THE MCCONAUGHEY IS STRONG IN THIS ONE A mere 6 months after Jim Carrey, Metro is out with its own riff on last year’s series of commercials for the Lincoln MKC emceed by a dusk-cruising Matthew McConaughey. But there’s no Texas Longhorn blocking the road for Metro’s version (above), meant to uh . . . re-introduce the transit agency’s newly reimagined bus service, scheduled to kick off in 4 months. Mixed into the atmospherics is a bus driver’s subtle diss of folks’ reliance on some of the old, less popular routes axed in the bus-map redo: “Where’re you really going on the road less traveled? Probably nowhere really great.” [Metro] Video: Metro
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In general, it looks like the new routes will make Metro more useful to a lot of people. There are going to be winners and losers in the change, and unfortunately I will be a loser. My commute time to downtown would double under new system, so I’ll be pushed into driving.
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What worries me about the reduced bus coverage downtown is that there will be many people in my same situation. That could lead to more commuter vehicles downtown, which in turn may bring us more gridlock and increased parking fees.
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I hope that what actually happens is that the changes open up Metro to a wide range of new riders, and that the absence of their cars on the road makes room for the displaced riders like me.
Stu-Rock, What I would really love to see is a expanded regional public transportation system. I live in one of the surrounding cities that has no public transportation system at all. The nearest Park and Ride is 6 miles away. If there was a way for me to ride a bus to work that was more efficient and had stops within walking distance of my house, I would utilize it more. I drive about 50 miles round trip from my home to my job and every time I get stuck in a traffic jam, I start thinking how nice it would be to not have to drive to and from work. I have had to take the bus before due to mechanical issues with my car, (at the time, I lived about a mile from a Metro bus stop so getting there was not that big of a problem), and though it took longer, not having the stress of dealing with traffic was wonderful. Sooner or later, we are going to run out of places to build roads and highways. At that point, getting around town will be even worse than it is now.