From the SF Chronicle today:

Transit agencies, already faced with sky-high fuel prices, may be forced to cut service, raise fares or defer maintenance to keep the books balanced. Transit users could be riding dirtier and more crowded trains, buses and ferries, enduring less-frequent service and paying more for it.

How will this play out in Humboldt?  Not sure, but Green Wheels will let you know when we find out.

Starting next week, Tuesdays, any SoHummer can catch the bus to Fortuna or Eureka (depending on which week) to get yer errands done without blowing a lot of cash on gas.  If there is enough interest in this service, it could be expanded.  It's up to SoHummers now.

Here is a FAQ from HTA with the details:

These are Jul 31 to Aug 30 statistics for the Redwood Transit System website:

Click the image for a larger view.

Aparently the start date just came out in the Redwood Times.

The plan is to open up the Quail to the genneral public on Tuesdays, rather than limit it to elderly and disabled folks. That's the day of teh week the Quail goes up to Eureka and Fortuna (alternating which city it goes to each week). If lot's of people take advantage of this, it would justify more transit service for SoHum.

Thanks to Julia for keeping us posted!

On May 28, the Journal announced and launched their new website.  If you haven't seen it, check it out.  Part of the website is their events calendar, probably Humboldt's most comprehensive.  They already offered convenient driving instructions for venues.  That made me think, "Why not transit?"  (click "Read more" to find out what happened)

A minor Redwood Transit System schedule updates goes into effect today, August 25.

Times for a few trips have been adjusted.  There are no revisions that are more than five minutes different from the previous schedule.

The information on the schedule page has been updated, including for the downloadable mobile schedules.

HTA Board and Staff, clockwise from the back: Stan Binnie - Trinidad (reaching for a donut, gotcha Stan! ;-) ), Greg Pratt - Director of Operations, Paul Pitino - Chairperson - Arcata, Nel Fregoso - General Manager, Dean Glazier - Fortuna, Johanna Rodoni - Humboldt County, Bud Leonard - Rio Dell.

I'm working on some more usable transit maps for Humboldt that allow people to mix various transit information together. Here's a prototype for Eureka Transit Service. What this map needs is for stops to show up with their respective route layers, and for these stops to open a bubble of expected arrivals/departures. Read more to find out how you can help improve Humboldt's online transit maps.

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.