At the bus shelter outside the Albany Post Office, a sign announces the new routes (A,B,C,D) of the city bus system.
Albany is about to launch the long-awaited expansion of the city’s bus routes and schedule.
Starting Monday morning, there will be four routes rather than two, and four buses will run along the new routes for a total of 130 hours more service per week than now.
Announcing the Aug. 28 start date, the city issued a press release that said, “This expansion is aimed at improving accessibility, convenience, and connectivity for residents and visitors alike. It is the result of careful planning to meet our growing community’s demands for efficient and sustainable public transportation.”
The buses will run from 6:27 a.m. to 6:27 p.m. Monday through Friday, and no fares will be charged, like now. Also like now, there will be no weekend service.
The new routes are labeled A, B, C and D, replacing the current routes 2 and 3. To see the routes, you need to go online here.
One of the routes circles South Albany High School, with four stops around the school grounds. West High is served by a different route, and the nearest stop is about four blocks away.
Each of the routes is about an hour long and served by one bus, which implies that if you miss a bus at your stop, you’ll wait about an hour before the next one in the same direction.
Transit Manager Barry Hoffman told me the routes now have seven minutes of “recovery time” built in, with the hope that buses reach their stops on time. Being late was one of the main complaints about the old system.
All the buses have racks for two bicycles each. For some people, it may be convenient to ride a few blocks to the nearest stop, then take the bus the rest of the way. Although, if you’re already on two wheels, you may want to complete your trip that way rather than wait for a bus.
To expand the bus system, Albany received a grant of more than $1.2 million for the current biennium under Oregon’s State Transportation Improvement Program. The grant just about doubled the amount the Albany Transit System costs.
How many people ride the bus in Albany? “Summer tends to be our slow months of the year, but in May and June we carried 4,500 and 3,600 passengers respectively,” Hoffman said.
The new routes and schedule will take some getting used to, he expects. But he hopes people relying on city buses will find the service more convenient, and the number of regular riders will go up. (hh)
Without separate & enlarged “letter maps” it’s beyond confusing. One can’t even tell which streets are which unless you have a “real” map handy. They have minimal time points with some of them being MANY blocks apart? Are there stops in between and when?
Since Clay at the Mall seems to be a major transfer spot, maybe they could install some bicycle parking close by? Some people may find it more convenient to take a bus downtown rather than a bike.
I’m still wondering why they no longer service the Albany Boys & Girls Club, but make it easy if you want a tattoo or Wal Mart getting an extra stop per hour.
The Blue bus, WB on Queen could make a right on Hill, stop at the Club, continue to Pacific and make a Left and assume the Green bus route. WB Green bus on Pacific turns L on Hill, continues to Queen (or adds a stop?) and makes a right and assumes the Blue bus route.
Another alternative is the busses running on Pacific, 9th & Queen could simply detour to the Club. The club has the driveway that circles around the building, so busses could turn L or R when re-entering Hill after the stop.
So if you carry 60,000 passengers a year, it costs $20 per passenger not reflecting the initial costs for buses, shelters, the $1.2 million remodel of the REA building at the train depot, etc. Wouldn’t it be cheaper to pay Uber and shut the bus system down?
So what is the measure(s) of success here?
Is it ridership? efficiency? cost? service area? more staff? more buses?
Albany Transit clearly isn’t operating on a business model where revenue and expenses are effectively managed to produce a profit.
So this transit system seems more like a public utility, where “common good”, whatever that means, justifies any and all expenditures.
The 2023-2025 transit fund budget is almost $15,000,000!!!
Why not have the transit system be privately managed under public franchise agreements? It’s not ideal, but at least some accountability could be established.
If the map for N. Albany is correct it appears that the bus will no longer make the run to Fire Station 14 on Gibson Hill Rd. Is there some overriding reason for cutting service to this area?
I thought that route was supposed to get discontinued at least a year ago.
The schedule makes no sense since some of the routes appear to run in both directions.
That’s what bus routes normally do. They back and forth on fixed routes.