Congratulations Boise, we have a new transit center. There are a lot of shortfalls in our transit system, but as a rider never once have I felt that one of them was that our bus stops weren’t underground. I understand the inhospitable political and financial climate transit faces here and that this development represents an exciting first step in the right direction, but as I was taking the tour I heard every single person who entered the station echo my incredulity and ask the ValleyRide staff “Wait, there aren’t any new buses? There isn’t any more service?” Main Street Station has the potential to raise awareness about public transportation and encourage people to make this a part of the ongoing discussion about growth and change in our city, but wouldn’t it be great if we could capitalize on the heightened level of attention this new station will bring to transit to create a venue for people to have thoughtful conversations about these issues? As far as I am aware no such venue currently exists. Many larger cities have transit advocacy groups or riders unions. Would anyone else be interested in trying to create something like that here?
Ethan Schweitzer-Gaslin, Boise
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