Cliff Slater has posted a pro-bus letter to Region IX of the Federal Transit Administration in which he provides more unintentional humor.
The first laugh point is that he’s writing in favor of bus travel at all. As we noted recently here at Yes2Rail, Mr. Slater was a die-hard opponent of the Bus Rapid Transit plan put forward by the Harris Administration a decade ago.
The second laugher is his extreme parsing of travel times for the Country C route on TheBus. We spent some time on September 1 showing how Mr. Slater mixes apples and oranges in comparing travel and transit times on TheBus and the future train.
People who use TheBus regularly to commute from Kapolei to downtown will be laughing when they read Mr. Slater’s glowing report of bus travel in the Zipper Lane. Callers to the Town Square show on September 15 countered Mr. Slater’s claims of fast bus travel and said their own experience doesn’t compare to his stopwatch travel times.
And lastly, Mr. Slater reveals his inability to imagine transit-oriented travel when he writes in his letter: “Kapolei commuters would have to drive (emphasis added) to the East Kapolei rail station park-and-ride lot on North-South (sic) Road, which would take 12 minutes or more from Kapolei proper, which is six miles away.”
No, Mr. Slater, they wouldn’t have to drive. They could take a bus and leave the driving to the city – first on TheBus and then on a train, which during rush hour would arrive in less than 3 minutes. Rail will be an alternative to driving, and public transportation service will improve, contrary to his letter's claims.
As a visit to our “aggregation site” and the Mr. Cliff Slater (and Friends) section shows repeatedly, Mr. Slater enjoys playing his obfuscation role in the Great Train Debate. It’s an essential piece of his repertoire, and as his FTA letter shows, he’s not about to give it up.
This post has been added to our "aggregation site" under the heading noted immediately above.
2 comments:
"Since the train travels at 28 mph average it is likely to take longer from Kapolei Transit Center to East Kapolei by train than it would by car, say an additional one minute, or 51 minutes by train from Kapolei Transit Center to Downtown. However, the six minute walk from the parking lot would no longer be necessary."
Slater sure has thick skin to think he can keep spreading manipulated info and proclaim he's doing this for the best interest of the average Oahu citizen. Using his own argument, why does he not factor in the walking time it takes to get to the bus station for C? Or if he is car centric, how about the time it takes to look for parking when one gets to his/her destination?
When his own letter explicitly states C takes anywhere from 38 to 52 min to Downtown, he has clearly shown what the problem with express buses have, the time inconsistencies. Successful transit systems have frequency and time schedules down to 3 min or less variance. The train can accomplish this while C does not.
Good observations re Mr. Slater's comments/arguments. Scratch only slightly below their surface and you find the inconsistencies and contradictions. Please continue to visit Yes2Rail.
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