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COVER STORY Snow says, "You might have heard
of a guy named John Inglish [CEO, Utah Transit Authority], well I've seen him go out on the road preach- ing about transit, but the last few years he's been talking about how we need to look at transportation ... to form these bicycle-pedestrian authorities." Snow says they've assumed that
role by building sidewalks, widening sidewalks and putting in bike lanes. "To us a street isn't complete unless it serves everybody, not just automo- biles." He states, "Every mode of trans- portation needs to be designed for; it needs to be designed for pedestrians and cyclists, as well as automobiles. "T at's a big eff ort for us, to make
transit that much friendlier for those that need to take bus No. 11 to get there, and once they get dropped off , they take bus No. 11 to where they're going." RTC is excited about a new bicycle-
sharing system that will add access to the system. Getting people to transfer stations with bike racks where people can drop the bus, get on a bike and ride to their ultimate destination. Snow mentions they've been working with a major employer downtown that has
contributed a million dollars toward the eff ort. He adds, "We're really excited about expanding that program in the valley to improve access." T e RTC has used 5307 formula
funds to pay for new shelters to improve the amenities. Initially the RTC had no infl uence over the bus shelters because it doesn't own the street rights of way. "Even though we fund them, they are owned by the city or the county where the road is and the sidewalk is part of the right of way, too," says Snow. T e city or county had private
companies come in and put their own equipment in and it wasn't very nice, wasn't maintained, the city or county would keep the revenue they gener- ated and that would go into their gen- eral fund. Snow stresses, "We would never see any revenue, yet we receive all the complaints and we get all the hassle and we have no control." Snow says State Sen. John Lee
didn't like the situation and changed the law and gave RTC complete au- thority over bus shelters. T ere were half a dozen contracts that termi- nated at diff erent times and as Snow says, "It was just a mess.
"We put a lot of resources into it,"
he says. "We subscribe to the window theory, which means if the bus shelter out there ... looks like it's not func- tional and it's tagged with graffi ti and it's not well-maintained and there's garbage around, we can't attract a customer. We need to send the right message to attract customers. "Image is very important, especially
in Las Vegas," Snow says. "And if it's a hard sell for transit, parking's free ev- erywhere you go, we've got to up our game that much more." MT
The RTC is building sidewalks, widening sidewalks, putting in bicycle lanes, striping bike lanes with green fabric, and doing everything it can to build complete streets so transportation is designed for every mode of transportation.
14 MARCH 2012 www.MassTransitmag.com
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