By increasing the amount of service and updating its scheduling and routes, the city of Kingston was able to induce demand for buses.
Unlike other cities around North America, Kingston, Ontario is gaining bus ridership. In 2013, the city added express service to Queen’s University, St. Lawrence College, and Kingston General Hospital. "The new service was supposed to be direct and frequent enough to compete with cars in terms of travel time. Kingston Transit now offers several express routes, all of which provide service every 15 minutes or less during rush hour," David Rockne Corrigan writes for TVO.
New routes and new service has translated in to a jump in the number of trips from 3.2 million in 2013 up to 6.4 million in 2017. Updates to the service have meant some trade-offs. The service no longer serves as much of the city, but observers argue the trade-offs are worth it, because the infrequent service was too patchy to be useful for the number of riders they now serve. Now by offering more service in some of its most popular routes they're better able to compete with car travel.
Other Canadian cities, like Guelph and Halifax, have looked to officials from Kingston to try to learn from the city's success.
FULL STORY: Why Canadian cities are asking Kingston for public-transit advice
Bus Transit Still Faces Social Stigma
Improving headways and making service more reliable can help reduce the negative public image faced by urban bus transit.
Popular L.A. Bus Line to Replace Schedule With ‘Headway-Based Operations’
Los Angeles’ 16 bus, which cuts across the city on Third Street through some of the city’s densest neighborhoods, will experiment with a new approach to service design.
Birmingham Gets New Buses as Part of Plan to Improve Transit
Birmingham, Alabama is buying 15 new buses to run on a planned bus rapid transit route.
National Parks Layoffs Will Cause Communities to Lose Billions
Thousands of essential park workers were laid off this week, just before the busy spring break season.
Retro-silient?: America’s First “Eco-burb,” The Woodlands Turns 50
A master-planned community north of Houston offers lessons on green infrastructure and resilient design, but falls short of its founder’s lofty affordability and walkability goals.
Delivering for America Plan Will Downgrade Mail Service in at Least 49.5 Percent of Zip Codes
Republican and Democrat lawmakers criticize the plan for its disproportionate negative impact on rural communities.
Test News Post 1
This is a summary
Test News Headline 46
Test for the image on the front page.
Balancing Bombs and Butterflies: How the National Guard Protects a Rare Species
The National Guard at Fort Indiantown Gap uses GIS technology and land management strategies to balance military training with conservation efforts, ensuring the survival of the rare eastern regal fritillary butterfly.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
EMC Planning Group, Inc.
Planetizen
Planetizen
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service