Study Underway For Rapid Bus Transit System
A study is underway to determine the impact of a Rapid Bus Transit System in the city.
Saturday, officials with Sun Metro outlined plans for the new system. They hope it will make residents of El Paso less dependent on vehicles and get them to increase their use of mass transportation systems.
“It’s a combination of a lot of things. One is to get people to use more public transportation because we get through town quicker,” said Jay Banasiak, Director of Operations for Sun Metro. “They will get away from cars, be less dependent on cars … we can be much greener and reduce our carbon footprint.”
The system would work a lot like a subway system or a light rail rail system, but its buses would move on roads instead of rails.
The proposed routes for the system would be on four of the city’s major streets: Alameda in the Lower Valley, Mesa in the West Side, Montana Avenue from Central to the Far East Side, and Dyer Street in Northeast El Paso. The routes would all lead Downtown.
The whole idea behind the plan is to get commuters where they need to go quicker. And officials said they say they plan to accomplish that a couple of different ways.
First, they plan to hold the green traffic lights along the path longer so that the buses could move along faster.
They also say passengers will be able to get on the buses quicker because they would already have prepaid passes.
And instead of stopping at every other intersection, bus drivers would only stop once every mile.
“You will be able to turn on your computer, see exactly when that bus is coming and know exactly before you leave when that bus will be there,” added Banasiak. “When you get to the stations, we’ll have real time signs that will tell you exactly when the next bus will be there. We’re going to make it very easy for people.”
The results of the study will be presented to City Council and officials with the federal government in September. Banasiak said the total cost of the system will be about $100 million. City officials say the federal government is expected to cover 50 percent of the costs.
