Officials from RTS are moving ahead with the next phase of a plan to revamp the bus system. It’s called “Reimagine RTS” and it’s a way of changing that transportation network to better reflect current needs.
RTS CEO Bill Carpenter says that more than 10,000 people have participated in the effort to get public input on any potential changes, and the bus system will hear from its consultant this Spring.
“The consultant will be back in May with a list of mobility toolbox options, meaning, what are the other mobility options, bike share, van pool, shuttle service, transportation network companies like Uber and Lyft and integrating those options that people already use into our network,” Carpenter told WXXI News.
Carpenter says the Reimagine RTS effort has come up with several ‘guiding principles’ including finding ways to maximize ridership, enhance the customer experience and increase access to frequent transit service.
Carpenter says among the things RTS is looking at doing, is finding ways to incorporate new modes of transportation into the already-existing transit system.
“What we want to do is create mobility hubs where someone can comfortably wait for our bus and hopefully that wait is not long but someone could have dropped them off, they could have taken a bike, they could have used Uber or Lyft, to that location. We want to create the infrastructure for those hubs to make it a more pleasant experience for our customers.”
Carpenter says RTS needs to alter the way it operates to reflect changes in where people live and work in the Rochester area.
