Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Mad Dash
Posted by Mary Cashiola on Wed, Nov 11, 2009 at 11:03 AM
Last night, armed with wine, cheese, and homemade bread, members of the local arts community, the Midtown Development Corporation, and transportation advocates got back on the bus.
The bus ride was a test run for Go M.A.D. Transit, which stands for Midtown and Downtown.
"For the past several months, we've been trying to find ways of linking Midtown with Downtown," said Playhouse on the Square's Jackie Nichols. "Tonight, we're taking the route and enjoying each others' company."
With 24 stops, the M.A.D. Dash would link four colleges, eight neighborhoods, 10 arts venues, and eight cultural sites, and, if last night was any indication, take about an hour to make the full loop.
The bus' double loop, which would be centered on Overton Square, would go west on Linden, south on Main Street to the National Civil Rights Museum, east on Madison, then head north on Cooper and around Overton Park, south on East Parkway to Cooper-Young, and then back to Overton Square.
"If there's too many stops, people get mad," Nichols said. "If there aren't enough stops, not enough people get served."
Organizers don't know when such a service might start, or what the hours of operation would be, but want to see the shuttle operate each Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
They're also not sure how much MATA would be involved or if funding would come from the public sector, the private sector, or a combination of the two.
They hope the fare for the shuttle would be between 50 cents and $2.
Other cities, such as Birmingham, Chattanooga, and Philadelphia, have similar shuttles. Chattanooga's Downtown Electric Shuttle loops around downtown and is completely free. Birmingham's DART costs 25 cents a ride, and serves both the central business district and the UAB area.
Ham Smythe says they would like to have a driver with a lot of personality.
"The destination isn't important here — it's the trip," he says. "There are lots of easy ways to get around. You could call a cab."
Comments (17)
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I love local ideas like this. Hope it sees the light of day. I've got a vintage bordeaux I'd love to share.
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I know commuting isn't the point of the MAD Dash, but if MATA would come up with something that simple, I'd take it to work. As it stands now, I can walk Downtown from Midtown faster than I can get there by bus.
But I thought the trolley extension to accomplish the same thing was a done deal, right?
This is a good idea. The hours should be commiserate with the late night venues it serves. I live downtown but would love to bar hop Cooper-Young without worrying about driving. Or even going to a show a Minglewood would be nice for the same reason. Let's do this!
It's a shame that they can't work with MATA to increase the service level provided by the Madison Ave. trolley in conjunction with the shuttle idea. Linking a trolley line with far more frequent service than is provided at present with a shuttle that can provide more frequent stops across a wider area would be a holistic approach to connecting the dots in the city center.
This being a good idea and all, we should probably try to keep MATA as far away from it as possible.
Errrr.... I thought the trolley extension was lambasted by midtown residents and business owners who claimed their neighborhoods would be ruined if MATA brought undesirables from downtown in on the trolley?
Will this private bus be screening the passengers first, or something?
Yeah, I was about to ask about the trolley. Why they stopped it in front of a dry cleaner's instead of running it all the way down to Overton Square, which pretty much seems like it was made to have a trolley, is a mystery to me.
Sounds like they weren't sure about most of the specifics, but that's no reason not to have a party.
I think they should split the downtown and midtown loops and include the emerging broad avenue arts district. And I don't see it working without a fleet of shuttles. One will be way slower than the trolley.
Something like this had been done -- in 1979!! When Downtown was hurting for people MATA created the "Hustle Bus" (disco era, you know) which charged a $.10 fare from the Medical Center to Downtown and had several that made a loop back and forth. I am not sure how long it lasted.
I think it is a great idea. As for the trolley and the Square, I believe the plans only went as far as the medical center area because that was as far as the federal dollars would take it, I could be mistaken though.
The one thing about the trolley is that it is unavailable after 10 or 11pm, which makes Midtown to Downtown and back again barhopping nearly impossible. That's without even going into the erratic wait times.
Phlo you bring that bordeaux and I have a wonderful granache to add to the party.
Mad Merc: the plan was to expand as light rail, w/ Trolley ending at Madison/Cleveland and becoming faster trains to the square, cooper-young, fairgrounds and onto the airport. Hours of operation would change with growth & use. But in addition to any $$$ issues there was pushback preventing the kind of expansion that would have made the line useful.
I just mentioned all of this in a piece I'm working on.
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