Not exactly a rousing start for PART’s new Davidson County route:
Just three vehicles sat for most of the day in the park-and-ride lot off N.C. 109 in Thomasville: a small sedan, SUV and minivan. Similar low numbers were reported at other stops in Lexington and Midway.
Evidently, residents haven’t completely changed their way of thinking:
Officials with PART could not be reached for comment on Monday afternoon. However, leaders previously have acknowledged the challenges in introducing public transportation to areas not accustomed to the service.
“A society that has never had the option of using a mass transit system has to look at their daily lives from a much different thought process,” said Brent McKinney, executive director for PART, in an interview last May.
Meanwhile, in an (unposted) story on GTA’s new fares, the N&R caught up with Jann Lund of Lexington, one of the few riders taking advantage of the route:
“It’s only $4 for a round trip, and that’s a gallon of gas,” said Lund, who works at the Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard law firm. “Paying for gas last month was like making an extra car payment. By doing this, it’s saving me $200 a month.”
Lund must make one concession. “I’m not a morning person, and I’m having to get up a lot earlier,” she said. “The bus leaves Lexington at 7 o’clock, and a trip that used to take me 40 minutes now takes an hour and 20 minutes with stops. That’s a trade-off.”
I can’t help but wonder how long the trade-off will continue to be worth it.
