Ok here are some answers:
Have you ever utilized Star Tran’s services on a regular basis?
Yes when I went to college I rode the bus to and from school.
Have you relied on it to get around?
Just to and from school
Have you spoken to the drivers?
I am a driver but not for Star-trans.
To the passengers?
I talk to my passengers all the time, although now that I am in a manager type position and do more paper work I do not get to transport people as much.
Again, I’m not being snarky here. If you haven’t already, ride the bus for a month; it takes at least that long to really get a feel for it. You’ll be surprised what you learn in that time.
What I remember most is waiting for the bus in the cold mornings and when it got there and I was aboard I tried to talk to some of the others that rode but most were not interested in more than a hello and yep it is a nice day. I remember a few times on the way home a drunken person or two would ride and was willing to talk to everyone. Sometimes the conversation was good and other times it was not. I remember one time a drunken older man was taken off the bus because he was harassing some of the other riders. These are not the norm but it does happen.
Ok now for the answers to my questions:
Do you know how many small handy style buss’s Star Trans has?
They have 9 if my friend is correct he says that only 5 go out during the day to transport people around Lincoln.
Do you know how many are sitting empty inside their garage downtown?
That would leave 4.
Do you know how many Miles per Gallon a big bus gets?
4-4.5 MPG
Do you know how many Miles per Gallon the handy bus gets?
8.5-9.5 MPG
How many miles does Star-Trans travel?
Fixed Route - 1,407,047
Special Transportation Services - 308,483
Total - 1,715,530
If we focus on the fixed routes they spend $1,094,369 in Diesel fuel using the current cost of fuel. If we were able to put a handy style bus on for just 25% of the fixed routes we could save $181,025 per year. That is I think a 2% savings per year, it does not sound like much but you could use that 2% and reduce fees or purchase a few more Handy style busses and replace a higher percentage of routes with them. These figures assume the cost of Bio-Diesel is $3.50 and gasoline is $2.50.
Fun facts: Money spent $8,585,826 last year
Money spent daily last year $23,522
Money Spent hourly last year $1,680
Money spent each minute last year $28
I guess $ 28 every minute a bus runs is not too much.
We could look at it this way $36.35 a year for every man, woman and child. This would include my 15 month old son and my 4 year old son and they have never ridden the city bus.
Well I guess you could tell that I finally had a day off and I spent it with my trusty computer and calculator. I am sure the numbers are correct even though I did this during commercials and half time, I have not been able to watch much football this year.
