The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round

It is pretty much impossible to go a whole day without hearing about the high cost of gas. It's on the news, on the radio, on the Internet, and on everyone's minds. I keep seeing headlines like As price of gasoline increases, so does bus ridership.

Apparently the number of people riding the bus has risen about 2 percent this year. And more people are calling to ask about bus routes and rates.

I'm one of those people.

I determined that my best route to work would be on the 53 bus with a trolley transfer at the North Terminal. The cost? About $3.00 round trip.

Currently, gas is about $3.79 per gallon. My car gets 20+ miles per gallon. My total commute is about 12 miles. That's $2.27 round trip. Is riding the bus worth saving just .73 a day?

The federal government's reimbursement rate for mileage in a personal vehicle is $0.505 per mile, so for 12 miles in my own car, it's really costing me $6.06 round trip. And, technically, I could buy a 21 trip bus pass for $28 making my round trip cost closer to $2.66.

Ok, so it seems like riding the bus could be worthwhile on a very basic economic level. However, would it really work on a day-to-day basis? What would happen if I missed the bus? What if I have a meeting outside the office during the day? What if one of my kids has an emergency?

Apparently I'm not the only person wondering if saving money is everything. Despite rising gas prices, 67 percent of those taking part in an online survey conducted by the Memphis Business Journal said they wouldn't ride a MATA bus.

Why? The vast majority of comments were critical of the MATA system, complaining of long wait times, inflexible or too few routes, issues with cleanliness and perceived safety issues.

Smart City Memphis also looked at why Memphians won't voluntarily ride the bus. Their conclusion? While other cities are using public transportation as a hook to recruit young, college-educated workers and creative industries, MATA continues with a system built on the premise that all of its customers are people without choices.

But MATA might be changing its ways. It seems as though they are at least attempting to appeal to people on an environmental level. They recently added 4 hybrid buses to their fleet and on Red Ozone Days (determined by the Health Department's ground level ozone detectors) bus fares are only .25. MATA is also participating in the national Dump the Pump campaign next Thursday, June 19th.

So, really, how bad could riding the bus be? There's only one way to find out. I'll just have to ride the bus myself. Stay tuned...