As of January 3, 2010, Fareless Square will be eliminated for bus passengers. It resulted in too much fare evasion. (Passengers would get on early in FS, ride through it, and get off without paying.)Portland Oregon has what is known as "Fareless Square". Essentially all MAX trains, Buses, and the Portland Street Car are FREE in most of the downtown area. Fortunately, the Amtrak Station is included in this very large "Square".
What technology does that use? Lead acid batteries?BTW, I took a look at the Chattanooga electric buses. Guess I was expecting trolley buses a la San Francisco or Vancouver, and busted out laughing at the reality:
Chattanooga Electric Shuttle
Not to denigrate them - whatever works. They're just funny looking.
I have no idea, but after clicking the link I have to admit I chuckled about the appearance of the buses. A good service though, they just might want to work on cosmetics for the next order.What technology does that use? Lead acid batteries?BTW, I took a look at the Chattanooga electric buses. Guess I was expecting trolley buses a la San Francisco or Vancouver, and busted out laughing at the reality:
Chattanooga Electric Shuttle
Not to denigrate them - whatever works. They're just funny looking.
Chattanooga, Tennessee has had "free" shuttle bus service in it's core downtown area for more than a decade. The shuttles are low floor electric buses and operate an 18 hour daily schedule. During peak times, the headway is as little as five minutes anywhere along the route. This service has been operated and expanded without additional cost to the city taxpayers as it is funded by the operation of the citie's two major parking facilites-one at the north end of the route and the other at the south end. Both buildings have commercial retail space leased on the ground floor-the south garage has small, higher end retail shops and the north garage features a seven screen movie theater. The reciepts from the rent and parking income covers the entire cost of the operation.
Basically, the designers of the system employed transit oriented development to fund the total cost of operations. Their foresight was key not only to the success of the shuttle system but the redevelopment and transformation of Chattanooga's downtown. When my folks first moved there more than twenty years ago, downtown was dead on the weekend. Go downtown on a Saturday night now and you're lucky to find a parking space within a block of the restaurant or pub!
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