A comment I just left at Capital MetroBlog’s entry full of people insisting that the train is successful now or will succeed soon:
So it turns out Capital Metro isn’t going to wait any longer for us to “clap louder or Tinkerbell will dieâ€; in the January service change, they will cancel many 984 and 986 bus runs in order to attempt to boost MetroRail ridership.
Some of those people currently riding those far superior express buses will switch; some will go back to driving.
The key here is that when you build a GOOD rail line, most people switch from redundant bus lines willingly – because the train is better than the bus. Only awful trains require you to force-march passengers away from what they choose to ride; and this only works for captive riders, and only for a while.
Once again, M1EK was right – and those of you defending Capital Metro were wrong.
Capital Metro is about to learn the difference between “captive rider” and “choice commuter” (and the rest of us are going to learn how many of each comprised the ridership of these express bus routes).
