Council Candidate Highlights Desired GTA Improvements

COUNCIL CANDIDATE HIGHLIGHTS DESIRED GTA IMPROVEMENTS

Shell Wants Greater Number of Sheltered Bus Stops & Enhanced GTA Web site

Greensboro, N.C. (July 06, 2009) – Ryan Shell, a candidate for the District 2 Greensboro City Council seat, wants to see the Greensboro Transit Authority (GTA) drastically increase the number of bus stops that have shelters and to also enhance it’s Web site by making it easier to navigate and implementing trip planner technology.

“Everyone that has a hand in GTA does a great job, but in terms of services provided and things we can do to enhance the user experience I think we have some room for growth,” said Shell. “Currently there are 1,105 bus stops in Greensboro and only 71 have shelters. That equates to 6.42% and in my eyes, we can do much better than that. By providing shade from the sun or rain we will be enhancing the user experience, which could prompt more residents to use public transportation. By having shelter at such a small number of bus stops shows me that we are operating at what I call a ‘just good enough’ standard and I don’t see that as acceptable.”

In addition to wanting additional shelters installed, Shell wants to see significant changes to the GTA Web site.

“I was looking at a couple of the transportation Web sites that the Triangle has and was impressed with their layouts, and more so the trip planner technology,” said Shell. “If you visit the current GTA site it might take a first time user quite a long time to figure out how to get to get from point A to point B. The trip planner technology allows you to put in a beginning and ending destination and basically tells you when to be where and what bus you might need to transfer to. While discussing the technology with transit employees in Raleigh they stated that the technology has been extremely successful for them. It’s all about breaking down barriers to entry and when we do that we will increase ridership and expand the system.”

Additional GTA information:

• The GTA Board has set a standard that a stop will not receive a shelter unless it has 25 riders a day.
• The city is currently in the process of installing 15 shelters, four of which are replacements, meaning 11 new units will be installed increasing the number of sheltered stops to 82, or 7.42%.

Please visit www.voteshell.com for additional information.

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