FYI from the AATA:

Three bus boarding locations at the Blake Transit Center (BTC) will be relocated on Wednesday, August 4 due to the closing of Fifth Avenue around the underground parking lot construction next to the main library.

The Ann Arbor Transportation Authority (TheRide) has announced that Routes 1, 15 and 18 will board passengers along the west side of Fourth Avenue just north of William Street next to the Fourth and William parking structure. Passengers are encouraged to use the crosswalk at William to access these new stops.

According to officials of TheRide, an agreement with the City of Ann Arbor will allow some route buses to access their usual stops in the mall area of the transit center by utilizing a portion of Fifth Avenue going northbound to the BTC mall driveway.

As traffic or project conditions change, additional boarding locations may need to be relocated onto Fourth Avenue. A second phase of this project, and additional relocations, may begin as early as spring 2011.

All routes operated by TheRide will be delayed and/or detoured during the Fifth Avenue construction project.

Beginning August 1, Routes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 12B, 13, 17 and 18 heading into downtown Ann Arbor and Routes 17 and 18 leaving the BTC will be placed on detour.

Click here for more information on detours.

Updates on the boarding locations and a list of out-of-service bus stops and nearest stops in service will be available at www.TheRide.org or by calling 734.996.0400.

Yet another benefit of transit.  A recent study found that people who use a Commuter Train to get to work lost more weight over time than drivers.  Check out the study here: http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=mass-transit-encourages-exercise-an-10-07-09

Want to go to Top of the Park or a Summer Fest event but don’t want to deal with driving and parking?

This year, instead of driving to the Summer Festival, you can take the BTB Party Bus.

Click here for all the details.

From the BTB website:

BTB Party Bus is proud to partner up with the Ann Arbor Summer Festival to provide GREEN transportation for groups of all sizes to and from all Summer Festival events.

Besides giving you a carbon-neutral way to get to Top of the Park (BTB Party Bus runs on waste vegetable oil from your favorite Ann Arbor area restaurants), riding the buses will also give you a way to donate back to the festival – $.50 will be donated for every person that rides the bus!

Click here to view rates and service area

For Earth Day, President Obama encouraged all Americans to improve our environment. One of the ways he suggested was to take the bus to work:

That’s why, as we get ready to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, I want to leave you with a challenge.

I want you to take action – in your home or your community; at your school or your business – to improve our environment. It can be as simple as riding the bus or the subway to work, making your home more energy efficient, or organizing your neighbors to clean up a nearby park.

Perhaps one of the ways you can act on the President’s challenge is to be a part of our Commuter Challenge – pledge to take the bus, walk, bike or carpool for your commute during the month of May. Try a new bus route, or maybe fall back into some old habits like biking or walking a few days a week. Every sustainable trip you make helps (and during the Commuter Challenge, every commute comes with the chance to win prizes!)

If you need pointers on biking, walking, busing or carpooling to work, or wonder how the Commuter Challenge works, check out our website and contact us at 214-0100.

FYI here is some info on the AATA’s new fares beginning May 2nd, 2010.  Please note that this increase will not impact go!pass fares for employees.  With a go!pass, your ride will still be subsidized by the DDA so you can have unlimited rides.

AATA to implement fare adjustment on May 2

The Ann Arbor Transportation Authority (AATA) will implement Phase 2 of a two-year fare adjustment for both fixed-route bus and A-Ride and Senior paratransit services, beginning May 2, 2010.

In March, 2009, following an extensive effort to gather public input, the AATA Board of Directors approved implementation of a new fare structure to be implemented in two stages.

The basic adult bus fare will adjust to $1.50. The new fare structure includes maintaining the free fare for Senior and A-Ride card holders on fixed-route service. AATA will continue to offer reduced fares for K-12 students, seniors ages 60-64, Medicare and Medicaid card holders, and income-eligible individuals at half the basic adult fare.

In announcing the fare change, AATA CEO Michael Ford said, “Despite cutting more than $900,000 to balance the 2010 fiscal year budget, AATA still faces the challenges of reduced revenue at a time when the demand for quality public transit solutions is greater than ever.”

Ford explained that a five-year projection showed a decrease in property tax revenue due to lower property values, removal of the Pfizer property from the tax rolls and continued pressures on state operating assistance.

Fares represent a portion of the cost to operate transit service, with total fares covering 23.4 percent of the cost on fixed-route service and 15.2 percent of the cost for the demand-response service for Senior and A-Ride passengers.

Fares are paid directly by passengers and indirectly by organizations like the University of Michigan, City of Ann Arbor’s Downtown Development Authority and Washtenaw Community College.

In addition to increasing fares, over the past several years AATA has taken the following steps to improve efficiencies and reduce projected future deficits:

• Converted employees’ post-retirement health care plan to a portable defined contribution health care savings plan, reducing AATA’s unfunded liability from $10.5 million to $2.0 million.
• Continued to purchase hybrid electric buses to reduce diesel fuel consumption.
• Eliminated 15 employee positions, or 7.5 percent of the workforce, since 2006.
• Increased the hiring of part-time drivers.
• Switched to Voice-Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) phone service.
• Changed to a more cost-effective health care plan.

Upcoming steps to continue this effort include:

• Switching from #1 ultra-low sulfur bio-diesel (10 percent) to #2 ultra-low sulfur bio-diesel (20 percent) fuel
• Upgrading its energy management system to control natural gas and electricity costs at AATA facilities

“AATA is not alone in facing these financial challenges,” Ford said. “The American Public Transportation Association reports that, since January 1, 2009, 84 percent of public transit systems have either raised fares or cut service, or are considering either of those actions.”

Additional adjustments to AATA bus fares include:

• Cash fare, Fare Deal card holders and K-12 students – 75 cents
• 30-day Flex Pass – $58
• 30-day Value Pass – $29
• Day Passes – $4.50
• Full-fare tokens – $15 (bag of 10)
• Half-fare tokens – $75 (bag of 100)

Fares for A-Ride and Senior paratransit services include:

• Advance reservation – $3.00
• Same-day trip – $4.00
• Scrip coupons – $30 (book of 10)

Questions on the new fares may be directed to aatainfo@TheRide.org, or 734.973.6500.

I’ve been eyeing this poster in the window of Underground Sounds for months and now we finally have it on our office.  Oh joy!  It’s from the band called The Girls.

Never tried public transit before and want a little nudge?  EveryGirl posts a quick and basic guide to using public transit in any city.  Her advice is practical and straight forward.

If you work in downtown Ann Arbor and need a little more assistance using the bus, let us know. We can help!

FYI:

Due to a construction project, Route 15 Scio Church W. Stadium will be detoured beginning March 1st, 2010 until further notice.

Buses will use the following detour: regular route to intersection of Pauline/Stadium – east on Pauline – resume regular route on Seventh.

The AATA has a couple of service alerts out because of the snow.  If you want to get these send directly to your email inbox, subscribe to MyRide.  Many AATA buses are running about 10 minutes behind.

To check on the status of your bus, you can go to AATA’s Routes and Schedules page and select a route, or you can go to the Mobile RideTrak, which works better for mobile devices.

Here are the alerts that most impact downtown Ann Arbor Commuters:

• Route 17: Due to road conditions, Route 17 cannot serve Fifth Ave from Beakes to Depot via the Blake Transit Center.
• Route 13: Due to road conditions, there is no service north of Sunset.
• Route 14: Due to road conditions, Route 14 cannot serve Overridge.

Keep in mind that all AATA buses are still running, despite the bad weather.

Some benefits for choosing to ride the bus instead of driving your car on days like this:

• If you take the bus, you don’t have to shovel your car out and deal with residential streets.
• If you take the bus, you don’t have to warm your car up.   AATA buses are heated already.
• Buses are a lot bigger than small cars, which can feel comforting on a snowy day when your car might not handle as well.
• You don’t have to stress out about driving in the snow–leave the driving to an experienced bus driver.
• You can enjoy the snow rather than cursing it.
• Rides are free on all AATA buses with your go!pass.

We just got a call from someone wondering where the new AATA Plymouth Road Park and Ride Lot is located.

For a map of this location, please click here.

For more info on this and other Park & Ride Lots, you can visit getDowntown’s Park and Ride Lot page.