2 girls, an IPod and a credit card

Kat and her new Converse Sneakers - true love

This blog post comes to you from Starbucks in Arborland!

Kat and I took the bus to Arborland for a little post holiday shopping, which included a trip to Starbucks. Kat picked out a great pair of Converse suede booties at DSW.  We walked out of Old Navy with a huge bag of  bargains and we found a couple of cute dishes at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

There are days when I wished we had a car - having a car at the ready, at a whims notice to go somewhere...and then there's an afternoon like today when the sun was shining, we caught a bus near our house that takes us right to a local shopping center, we found some great bargains, had a Vente latte and arrived back at the bus stop right on time for a return trip.  No fuss and no worries.

A great afternoon with my daughter.

Astrid







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Ann Arbor Transit - Bus Facts and Figures

Sometimes, the mind goes to interesting places. 

I live in Ann Arbor and while I"m out and about, I see transit buses stopping for people, dropping them off, moving about the city.  Last night, I was wondering how many buses does AATA actually have?  Anybody want to guess?

According to the AATA website, The Ride has 27 hybrid electric buses and 51 conventional diesel buses.  I'm not sure I could have guessed that - either bigger or smaller. 

In 2008, the 78 buses travelled almost 2.5 million miles around our fair city.

And here's another interesting fact - guess how many bicycles the buses carried in 2008?  27,095

That averages out to 74 bikes on buses per day!

For all the facts and figures, see pdf here http://www.aata.org/pdf/AATA%20facts%20and%20figures%202009%20for%20web.pdf

Astrid

First Grocery Shopping Trip by Bus Adventure

Turns out the AATA 22 Connector bus runs every 30 minutes.  We can catch it at 17 and 47 minutes after every hour and returns from Meijers at the full and half hour.  Sweet. 

After a quick lunch of left over soup, bread and french fries, we set out to the store.

We live 9 minutes on foot to the bus stop.  The buses were running pretty close to schedule, not to crowded, pleasantly acclimatized, clean etc...no complaints.  We haven't purchased a rolling shopping cart yet so we brought along bags and baskets.  I don't even want to think about what I looked like today - bag lady anybody?

The 22 bus runs past Whole Foods, Arborland, Kroger, Meijer, and Glencoe Village - all your shopping needs.  The stop at Meijers is close to the front door and there's a little bus hut so no waiting in the cold or rain.  We finished our shopping in 30 minutes, then back to the bus stop.

The bus costs $1.50 per person per ride, so we spent $6 today hauling groceries.  The round trip including the walk took about 2 hours, 11/2 of which was transport.  It's not the sort of impromptu trip to make if you unexpectedly ran out of eggs.  

This was a test run to see if the bus would work when the weather gets a little more unpleasant.  With a little rolling cart, this will work well for one person.  All in all, a good experience, no complaints.  No need to rush out to buy a new car yet.

--------update-----------
I left a compliment at AATA's website on the day of our trip and received a reply:

We greatly appreciate your complimentary remarks. We are so delighted that you had a pleasant experience with us. It is always pleasing to receive positive feedbacks as this is a constant source of encouragement and helps us to continue our successful work in the future. Thank you again and we look forward to serving your transportation needs.

Astrid

AATA Bus Driver Richard Saves the Day!

Kat and I biked downtown this afternoon to attend an open house at the University of Michigan's College of Nursing.  After the presentation, as we prepared to ride home, she realized her rear bike tire was totally deflated.  And we don't carry tools.

So we walked over to a bus stop and waited for the No. 2 bus.  Neither of us had ever used the front-of-the bus bike racks before, which obviously showed.  I was having trouble securing my bike so I pulled my bike off the rack and was telling Kat to take the bus home and I would ride my bike home.  As I was talking to her, the bus driver stepped out and showed us how to use the safety bars and told us not to worry and take our time.  A very kind thing to do.  I quickly took these 2 pictures when we arrived at our stop, basically at the end of the line, when no one else was on the bus. Richard went out of his way to be helpful, making our day a little easier.

October 12th follow up: I also sent a feedback response that same evening at AATA's website and I received a response back this morning.

Dear Astrid Larsen,

Thank you very much for the compliment. We greatly appreciate the positive feedback and will be sure to document AND convey this to Richard. I am sure he will sincerely appreciate your kind words. He is a fantastic asset to our team and we are pleased that you received the customer experience that we expect here at Ann Arbor Transportation Authority. Thank you again for your wonderful comment. We appreciate having you as our customer and look forward to serving you again.

Sincerely,
The Ann Arbor Transportation Authority
Contact: lsands@theride.org

-------Now for the rest of the story!

Kat and I found the location of the open house on Central Campus.  Kat was one of about 20 prospective students in attendance.  It was surprising how many had traveled from out of town to attend the session - California, New York, New Jersey etc. 

It had never occurred to me before but it makes sense that not all classrooms for nurses would look like traditional classroom.  The nursing school has classrooms that look like hospital rooms. 

Kat and I enjoyed our outing, learned a few things about the nursing program at UofM, and are forging ahead with her college/career exploration.

Astrid

New York City Transit Fares Rise....Again

The Associated Press covered a story this morning here about a third fare increase in 3 years by New York City Transit to tackle their mounting deficit.  A single ride fare will increase $0.25 to $2.50. 

I've never been to New York City (and I do want to go) so I'm not sure if this is comparing apples to oranges but a single fare in Ann Arbor was recently raised to $1.50 and that seemed like a lot of money.  However, I understand that Ann Arbor Transit is also heavily subsidized, and I'm actually paying less than my share of the ride.

Astrid

Shopping Carts

Road Runner Folding Grocery Cart by Trendy Carts

We're giving some thought to a grocery cart and I noticed on Amazon that there are a few variations on a theme.  I don't see the kids giving up milk just yet and we always need food.  With a large cart, we can take the Number 22 city bus down to Meier's and stock up when the weather turns really hot or really cold, or wet, or snow.....we have a bus stop near our house and it goes directly to a grocery store without needing a transfer. 

Do kneeling buses kneel for shopping carts?  Does 2 or 4 wheels work better? Any advice?

Astrid

Ann Arbor Transit Authority (AATA)

The AATA is hosting a series of public meetings to gather ideas for the future of a larger county-wide transit system. See homepage here http://movingyouforward.org/ for more information.  Meetings start this week.

Astrid

Riding a City Bus - Ann Arbor Transit Authority (AATA)

The Ride's Scooter Bus

Information about the Ann Arbor public bus system is available online at http://www.aata.org/

Jake and Kris are controls for various health studies conducted by the Univeristy of Michigan Health System.  With the overcast weather, the boys wanted to try the bus system to get downtown near the Dinosaur Museum instead of biking.  Perfect opportunity, except for the schedule, as it turns out.

We are on Route 2C, which means that Saturday service is a little sparse and almost not worth considering on Sundays.  The nearest stop is almost a mile away and service runs closer to the hour.  So after studying the schedule, it made more sense to just ride bikes downtown.  Maybe during a school vacation during the week days will be a better bus training day.

Astrid

On-Board Transit Survey's Planned for Fall in Ann Arbor

This Fall, Ann Arbor Transit, UofM, and Southeastern Michigan Council of Government will be conducting transit surveys.

See article here http://www.annarbor.com/news/aata-u-m-to-conduct-transit-surveys/

The Real Magic School Bus

In 2007, Scholastic Books and the Environmental Protection Agency teamed-up to showcase diesel particulate filters.  A special edition Magic School Bus book was also made available.

The real Magic School Bus showcasing diesel particulate filters which were donated by Catepiller

Special Edition of Magic School Bus

Free copies can be ordered from the National SErvice Center for Enviromental Publications (NSCEP) by calling 800-490-9198 or via the web at www.epa.gov/ncepihom/ordering.htm  The book number is EPA420-K-07-001.

The Ann Arbor District Library also has 7 copies in circulation.

Astrid