Most of us found out the morning after, although the PikeRide changes had been publicized for months before anything happened. Low ridership was explained in neighborhood meetings months ago by riders' complaints of unreliability and low frequency.

The County can't win them all, but for this neighborhood a piece of history has ended, and our bus service just got worse in 2004 than it had ever been for the last 75 years. We do not regard that as progess in public transportation.

Here is Dennis Dimick's wakeup message.

From: Dennis Dimick

Sent: Monday, September 27, 2004

To: kmackinnon@arlingtonva.us

Subject: Losing ART 41 Bus in Barcroft

Letter sent to Arlington Transit
Concerning End of Bus Service ART 41 in Barcroft Neighborhood

Sept. 27, 2004

Kelley Mackinnon
Arlington Transit
Arlington VA

Dear Ms. MacKinnon,

I am writing to express my dismay at the loss of the ART bus 41 through Arlington's Barcroft neighborhood. I have lived here since 1985, and now for the first time in my 19 years here no bus comes into our neighborhood.

For years I have taken my children to school bus stops at 6th and Wakefield and have then caught a bus to work at the same corner. As of today, no more. And children who as recently as last week rode ART 41 to school daily at adjacent Barcroft Elementary School will now have to find alternate means. So much for mass transit that meets needs of those who have nothing else.

I rode the now discontinued Metrobus 16X for many years, and was worried that bus service would soon disappear when it was announced that ART 41 would assume that service. Those fears have now come true.

When ART 41 began, rush hour frequency through Barcroft was reduced from 20 minutes to 30 minutes, and the Metro bus stops on Columbia Pike at Wakefield were taken out, making it harder to access ANY bus if we walked to Columbia Pike.

Decreased convenience made it harder to use the bus, either ART or Metro, partly because the wait was longer in the neighborhood and partly because it was now harder to access buses on Columbia Pike via Wakefield Street.

No doubt you have decided that reduced ridership has caused the elimination of ART 41 Barcroft bus service. I would submit that the reduced ridership was caused by a planned reduced service frequency, and by a planned reduced access by eliminating bus stops at Columbia Pike and Wakefield Street.

As Arlington Transit and Metro claim that "Pike Ride" has been such a boon for riders, I can say only that your new program has been a total disaster for mass transit options in Arlington's Barcroft neighborhood.

When public language is increasingly twisted to mean anything but what it says, "Pike Ride" seems like just another Orwellian scheme where "increased frequency" and "better service" really mean "no service" for those of us living in Barcroft neighborhood who are now forced into our cars to get to work.

Dennis Dimick
4707 S. 6th Street
Arlington VA 22204

To: Arlington County Board

Subject: Loss of the ART 41 Bus Route

Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2004

Yesterday we lost the bus route that has served Barcroft for over 75 years. The ART 41 route was changed and no longer runs through our neighborhood.

These changes came as a surprise to most who use the bus in our neighborhood. As president, I never received any information about the proposed changes and our neighborhood was never given an opportunity to weigh in on the decision. The decision in all likelihood would have been made anyway, but it is disconcerting that we were never given the chance as a neighborhood to provide input to the change in service that has so long been a part of Barcroft.

We understand the need to balance service with budgetary considerations. It is disheartening, however, that while the County actively encourages the use of alternative transportation you have just given our neighborhood one more excuse to drive a car.

Sincerely,

Eric M. Harold
President, Barcroft School and Civic League
902 S. Buchanan Street
Arlington, VA 22204
phone: (703) 486-0879
cell: (703) 862-6713

And County Staffer Jim Hamre Responded Promptly

Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2004

From: James Hamre

To: Randy Swart

Randy

Thank you for copying me on your email to the County Board. Yes, the historic aspect of the discontinuance of the ART 41 loop through Barcroft is disconcerting as the timeline of service on the streets of the neighborhood is interrupted. The fact that "Barcroft" continues in the lexicon of the 22A, 16H and 16Y lines provides little solace from the perspective of the purist who, for what ever reason, does not count service on the perimeter of the BSCL as service to the community. However, the philosophical question that still must be addressed is, "if no one rides the bus, and the bus stops running, is that really a loss of service?" In this case I submit not.

As we have discussed previously at BSCL meetings, the ridership on the Metrobus 16X Line in Barcroft was minimally adequate in the neighborhood at best. Since then, the average daily ridership on the ART through Barcroft has fallen to less than 5 per day. Despite Mr. Dimick's nostalgia for the good old days when children rode the public bus to the neighborhood elementary school, those days have long past. Changing demographics, travel patterns and community wealth have altered bus ridership in many neighborhoods throughout Arlington, Barcroft included.

As steward of the public transit system in Arlington and of the publicly funded support for bus services, it is my job to make sure that the services are operated in a manner to meet the needs of those who are actually riding the services and that they reflect a minimally productive contribution to the service network. In this case, the extra time and confusion for riders on the bus outweighed the benefit to the very few who were still using the service. There are more than adequate and convenient service alternatives for accessing Ballston via Metrobus Route 22A on George Mason, and, as was pointed out in BSCL meetings, most folks are opting to walk down to Columbia Pike to gain the benefit of the frequency and convenience of the Metrobus 16 Line buses.

The bus stop at Wakefield was discontinued because it was too close to the stops at Buchanan and Taylor and the increased travel time for those passengers on the bus could not be justified by the ridership generated. We made similar reductions at other bus stops.

The ART 41, as it turned out, did not have the reliability to provide a convenient transfer to those riding the bus to the Pentagon. The demands of increased ridership elsewhere along the line, construction in Clarendon, on Glebe Road and along Columbia Pike made the schedule difficult to adjust, which we did several times over the past year trying to find the right balance between early and late. Also, for those going to Ballston, the 22A provides more frequent and direct all day service.

Pike Ride services have seen an increase of over 1,000 daily riders during the past year. By any measure of benefit, that is a gain for the community and a benefit to the riders who use the service. By definition, "public" transit is not "personal" transport and there will be folks on services that do not pan out that will have to make other arrangements. However, like with gardening, a little pruning makes for a healthier system in the long run.

I am sorry that you were personally not aware of the service change until yesterday. I guess you are not a user of the ART 41 service. In addition to providing information directly to those on the buses, we handed out 196 "Pike Ride/ SmarTrip Card" envelopes on September 15, 2004, at the "Barcroft" bus stop at Buchanan Street which included the new schedules for service changes. This was in addition to information provided at the County fair, press releases, on the web and through previous conversations with the community. We can always do better, but considering time and money available, I believe we did pretty good. Don't forget, the initial promotion campaign for Pike Ride had a $700,000 grant from the Governor to support the sustained information campaign, which we no longer have.

For anyone who wants to have an actual dialogue about transit service in the community, I, not Kelly MacKinnon, am the right person to engage. I and my staff have made ourselves available over countless meetings to the Columbia Pike community over the past four years of planning and continue to be willing to meet at any time or place to discuss the needs and opportunities for services. We will be holding a series of public dialogues about transit services through the coming year to give people the opportunity to ask questions and share opinions. Should BSCL want to try to figure out a cost-effective way to institute a replacement service, I am happy to work with you, but I do not have the resource within the existing ART or Metrobus programs to do something unilaterally. As you said in your email, the County can't win them all, but, as you know first hand, we do keep trying.

Thank you for sharing your concerns, I hope to see you out on the bus.

James Hamre
Transit Program Supervisor
703-228-3698
jhamre@arlingtonva.us

Here is long-time bus rider Dick Melia's letter

Sent: Friday, October 01, 2004

To: James Hamre

Subject: ART 41 in Barcroft

James Hamre
Transit Program Supervisor

Like many Barcroft residents, I am upset by the way in which the county handled the recent changes in the ART 41 route resulting in dropping the Barcroft loop.

I called Kelly MacKinnon and left a message requesting information on how the "low ridership" was determined. My call was never answered.

I plan to tell members of the County Board my disappointment in the process and the anger I've heard. Since I've known all the members on a first-name basis for years, I expect a better audience than Kelly MacKinnon or you. It will certainly be entertaining to attend the Barcroft Candidates' night next Thursday, October 7th!

When I was President of the BCSL, METRO dropped the Barcroft Loop. I was a regular rider, but I figured that if no one else cared, I would not protest. There was no outcry before the bust stopped. Shortly thereafter, a Regional Hearing was held at TJ on METRO BUS service. About 50 Barcroft residents attended to protest ending the Barcroft loop which, as you reference, had provided continuing service to the neighborhood since the original founder of the AB&W lived here. Joe Wholey asked METRO officials how much it cost to run the Barcroft loop each day. The answer was something like $7.50 per day. Joe, as you may know, has a pretty good political as well as evaluative mind. He dryly observed "I think we can afford that!" The bus service was restored.

I attended the Columbia Pike Bus hearing at Arlington Mill before the introduction of "Pike Ride." There was no mention of any plans to require a minimum ridership or remove bus stops at Wakefield and Columbia Pike. Barcroft residents' observations about the infrequent ART service are correct. The 30 minute interval is not convenient. But if you have a disability, a child going to Barcroft school to drop off, or it is raining, a rider will arrange his or her schedule to use the ART. Other riders found it most convenient to use the ART 41 in the AM when it came closest to scheduled time. Some found it convenient to use the PM for the Barcroft Loop after stopping for groceries or to buy an evening meal at a restaurant on Columbia Pike. These are Arlington neighborhood enhancement goals to be encouraged.

Was your survey of ridership done in the summer when school was not in session and folks were on vacation? Did you depend on reports from drivers? Did you assemble reports from riders who used the ART 41 to or from Columbia Pike's METRO service? Did you take a survey? Did you take into account use in bad weather? Your numbers of five per day do not match my personal observations as a rider and resident at a bus stop. Based upon my own use and observation of other users at the bus stop, I alone frequently saw 4-5 riders in the morning. In the evening I would frequently see an additional 4-5. That represents observations of only a fraction of the trips. Some used the stops near my house (6th and 4th and South Taylor) to go to or from Demeter House or the nearby Foreign Affairs Training Center/National Guard. I would take the 7:04 or the 7:34 AM and most mornings several other Barcroft residents rode the ART - often like me only to Columbia Pike. One neighbor rode the bus to her job at Ballston AM and PM. Another (a person with a mobility disability) frequently got on at the 4th and Wakefield Stop. My neighbor who is a teachers' aide at Patrick Henry could ride the ART 42 to within several blocks off Glebe from her work.

I ride the ART from time to time through other neighborhoods. The beauty of the ART is that serves residential communities -- the same communities that make up the Civic Federation. I know that a large percentage of ART stops -- even on a busy road such as Glebe or Wilson Blvd. - are frequently void of riders. You don't measure a stop by whether or not someone uses it each time the bus comes.

I believe that the ART service to Barcroft was discontinued for two reasons: (1) the drivers never liked this route and frequently complained out loud while making the loop -- for example about making the turn from 4th Street to Wakefield and from 8th Street to S. Buchanan Street at the BCSL Community Center; (2) the route is a very long one that has included construction and other problems in maintaining a schedule.

Thus, the ART staff decided to discontinue the Barcroft Loop (approximately 4 minutes East Bound in the AM and West Bound in the PM) to mollify drivers and improve the overall efficiency of the Route. The rationale that you provide about cost and about low ridership does not hold water.

Please be honest with us. Don't hold up hope of meetings or dialogue. Don't ask BSCL to "figure out a cost-effective way to institute a replacement service." We pay taxes and we pay fares. Do be fair. Do use the same standards for all neighborhoods. Publish clear standards of ridership and service. I know that many ART routes have similar series of bus stops for which the ART bus cruises by a certain percentage of the time w/o stopping. That is what allows the schedules to be maintained while riders still know they can reach neighborhood destinations.

I'm not going to make the ART in Barcroft a major personal campaign. But I will take an greater interest in improving the accountability of public officials such as you and Kelly MacKinnon. I do not believe that you have been honest or have worked with neighborhoods. That is the real loss to Barcroft and Arlington and it is that message that will be reported to the County Board.

Sincerely,

Richard P. Melia
4303 South Sixth Street
Arlington, VA 22204
richard_melia@prodigy.net

And Jim Hamre's Response:

From: James Hamre

Sent: Sunday, October 03, 2004

Subject: RE: ART 41 in Barcroft

Mr. Melia

I am sorry that you feel that the process by which the ART 41 service was discontinued was not what you expected. Let me respond with a couple of comments.

First, Ms. MacKinnon has recently encountered a significant illness and has not been in the office for several weeks. She did not leave an extended absence message, which I am now in the process of correcting, and so your message was not forwarded to me for response. I apologize that we did not respond in the appropriate amount of time but, with a small staff, we sometimes are not able to cover all bases at all times.

Second, we do apply consistent standards for performance of the ART system. We also recently discontinued Saturday service on ART 52 in northern Arlington. No where else in the system is there a similar operating segment that had such poor ridership that we have had to dedicate additional running time in order to serve. An example of our continuing management of the system to meet productivity guidelines is the ART 73 route. We adjusted the route to find a way for it to achieve its ridership potential and it will continue to receive hard scrutiny as we go through the County's budget process for FY 2006. The standards of performance were laid out for County Board approval before the ART program was expanded in 2003; an individual bus route should achieve a minimum 20 passengers per revenue hour and the route must be managed as needed to achieve optimal performance.

The fact of the poor performance of the ART 41 service in Barcroft was no secret and in fact was discussed on the BSCL website and at the BSCL meeting I attended early last spring. It was on the list of recommendations discussed in the budget process last year with the Financial Affairs Advisory Commission and discussed with anyone who inquired. The surveys were conducted at three separate times through the spring and summer to avoid inconsistent readings. Nothing we have seen on the daily logs kept on the bus reflect the ridership that you suggest. It is difficult to assess ridership without a consistent and all-inclusive observation process.

The route was discontinued due to low ridership. If there was even one person per bus trip, a case could be made that there was a potential that should be further explored. But when only 1 out of 4 bus trips had a single rider destined for the loop, then in my opinion it falls below the threshold that can be justified to be retained. That equates to about $7.50 worth of bus time per rider to serve the loop. A taxi would be cheaper. And yes, as I have explained previously in recent correspondence, there are challenges on that route that needed attention and we could not further delay addressing running time problems and delays without further impacting growing ridership on the route.

Your strong interest in the subject indicates that you are an advocate for transit services and I am always happy to receive your input. The Arlington Transit Program has numerous activities, of which ART is but one piece and the press of other activities of critical importance to Arlingtonians throughout the County required that we rely on notices on buses, the ART Forum, announcements by drivers, advertisements and promotional events to notify the community of the series of changes affecting ART 41, 52, 73 and Metrobus 3 and 9 lines . I encourage you to visit CommuterPage.Com on a regular basis, or to sign up for ART Alerts, the email notification service we offer, to stay abreast of transit news in Arlington.

We have a regular process established for receiving public input to our planning decisions. The schedule is posted at http://www.commuterpage.com/eventdetail.cfm?eventID=257. I should note however, that due to conflicts, the October 13 meeting will be rescheduled to later in the month, announcements will be forthcoming. I hope that you are able to attend and I look forward to hearing more from you about service needs that you consider important to the community.

Thank you for contacting me.

James Hamre
Transit Program Supervisor
703-228-3698
jhamre@arlingtonva.us

This page was revised on: October 4, 2004.