NEWS AND COMMENT - Commentary
Dear NFTA:
Dudley Moore said it best "Let's just be honest with people!"
What routes are changing - being eliminated! Tell us before we
commit to buying Monthly Passes!
As of today, there are some major changes to NFTA Metro but, as usual these changes are not being effectively communicated to the public.
Currently there is an increased rate when entering a NFTA Bus to $1.75 but there are no zone charges. If you need to enter a bus to go to work and another trip home it may be a smart move to purchase the $4.00 all day pass.
From the NFTA Website:
"Metro covers Erie and Niagara Counties, all together, in one big seamless system. Metro used to divide the service area up into four zones, but as of September 1 there are no more boundaries, no confusion about paying before you board or when you leave. The system is easier to understand, and even easier to use.
You can ride from one end of a route to the other for $1.75. No zone charges will add up as you travel from Buffalo to Tonawanda to Niagara Falls. Pay once and sit back.
There are no transfer charges, either. Another boarding fare will apply. So, if your trip requires connection to another bus, a Monthly Pass or a Day Pass is your best bet.
No zones and one fare mean Metro no longer needs to offer 12 kinds of passes. Two is plenty. Ride all month for just $64 (Metro Monthly Pass) or all day for just $4 (Metro Day Pass.)
Reduced fares still apply for children (five to 11 years old), senior citizens (65 and older), disabled and Medicare recipients. Children four years and under ride free with a fare-paying adult (limited to three children per fare-paying adult.)"
There are some route changes that are to go into effect, but the drivers, and customer service call center do not know about the changes, so the public should feel better that they are not the only ones being kept in the dark.
NFTA Spokesman C, Douglas Hartmayer, a former Cardinal O'Hara High School student, should know that if you live in the City of Tonawanda, that unless your taking Metro North and South on Elmwood and Delaware, it is very difficult to get anywhere else from the City of Tonawanda. It takes two busses and a train ride to get from Tonawanda to Amherst or Williamsville (ECC).
He was quoted in the Buffalo News this morning stating that "We're trying to get the message out there that we have simplified the fare structure to make using the the system much easier". Yeah your chaging the little old lady going from her home on Minerva to Tops on Niagara Street more money. Up to $4.00.
So, NFTA is charging anyone who doesn't use a monthly pass more. Not everyone travels over one or two zones, but you'll be paying more. In addition, the uncertanty of not knowing what chnages are occuring to the bus routes doesn't make it easier to use the Metro System. Job seekers can not go on interviews or make commitments when they don't know if and when the routes and busses will be available.
The One Fare, One Zone, One system campaign is a fraud, because let's face it Niagara County and even party of Northern Erie County have been vastly underserved for a long time. There are clearly more routes into the City of Buffalo then outbound, and getting into Amherst and Williamsville is nearly impossible, if not impractical.
Metro has been used as school busses and apparently by Buffalo State College, as a "drunk bus" running Saturday Nights on a run from the Chippewa Strip to the Dorms. This is funny because Buffalo State College had a pub on their campus many years ago. So, to shut down their own establishment and allow NFTA to run a dedicated route back and forth to campus, sends a mixed message.
The marketing experts at NFTA Metro habe come up with an incredible plan to promote the changes in the routes though, They will be having 11 informational meetings. Let's hope that these meetings are better promoted and attended then the recent ridership survey meetings that were poorly promoted, resulting in a low turnout.
In addition to the informational meetings, NFTA plans to offer information on what that called "public affiars shows" (quoting the Buffalo News).They are broadcast at 6am on a Saturday morning and possess poor quality production, so very few people watch. Even worse are the radio programs that are broadcast on radio stations that noone knows the call letters in Niagara County.
We have so much to offer in the region and nothing is promoted well. We live halfway between Toronto and New York City and Philadelphia. All of these cities have amazing transportation systems and to not market it properly, is an amazing waste to tax payer money and time.
The plan to simplify the system is predicted to save $850.000 a year. We all know that this number is smoke and mirrors because it is tied to new ridership and NFTA can not guarantee new ridership. They also can not guarantee current customers, whom are being kept in the dark, about what routes are being changed wil stay as customers. Respect your customers and be honest with us and let the customers make a decision. The manner in which NFTA is being marketing is absolutely wrong, from the inablity of the system to sell out its advertising space onboard and outside the buses to not getting a better relationship with employers and merchants on their loyalty program to monthly pass holders. So much more could be done and should be done, but the transit system is being marekted as a public utility and noone really seems to be putting a lot of effort out there, otherwise our system would be a lot better.
