Proposed changes to city bus system could attract more riders

Proposed changes to the Cedar Rapids transit system would streamline the city's bus routes and make it easier to reach more parts of town directly.

Under proposals laid out in a study of the transit system, more bus routes would overlap, allowing riders to switch routes all over the city, something that can be difficult now because Cedar Rapids' 12 bus routes stick out like spokes from the city's center.

“We're going to encourage people to learn how to transfer at other stops instead of having to go downtown,” said Joseph Kern, a principal at SRF Consulting Group, Inc.

People rode the bus in Cedar Rapids about 1.2 million times in the last fiscal year. The Corridor Metropolitan Planning Organization funded the study to find ways to attract more riders and improve the system “without asking for a big chunk of money,” said Sushil Nepal, a planning coordinator for the city and the Metropolitan Planning Organization.

The study's recommendations include cutting out the Ellis Boulevard NW segment of Route 6, and adding a leg south on Edgewood Road to Westdale Mall. That would be the third route to stop at Westdale, making it something of a hub for west Cedar Rapids.

Most routes would be simplified and some high income neighborhoods would lose sections of their routes.

Cherie Clark, a disability rights advocate, said the proposed change would move a bus route too far away from her home on the southeast side, and while she understands why low-traffic segments of bus routes might have to be eliminated, she wonders what some people in those neighborhoods will do. A quarter of the people who ride the bus in Cedar Rapids are disabled.

“For me, it's not an issue today, but I'm very very close to not being able to drive,” she said.

To take the bus, she walks a block from her home on Ridgemore Drive SE to Bever Avenue. With the proposed changes, she'd have to walk to the corner of Bever and Memorial Drive SE.

“That's quite a jaunt,” she said.

Route changes weren't the only recommendation given in the study. The planners recommend a better website, new maps, redesigned schedule and route information, and real-time updates on bus arrivals online or to a mobile device.

The study charges Public Works with building more sidewalks along bus routes, ensure all bus stops have a pad within 10 years, and make it a priority to clear snow and ice from bus stops.

Proposed Cedar Rapids Bus System