I am guessing that almost everyone has heard the story about the blind men trying to understand an elephant. Each of them explores a different part of the behemoth and has a different takeaway on what it is about.
A Google search leads to the following description: “An Indian story that illustrates how individual perceptions can lead to conflict and miscommunication.â€
After spending much of the past year attempting to understand our Kanawha Regional Transit Authority systems, this parable comes to mind.
The more I ask questions and hear the responses, the more I realize how much more there is to learn. In this process I feel like both the KRT leadership and I have been able to develop some in our capacity both to handle conflict and to improve communications.
I defer to the greater expertise of the KRT leadership in their mastery of the intricacies of all that they are working with.
At the same time, this is all up close and personal to me, since I ride the trolley an average of once or twice a day on the six days that it is running. I also rely on both main and spur bus routes to get around the county to do business and enjoy leisure activities.
I particularly depend on this system for grocery shopping and medical appointments. At the reduced rate for riders with Medicare cards, I can afford the rides without the pressure on my budget of the higher costs for ride shares like Lyft or Uber.
An outpouring of riders and others at the original public hearings led to at least some major course corrections that have proven their success as the ridership on these routes has expanded.
As a corollary to those changes, the cutoff of Sunday and some Saturday service, and the curtailment of spur routes, have not reduced the deficit spending enough to relieve pressure on the limited reserve fund. This fund is at risk of eating into the set-aside required to get federal matching funds for or otherwise support a projected need for a new headquarters.
The system continues to run in the whole and require major adjustments. Without additional resources it is now planning to eliminate six spur routes and expand its use of their on-demand service to try to fill the gap and even enhance some of its access.
I still have concerns about who is being left behind in this process. The self-contained zones for the on-demand service are separated by our two major rivers, the Kanawha and the Elk, even though residents of our city commonly need to cross these rivers in the conduct of our daily lives.
One suggestion is to redesign the zones to reflect this more integrated reality by creating boundaries based on concentric circles, like in a bullseye, with the transit mall at the center. This way the system can respect the greater density of the population that encircles downtown and still work within the geographic features of the valley.
Another suggestion is to revise the fare systems so that those of us who qualify for reduced rates and are required to use the on-demand system do not lose these reduced rates. Everyone who uses the on-demand system also needs to have the same benefit of the $50 cap that applies to fixed routes since this is the only option open to travel to some of the places where we need to go.
Other suggested tweaks include allowing riders to call for the on-demand system while in transit on a bus, figuring out how to meet our needs if a bus is late in arriving to meet up with the on-demand ride so that we are not stranded somewhere, and allowing longer times for the application of free transfers so that riders have time to get their business done between rides.
In the bigger picture, I am pleased that the KRT leadership is now reaching out to the Regional Intergovernmental Council and to a range of stakeholders in order to exchange information, plug into potential new sources of revenues, and gain more input into decision-making. I believe the first priority beyond filling the deficit needs to be the restoration of service on Sundays and complete access on Saturdays, followed by expanded evening hours.
I continue to advocate for comprehensive and collaborative planning that eliminates the silo of the transit system and considers it as an integral part of all developments in our county. I am convinced that this is also the key to identifying and building the political will for whatever funds are required to meet the priorities for services that everyone can agree on.
In the process, KRT needs to include all of its needs and plans, including those for new headquarters. It also needs to expand the marketing of its existing services to raise overall awareness and attract the widest possible ridership.
Full disclosure, I have come away from my information-gathering with a better idea of what may meet my own particular needs and challenges. I appreciate the counsel I have been given on how to maximize the existing accommodations.
At the same time, as a retired statewide planner, I remain fixated on what can help the greater good for everyone in the KRT catchment area. As stated by a local state legislator at one of the original hearings, regional means regional.
We cannot just focus on the main routes that run along the Kanawha River and directly serve the most people. Our whole county is dependent on a transit system that addresses the last mile, just like with broadband and our public school transportation system.
We need to work together to figure out a sustainable way to provide the services that we need for the benefit of all of us.
