HUB FOR BUS LINES

Transit mall ‘ahead of its time’

Improved bus routes, surrounding development expected to boost use of now-isolated transfer point near old railroad depot

Terry Hankins The modern, angular design of the bus shelters at the new Petaluma Transit Mall has left many people wondering what the different parts of the structure are used for. The shelters include the following. 1. Metal awning for shelter from rain. 2. Windscreens that double as areas to post bus route and schedule information. 3. Concrete bench for seating. 4. Metal trellis fence for climbing vines, recently planted. Zoom Photo

The bright-yellow frames of the Petaluma Transit Mall bus shelters seem to call even more attention to the somewhat isolated spot, sandwiched between two vacant lots near the old railroad depot.

The mall opened in November as a hub for city, county and North Bay bus lines, but “at some level, it’s ahead of its time,” said John Siragusa, the city’s transportation manager.

Although ridership and on-time performance of the city’s transit system are on the rise, it will take a combination of improved bus routes, surrounding development and a regional commuter train for the mall to realize its full potential, he said.

The first step will be new Petaluma Transit routes, possibly by March, to “streamline” the use of the mall and connect more easily with Sonoma County and Golden Gate transit buses that stop there, Siragusa said.

The three lines began serving the $2.7 million mall when it opened, but further route and schedule changes will help make the new stop the focal point of the city’s bus system, rather than the old on-street transfer point at Fourth and C streets.

In fact, the city’s Transit Advisory Committee may decide to move the Fourth and C stop one block east to Petaluma Boulevard, so buses don’t have to loop through downtown streets, Siragusa said.

“We need to get the buses off the residential streets,” he said.

The joint city-county project, located between two of Petaluma’s busiest east-west corridors, was seen as a way to tie nearby passengers, buses and a potential rail system together when it was first conceived in the late 1990s.

But the development of the nearby vacant lots into mixed-use projects has been delayed, and a ballot measure to create a North Bay commuter train — with a stop at the nearby depot — lost at the polls in 2006.

City planners talked about the future of the area with the Site Plan and Architectural Review Committee in 2006, envisioning a pedestrian walkway leading from the public restrooms at the depot, through the transit mall and future developments to the Petaluma River Turning Basin.

The pathway would connect commuters to both buses and trains. It would also give bus riders quicker access to the restrooms at the depot, home to the Petaluma Visitors Center.

Currently, passengers have to walk along Washington or D streets to the depot in order to reach the restrooms, which are only open during business hours.

Some bus riders have complained about the restroom situation in letters to the editor and at City Council meetings. They’ve also questioned the design of the yellow-framed bus shelters, partially enclosed by Plexiglas windscreens that double as a place to post schedules and route information.

“There’s no bus shelter there when it rains and when its windy,” Katherine Brobrowski told the City Council at last week’s meeting. “People don’t like that bus stop.”

Another bus user, Debbie Kahn, said in a Nov. 28 letter to the Argus-Courier that the transit mall’s design “left users out in the cold.”

Siragusa said the shelters, while unusual in design, do offer protection from the elements.

“They do give adequate shelter for the time you need to wait for the bus,” he said.

Other complaints about a lack of parking and amenities for users will be resolved as the surrounding properties develop, he said.

For now, commuters who need to park a car and catch a bus can should use the city’s park-and-ride lot at the fairgrounds, he recommended.

“Eventually, the plan is to have structured parking near the transit mall, but that depends on development,” Siragusa said. “Things take time. I’m sure in years to come, people will say, ‘Whoever built that transit mall there was thinking right.’”

Overall, the city transit system is attracting more riders, Siragusa said. Ridership during 2007 was 8 percent higher than the 159,000 rides the previous year, surprising the high of 165,000 rides five years ago.

“I would probably attribute most of that increase to our reliability factor,” Siragusa said.

In 2006, 41 percent of bus stops were made on time, a city transit review found. That figure is now approaching 90 percent, close to the goal of 95 percent, Siragusa said.

The use of new GPS technology to monitor bus trips and identify trouble spots, along with improved driver training and rider awareness, led to the change, he said.

“We really educated the drivers and the passengers as to what the standard should be,” he said.

The city also created a Transit Advisory Committee, chaired by Mayor Pamela Torliatt, to review the performance of the transit system and find ways to boost ridership and improve service.

“Our transit system has come a tremendous way in the last two-and-a-half years,” Torliatt said. “Hopefully, we’ll only improve.”

(Contact Corey Young at corey.young@arguscourier.com)