend service in the areas it already serves. Those are needed expansions, and they have been welcomed by riders.
But in this time when bus ridership has been expanding all across the country, adding service to an underserved area would lead to more ridership.
At least that's what I think. How about you?
● Road Runner answers road-related questions in this column on Mondays. Find Road Runner plus traffic cams and other transportation news at azstarnet.com/transportation. Send your questions by e-mail to roadrunner@azstarnet.com or to P.O. Box 26807, Tucson, AZ 85726. Please include your first and last names. ● Find traffic updates and other transportation news on the Gridlocked blog, at go.azstarnet.com/gridlocked.
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