I discussed this April 27 article in this blog post. I did not realize until recently that a link to a pdf file of the full report had been added to DART's website. It's not a long report, just 9 pages, and although it contains some jargon, I found it very interesting.
The report is more nuanced than I expected based on the News Journal report. I was disappointed to see that it failed to address the scheduling stupidity that directly CAUSES most stacking of buses at Rodney Square. I don't know why every report, whether by the News Journal or a government entity, fails to acknowledge this fact. Maybe it's not really apparent unless, like me, you've spent many hours sitting at Rodney Square, watching the buses come in and then go out. Or maybe it's purposeful, for some reason not discernible to me.
By the way, I was curious about the authorship. I Googled State Smart Transportation Initiative (SSTI) and discovered a set of slides, in pdf format, that were used in SSTI's April 26 webinar regarding their report. Some nice photos and maps!
SSTI appears to be a University of Wisconsin-based organization with around 20 state members and a smallish staff. Although I found no funding information on their website, I''d guess they are largely funded by state and federal grants. They appear to issue reports and newsletters and to host webinars and meetings regularly.
It's nice... really nice!... to see DART appear to be pursuing viable short- and long-term solutions based on what appear to be state-of-the-art research and technical approaches. Now, the challenge is to get some of the great ideas in SSTI's report implemented, or even just to get our local governments and DART to pay attention and start making some concrete decisions and plans. Whatever, the report is certainly worth reading by anyone who uses or cares about public transit here in New Castle County.
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