Kevin's last blog post on BartRage.com inspired me to bring up GetSatisfaction.com.  It's a user-powered customer service forum when customers and company and organizational representaitves can interact and share their experiences.

Transit is an important part of people's lives, and its users talk about it in many different aspects.  GetSatisfaction.com seemed like a way to expose some of those conversations, find some of the most useful suggestions which might otherwise never make it to decision-maker's ears, and stop the same questions from being asked over and over again.  In short, it seemed a perfect fit for transit.

One of the biggest challenges we face in effecting cultural change is that of unlearning stereotypes. For example, a common stereotype is that poor people ride the bus.  This stereotype is a major obstacle to changing our habits and adopting transportation methods similar to those in other countries, where busses and trains are used for daily transportation by all segments of society.

Currently in Humboldt County, city busses in Eureka and Arcata are easy to use and run with good frequency.  However, I would say that the Redwood Transit intercity bus system has two ridership components:  the desperate and the recreational. The desperate have no other means of transportation, and recreational riders are primarily young or retired people without stringent schedules. But repeated studies have cited trains and busses as the most economical ways to move people-everybody, not just the poor and disenfranchised or the retired.