The city of Georgetown initiated a new bus service on August 21 with the expectation of attracting 30,000 riders in the first year. This post will serve as a marker to refer to in one year to assess the actual ridership.
Every estimate made by a government entity about transit ridership has been woefully optimistic. Recall that Austin projected their rail ridership to be 6900 daily and actual experience has shown that 2900 use the train on average.
The new service is already experiencing issues with use by handicapped people. Under the CARTS system, transportation was provided door-to-door with a simple phone call. GoGeo requires paperwork to be filled out and approved and subsequently far fewer handicapped people are using GoGeo than were using CARTS.
The city initiated this service with federal mass-transit funds and a $600,000 grant over three years from the Georgetown Health Foundation. After three years the city will have to fund the Georgetown Health Foundation share if the service meets its performance metrics for continuation.
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