Little Transit - Systems for Any Town: Episode 5

(or listen on Spotify | YouTube)

Public transit isn't just for big cities like Salt Lake. We examine the bus networks of Cache Valley, Utah and Great Falls, Montana. We pick apart the key factors that made these systems successful, and we offer some suggestions to improve service and quality of life for riders. (Great Falls's system (pop. ~65,000) is more successful than Boise, Idaho's system (pop. ~340,000)!)

Huge thanks to our new (and only) patron Mike Christensen! Mike, we'll give you a shoutout on air next episode. The support is much appreciated.

Timestamps

References & notes

  1. [1] Logan, UT population: 52,778 (in 2020)
  2. [2] Cache County, UT population: 133,154 (in 2020)
  3. [3] Cache Valley Transit District: History
  4. [4] Federal Transit Administration: Cache Valley Transit District 2019 Annual Agency Profile
  5. [5] Federal Transit Administration: Utah Transit Authority 2019 Annual Agency Profile
  6. [6] CVTD's service area is about 100,000 (not 150,000); see [4]
  7. [7] Cache Valley Transit District: Routes & Schedules
  8. [8] CVTD: System Map
  9. [9] CVTD: Zero Fare
  10. [10] Cache County population growth: Wikipedia: Cache County, Utah § Demographics
  11. [11] FTA: Great Falls Transit District 2019 Annual Agency Profile
  12. [12] FTA: Valley Regional Transit 2019 Annual Agency Profile
  13. [13] More accurately: Great Falls gets a third of the rides with about one sixth the population, compared to Boise (see [11] [12] )
  14. [14] Siemens: Cutting-edge hybrid S700 streetcar is game-changer for Charlotte Area Transit System
  15. [15] YouTube: Detroit QLine Streetcar - Battery Powered!
  16. [16] Article with a picture of a FrontRunner train's yellow striped snowplow: Deseret News
  17. [17] TransitWiki: General Transit Feed Specification
  18. [18] Transit App
  19. [19] Wikipedia: Great Falls Transit
  20. [20] National Transit Database: Cache Valley Transit District
  21. [21] Great Falls Transit District website