Like many of you, until recently I was unaware that Idaho Falls maintains a public transportation system. After all, the system’s only method of advertisement seems to be the buses themselves. The system recieves little advertising on billboards, newspaper, or television.
So, here is the news – we have a bus system!
Recently, I began exploring the man bus routes that criss-cross our fine city and was suprised at the amount of area that the system actually covers – whether you need to get downtown, to the West or East sides of town, to the mall, or to many major shopping areas around town, there is a route that can get you there. I have found that the “Green” route can get me to work, downtown, even to the Aquatic Center, all in under 15 minutes from my pickup point at Smith’s on Woodruff.
In a time where gas prices are at an all-time gouging level, public transportation stands as a reasonable alternative to taking your car out for a spin in gas-guzzling start-stop traffic with all its frusterations and stresses. At $1.25 for the public and only $.60 for seniors and students, the price cannot be beat – and you get to kick back with your favorite book or click on your iPod for the trip!
The drivers are courteous, personable, and know most of the regulars by name, including their stops, special needs, and even special pick-up spots. I would challenge anyone to find a public transit system that goes out of its way to accomodate its patrons the way PTA does.
So the next time you need to head out, consider jumping aboard a PTA bus – it might suprise you with how pleasant it is.
[Note: The schedules you will find online are out-of-date and incorrect. I suggest dropping by their offices or calling for a complete, current schedule. Once you figure out the patterns, however, the system is not hard to understand. A driver is usually able and willing to describe their route to you, as they did to me on my first trip to Grand Teton Mall.]
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
I only wish the bus system would extend out to Shelly, Iona, and Ammon. I do believe if there was a bus stop in these locales it might even get me to abandon my car once or twice a week.
While I am happy to know about the bus routes for the city, I only hope that a regional transit system will become avaliable in the near future.
We talked about this before, the need for a map to visualize their routes. They cycle on the hour, right?
A dynamic map would be nice, like from google maps or mapquest. A static image would at least be needed to popularize this service.
Jeremy, since you say you understand their routes better now, can you explain or make a little graphic to explain them?
I’d likely use them if I understood how their routes and times worked. As it is I look at all their gibberish information and click off their site, thinking it’s just easier to drive than interpret their system.
Joe, if you could get me a large .jpg of Idaho Falls streets, I could work on a map of their routes in my free time. I tried Mapquest, but their maps are too small to map out all of the routes.
And yes, they are on an hourly rotation. For example, the Green route picks up at the Mall every hour on the hour, then at the Aquatic Center every hour on the half hour.
They used to print the maps in the phonebook back in the “CART” days (although now TRPTA is CART so that’s a nullpoint).
There’s a map at the Idaho Falls Public Library that no one seems to know about, and it’s okay except it seems strange to have a bus service that doesn’t follow a set “route” to reach stops – so along the way it would be more difficult to catch?
Here is a great website to the transportation of Berlin Germany where I live. I can’t believe how easy the tranportation system is here to follow–it is very famous for the easiness. I thought it might be helpful in patterning your IF city transportation system after one system that works great.
You may all think this is a pipe dream, but I have come up with a way to use our “underused” freight railways. While I am not certain of the costs that it would be, I would certainly like to share my wild idea.
Idaho Falls and the surrounding areas of Ammon, Ucon, Ririe, Shelly, Blackfoot, ect., all have a railroad running through town, so why not purchase a few commuter trains and build a few train stops in the cities. Charge a monthly or one time fare to get on and maybe we could have the begining of a really decent mass transit system.
Just imagine riding the train from let’s say Rigby to Shelly, or from Taylor’s Crossing to Roberts.
I don’t know, like I said it is just a pipe dream.
I like it, and we don’t have to wonder what side roads it might take (like the bus).
KIDK 3 reported on our limited local public bus service.
http://www.kidk.com/news/13026677.html
The biggest problem with this service is limited hours and limited reach in Idaho Falls. The story pointed out that if you work retail until 10 pm, you won’t have a ride home.
I’ve noticed the bus routes barely touch the west side, where 40% of our city’s population lives.
I read somewhere that folks are only willing to walk a half mile (probably less in this weather) to and from a bus stop, so the IF transit system needs considerably more coverage.
They talked about a local sales tax option to provide more bus funding. The Idaho legislature in their infinite wisdom killed local transit option taxes last year, but there is talk they may pass it this year after they appeared anti-local-control.
Would you support a 1/10th of a penny tax for a usable Idaho Falls public transportation system?
Hey, I’d be willing to pay much more than that for a decent system. I lived in Pocatello for a short time 30 years ago and their system was FABULOUS even then.