I got up to catch the 2S bus to do some Black Friday shopping around Nicholasville Rd. this morning. The earliest bus that come through the neighborhoods gets you to the Southpark Wal-Mart at 7 a.m. (if it's on time) On the bus were mostly workers. You could tell by their uniforms and shoes and lunch bags.
Two men had a brief conversation that I happened to catch. It went something like this:
Male 1: Hey Man! How was your turkey?
Male 2: It was alright, I had to work all day.
Male 1: Yeah, it's like that sometime.
Male 2: Cracker Barrel was really busy. This is my stop, see you later.
He exited at the Mickey D's just inside Man O War on Nicholasville Rd. Another man said, "Is he walking to Cracker Barrel?" I said, "That's a looooong way down from here."
Let's put some facts on this conversation: According to the address of Mickey D's and CB, I found that they are 2.5 miles apart.
Now that's pretty bad. There is obviously not enough work within the city limits and now people are forced to take jobs more than 2 miles off the bus routes.
What's even funnier, is that there are Express busses at the WalMart in Southpark just a block from where he got off. People are allowed to park in the parking lot for free and ride into Downtown Lexington from there. But they have to drive to that point.
Why can't there be a shuttle bus to get them from Nicholasville to Lexington and the reverse? Even just a few times each day. The system must not be convenient or it is not well advertised, because on early mornings you see hundreds of cars with one rider going down Nicholasville Rd. toward UK and downtown Lex. What a waste of gas and oxygen!
A regional transit system would bring ease to workers, job seekers and shoppers. I'm sure that Nicholasville and Georgetown shoppers would love an easy ride into Lexington for some retail therapy. I'm going to see if there was ever regional transit here and if not, why not?
A quick Google search of "impact of regional transit" gave several pages of interesting reading on the subject.
There has to be some other means of providing affordable and responsible transportation options to those who work or live outside Lexington.
I tried to comment here over the weekend, but was having some problems with the authentication. I work at Lextran and we are currently moving towards a regional transit system. As these things go, it will take some time for progress to be made, but please know that Lextran recognizes this issue and is working with other transit agencies in the central KY region to address the gaps in service. Believe me, we would love to go to Brannon Crossing area as we have had many requests for service to that location. The location just inside the Jessamine County line is where the issue arises.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I would like to speak with you further about the opportunity to provide greater feedback to Lextran. I am in the process of setting up a Transit Advisory Committee to kick off in the new year, and might have an open spot for you. I hope you'll contact me: jbarnett@lextranonthemove.org
Thanks for reading Ms. Barnett! I'll offer my advice from afar. You or any reader can always reach me here or at theserialrider@gmail.com
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