The Alliance for Reliable Transportation is changing the face of public transportation in Baton Rouge.
The group originally formed in opposition to the highway bypass proposal that would have been built by Alligator Bayou near Highland Rd., but it now focuses on transportation issues.
ART members come from different perspectives to improve the environmental and recreational state of Baton Rouge, said David Lindenfeld, a member of ART and history professor at LSU.
Lindenfeld, math professor Charles Delzell and fifth-year electrical engineering senior Michael Ohene are becoming involved in the campaign for transit reform.
The Baton Rouge bus system’s main drawback is its restricted ability to effectively provide mass transportation, Ohene said. Cities where mass transit receives generous funds from its citizens accumulate those funds through three methods: voter-approved sales taxes, voter-approved lump-sum taxes and federal dollars.
According to the 2002 Transportation Finance Referenda, a proposed Baton Rouge bus tax that failed would have generated funding for the Capital Transportation Corp. to have covered bus shelters, security cameras and stable routes.
Cities such as San Francisco, Seattle, New York and Austin, Texas all have efficient mass transit systems with low fare charges, short waiting times for buses and efficient transfers of passengers to other buses.
Ohene has firsthand knowledge of the efficiency of the Austin mass transit system.
Ohene did not visit Austin with the Baton Rouge delegates who attended an economic development workshop in Sept. 2003. He took a train service from Longview, Texas to Austin on Jan. 5 and tested the transit system by traveling in Austin on the bus system and staying in low-fare hostels and co-ops.
“I never had to use a car,” Ohene said. “My experience really proved that you can have mobility without a car.”
Ohene attributes the success of Austin’s transit system to more than the funding.
“The overall cultural attitude of Austin is different than Baton Rouge’s,” Ohene said. “People who can afford cars still choose to ride the bus, and they are not wary or opposed to riding the bus.”
Austin’s buses are equipped with bike racks, encouraging commuters to cycle to distant bus stops to catch a ride.
Newly-appointed CTC CEO, Dwight Brashear, Tom Hanlon, RJ Goebel, head of the Capital Region Planning Commission, and John Denman, former interim manager of CTC, attended the ART meeting on Feb. 18.
Brashear stressed the importance of attracting riders to public transit.
“Public transit needs to be reliable, safe and clean to attract all riders,” Brashear said. “We have our bread and butter riders that rely on public transit, but we need those that don’t need to ride the buses.”
Downtown transportation is not the only area of Baton Rouge that has room for improvement. During the meeting, ART discussed plans that architects have developed for a “smart growth development” on Perkins Road. Connectivity to adjacent neighboring subdivisions is the key factor to discourage heavy traffic in the residential area.
Approximately 300 developments, a mix of condominiums and houses, will be built. The houses will reflect the local architecture, and stores and commerce will be integrated into the community to cut down on the transportation of grocery shopping and other necessities.
The new community is planning to have a “weak” level of connectivity with adjacent neighborhoods. These neighborhoods will be designed with “feeder” streets that do not form a straight path between the adjoining neighborhoods, discouraging crime. Only the residents will be familiar with the true route back and forth through the neighborhoods, and bikers and pedestrians easily will be able to commute.
ART meets on the third Wednesday of every month. The next meeting is scheduled for March 27.