The Social Gooze

Photo credit: MetroPlanning.org

It’s being called the commute of the future. Cleveland and several other cities are trying it. The Wall Street Journal has the report on a new kind of bus:

“To woo workday commuters, Cleveland and select cities across the U.S. are trying to replace the image of the gritty, pokey, crowded bus by sending sleeker, more spacious and trainlike buses onto certain commuter routes. They are packing these buses with amenities cribbed from the handbook of other cities’ commuter rail and light-rail trains.”

Those amenities include things like wi-fi and off-bus ticketing for quicker boarding. These bus systems also include fewer stops and quicker arrival times. The fleet belonging to the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, for example, is equipped with signal transmitters that send alerts to traffic lights. As a result, the lights stay green to give an efficient path for busses.

The move is being adopted to attract new customers, ones who who don’t typically use public transportation, in hopes that these commuter passengers will reduce traffic congestion.

It’s a good move on their part because it takes into a account a niche audience that will likely take up the offer. One upside: Time spent in traffic on the way to the office can instead be spent in a comfortable seat and air-conditioned vehicle to get work done. In today’s world, being connected to the net on a mobile basis is a huge plus.