Looking for Transit Leadership

The December 5th transit forum (see article on page 1 of this newsletter) provided our area's leaders with an opportunity to demonstrate a common interest in promoting transit improvements in the Rochester area. While the positive tone of the forum was a welcome change from the acrimony of the debate over the downtown transit center, the forum revealed the lack of leadership in Rochester and Monroe County on transit issues.

We are blessed with innovative thinkers such as Monroe County Legislator Stephanie Aldersley of Irondequoit. However, our area's top leaders have yet to recognize the importance of increasing transit ridership and making transit a viable alternative for more than just those who are dependant on transit.

A major frustration with R-GRTA is the apparent failure to place an emphasis on attracting discretionary riders and significantly increasing ridership. Riley said that he did not believe that ridership "was the only measure" and that service coverage was also an important measure. Service coverage is indeed an important issue, and R-GRTA has made a valiant effort to market transit and make improvements within the current funding constraints. However, our region would be remiss to provide only token service to as many locations as possible.

This gets to the key issue with transit locally. Is transit just a social service for the transit dependent? Or is transit also needed to provide transportation choices for everyone?

Transit service in Rochester today is at minimalist levels, with long headways between buses (even during rush hours) and long travel times. If transit is to become a real choice, and a real influence on land use, we need transit service that is convenient, reliable and attractive. If our highway investments are driven by service standards (minutes of delay, levels of congestion), shouldn't transit investment also be driven by service standards? Our region needs to set minimum service standards for transit, and provide the funding needed to bring service up to those standards.

Who will provide the leadership to improve transit? Of course, R-GRTA ought to be, but the County has played a central role in ensuring that R-GRTA has a minimalist vision. Likewise, the Genesee Transportation Council ought to be setting our region's transportation priorities and policies, but Monroe County exerts influence within the GTC. The GTC's official line is that its purpose is to “educate, not advocate” despite the fact that Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) in other metropolitan areas clearly believe that it is their role to advocate.

The City and State governments also need to play a leadership role on transit, however both have abdicated their roles. Our State government has failed to fulfill its obligations to reshape transportation policy. Albany views transit almost exclusively as a local issue, and our local delegation has often stated that they will only respond to requests from the local leadership.

The City of Rochester needs to play a part in establishing transportation policy. This is especially true given the County's unwillingness to promote transportation improvements that benefit the City. The City needs to aggressively promote transit, however, City leaders have yet to acknowledge that they can and should play a role.

This is Rochester's dilemma. Without anyone willing to lead on transit issues, and without recognition that transit needs to be more than transportation welfare, transit will continue to anguish. As long as transit languishes, we will continue to sprawl. And as long as our region continues to disintegrate, our local economy will lag the rest of the nation.