MMT Complaint Forms

February 8,2016

MMT shared the complaint forms collected from the public meetings and through email. Out of the comments applicable to the ONEN bus route changes, they may be categorized as follows:

• (14) Access to Bon Shopping Center and Patty Jewett Neighborhood
• (10) Safety of Nevada Avenue
• (10) Impact to historic neighborhoods (bus stops)
• (9) Lack of infrastructure on Nevada Avenue and pedestrian safety
• (3) In favor of move to improve safety at Cascade and Fontenaro
• (1) Impact to home values on Nevada Avenue

Received From 2015-12-01 To 2016-02-08 For Service Changes

Comments: January 20, 2016, I’m writing in support of the city’s proposal to move bus route # 9 from Cascade Ave. to Nevada Ave. With buses running on more than one North-South street throughout the Old North End neighborhood, it makes for louder thruways on what are otherwise very residential streets. It spreads both noise and air pollution farther afield into the neighborhood, and I believe routing the buses onto Nevada will help limit that. What’s more, there are an inordinate number of accidents at the intersection of Cascade Ave and Fontanero Streets, which is right next to a bus stop. In my view, it is purely luck that has kept a bus from being involved in one of these accidents up until now. And so from a safety standpoint as well, I believe it would be to the benefit of passengers and drivers that the route be moved to Nevada Ave. In addition, with the #9 route on Cascade, you have passengers walking from one North-South street to another North-South street to change buses. It would be both more convenient and efficient for passengers, I should think, if the routes all simply ran on Nevada Ave.
I appreciate your efforts to streamline service and am in favor of this change.

Comments: I am writing in support of moving the bus route off cascade avenue. There are so many accidents on cascade and fontenaro street and I think having a bus stop right at corner may have contributed. I one hundred percent support your efforts to move the bus stop off Cascade Avenue, Thank you very much for your time

Comments: I own a home in the Old North End neighborhood at 1819 N. Cascade Avenue in the block between Espanola and Fontanero. I have long been concerned about the bus stop at the corner of Cascade and Fontanero because of the “large” number of accidents at that intersection. I have examined the proposal to move Bus Route #9 from Cascade Avenue to Nevada Avenue, and I wholeheartedly support it. I believe that this move would greatly improve safety at the bus stop and intersection for ALL involved; bus passengers, pedestrians, and people in cars trying to turn at the corner of Cascade and Fontanero. Thank you very much for your consideration, and please vote “Yes” on the proposal!

Comments: Moving this route to Nevada will deprive handicapped bus riders from shopping at Bon shopping center, eliminating their primary source for groceries, hardware and prescriptions. Why can’t the routes be combined but keep that stop?

Comments: I agree with the Old North End organization’s concerns as follows :
1. The aesthetics of the neighborhood need to be respected In terms of no advertising, on concrete benches. We have put considerable effort Into maintaining the historical integrity of or uhomes and would like that effort appreciated and complemented appropriately.
2. A second problem is the amount of traffic on Nevada Avenue. To live on the street is like living on Broadway in New York City. Not only is there a great deal of traffic s,p eed is a factor. The Colorado Springs Police Department have been very supportive in regard to slowing down traffic, giving tickets, disallowing large trucks. That said, the addition of buses on Nevada every 15 minutes will intensify the traffic
problem, noise, dirty exhaust fumes. All of these impact factors will affect those of us already living on Nevada, and whether homes will be purchased and for what price in the future. Please give this change far more attention with regard to those who will be most affected by it. It isn’t just a financial issue for the transit company.

Comments: I applaud efforts to better utilize our public transportation system and make it more convenient (15 min service). I do have one concern however, ugly cement benches with advertising. Much has been done to maintain the character of the Old North End historic district, most recently the addition of period style street signs and street lights. I would like to see similar efforts made in installing attractive benches. The proposed increase in use of the Nevada corridor through the historic district is the perfect time to make this happen. Please consider the installation of attractive, advertising free, benches as part of the planned changes in service.

Comments: I do not like the Idea of Moving #9 to Nevada. Nevada is a very busy street.I feel that their is going to be a bad accident or someone is going to be killed trying to crass the street to catch the bus in either direction.

Comments: As a homeowner on Nevada Avenue I oppose the proposed changes to the bus route consolidating route 6 and 9. My primary concerns about the consolidation is the lack of in-place infrastructure to support the pedestrian traffic. Many of our intersections lack pedestrian ramps and will provide a barrier to use to riders with mobility challenges. We believe a plan should be in place to quickly address this issue before any changes are made. Another concern is the location and appearance of the bus stops. The proposed change in route on Nevada traverses the Historic Preservation Overlay Zone from the north to the south end. The currently used cement framed benches with large advertising on the backs do not seem congruent with the historic character of our neighborhood.

Comments: I live on Wahsatch and Columbia and although I personally don’t really like and have never used the bus stops, I do believe they provide a valuable service to the neighbors in my area. I see people standing to wait for the bus who are developmentally disabled and elderly. I understand the business issues at stake, but I also feel bad that the vulnerable among us will be required to walk even farther (e.g. from
Patty Jewett).

Comments: I ride #9 and get off on Buena Ventura. If you do change to Nevada then I would like to see a stop at Carmillo. I like the Idea of every 15 minute service on #9, 10 and 11. But leave it on Cascade. I do not like the Idea of #6 Not serving Bon Shopping center. A lot of people cant walk the extra two blocks to get groceries and return to Nevada.

Comments: I have been a resident of North Nevada for the past 13 years. I am opposed to the bus route change for many reasons.
1. Automobile traffic on North Nevada is considerably higher than Cascade and Wahsatch combined. Furthermore, when there is a traffic issue on I-25, the traffic on North Nevada Ave is considerably worse.
2. Unlike Cascade, there are many more houses and many people park their cars on North Nevada. In addition, parking on North Nevada near Penrose Hospital has caused many serious accidents at the intersections with Jackson and Madison.
3. Several years ago, large trucks were banned on North Nevada, in part, for safety reasons. Additional bus traffic will have a negative impact on safety.
4. Eliminating bus service on Wahsatch will negatively impact the Bon Shopping Center.
5. The value of increasing bus service to 15 minute intervals is questionable, at best.
6. At a minimum, a traffic study needs to be performed before any decision of this magnitude is made.

Comments: This is not acceptable due to traffic on N Nevada and the lack of ADA approved ramps on most intersections of N Nevada.

Comments: Bus benches should be compatible with street signage and gateway signage. Sounds expensive. Maybe we should repair the streets first.

Comments: Customer doesn’t want to walk to Nevada to catch the route #9, he is on 3536 N cascade and he said we are going to lose a lot of business.

Comments: Just wanted to comment that as a resident of 23 yrs in the Old North End that the repair and construction of handicap/wheel chair ramps at many curbs is far overdue. Before we begin forcing people from Cascade and Wasatch to go to Nevada to catch a bus we need to install these sidewalk friendly measures. My corner at Weber and Caramillo is a prime example. It is the only corner at this intersection that has never been worked on and the curb is high, elderly walk it daily, and children go to Steele Ele. 1/2 block away!!! We have ‘been on a list’ for over 15 yrs to have it fixed. Projects such as this should have priority.

Comments: I admit that I have only used the Wahsatch bus line one time in the 21 years I have lived here. That said, I did once wait for the bus for about 30 minutes and then walked to my destination. Once I left my sister to wait and she gave up after 45 minutes. That said, I do walk and ride bike on these streets, and have great concerns about safety and auto-pedestrian conflict in our neighborhood. First let me say, it appeals to me that the time between buses will be shortened. However,
• Ironically, the bus actually slows traffic. Is moving the bus line a precursor to narrowing Cascade, Weber and Wahsatch? This narrowing has been planned for many years as a traffic and noise calming device. Drivers on two lane streets act as though there is a ‘fast lane’, which brings up the speed of all traffic.
• Crosswalks and curb-cuts are lacking for many street corners and the walk between the neighborhoods to the east and the Bon Shopping Center to Nevada. There must be crosswalks and curb cuts at every corner.
• Wide streets without medians, such as Weber, should not only have cross walks and curb cuts, but the addition of traffic slowing devices such as raised cross walks and roundabouts would make walking the extra blocks to a bus stop safer.
• The area surrounding Bon Shopping Center to the north along Jackson is already problematic for pedestrians and bicycles. Pushing bus clientele (pedestrians) to the end of Bon and west on Jackson is a concern:
• Weber meets Jackson with two lanes, this intersection has limited view to the west and conflict with the Shooks Run Trail to the east. Improved pedestrian crossing’s and enhanced safety devises for both the sidewalks and trail would seem to be necessary.
• The sidewalk on Jackson between Weber and Nevada is narrow and often icy. The parking strip is narrow. This is unsafe and unappealing for pedestrians.
• The mall sidewalk ends at Ent. This small area has 4 possible directions for cars to conflict

Comments: I recently learned that the city is strongly considering consolidating the bus route through the Historic Old North End to one route on Nevada Avenue. First of all, I must admit, that I am disappointed by the lack of notification and communication regarding this major change. As a full-time working parent, I haven’t had enough lead time to attend any of the public meetings. I heard about the public meeting that happened yesterday, on the day of and this is not an acceptable amount of time for anyone to plan accordingly. I have three main concerns with the consolidation of the bus routes. My primary concern, is that the infrastructure is not in place to support the pedestrian traffic. More than half of the blocks on the route through the Old North End neighborhood lack sufficient pedestrian ramps and this is also true of many of the intersections south of CC. I strongly believe that the infrastructure improvements need to occur prior to moving the route. It doesn’t seem ethical or safe to make this change without the proper infrastructure. My second concern is that the route is going through the Old North End’s Historic Preservation Overlay Zone and the bus benches need to comply with the historic requirements. Is this being considered? My third concern is that once the routes are consolidated, we will obviously lose bus service to the Bon Shopping Center and I am concerned that our businesses would experience a loss customers and a decrease in business.

Comments: […] Finally, residents of the Old North End neighborhood who reside on Cascade Avenue have been very vocal about their support to move the bus route off of Cascade. Most consider the presence of a bus to be undesirable and will be happy not to have to look at the ugly bus stops with the unsightly advertisements. They will argue that it is a safety issue, but the reality is they don’t want riff-raff on their street. As someone who supports public transportation, I can’t in good conscience oppose having it on my street. However, I do urge you to consider that Nevada Avenue already bears the brunt of the traffic that passes through the Old North End. As I am writing this, cars are driving past my house at average speeds of 45-50 miles per hour. While I wonder if having a bus route on my street might actually slow traffic down, I also have serious concerns about the safety of having bus stops on a street that is already so busy with cars going so fast.

Comments: As a downtown resident feel obliged to let you know that there is already too much traffic on Nevada avenue and adding buses will accentuate the problem. Additionally as a veteran and supporter of the wounded warrior project and others with disabilities; hope you are aware many intersections lack ramps which would impede pedestrians in wheelchairs.

Comments: On behalf of Bill Rogers, President of the Old North End Neighborhood, please find attached the Board’s formal comments regarding the proposed service changes. Please confirm receipt of the comments.

Comments: I am on the Board of the Old North End Neighborhood and also oversee the Historic Preservation Overlay Zone monitoring. We are deeply concerned with the effect that the bus route changes will have on the historic integrity of our neighborhood. The unsightly block benches with large and sometimes offensive advertising were installed on Cascade long before the Preservation overlay came into effect. I believe the cost to improve each bus stop area with appropriate curb cuts and ADA accessible ramps will be significant, but another issue to consider is making the bench and pedestrian waiting area acceptable for the HPOZ. Improving public transportation corridors should also help support our local businesses and as I was discussing the changes with several small business owners at the Bon Shopping Center, they were also surprised to learn that the route will no longer provide service to the center. Hopefully with time and appropriate budgeting the MMT’s route will prove to have increased ridership and be a positive improvement to the Nevada corridor and the Old North End neighborhood.

Comments: Thank-you for the opportunity to comment on the proposed changes to service. While Mountain Metro is to be commended in this effort to achieve additional cost efficiencies and reducing headways, one of the proposed changes could have serious adverse impacts on the safety of transit riders, motorists, and pedestrians on N. Nevada Avenue. As I understand the proposed service/route changes, all Route 9 service on N. Cascade Avenue is being eliminated. Similarly, service on Route 6 previously on N. Wahscaht Ave. is to be eliminated. Those two route segments are proposed to be merged into a new route on N. Nevada Avenue with headways on that route being reduced to 15 minutes which means the addition of more buses per hour/day. This route shift to N. Nevada Ave., which has not been a transit route for many years, is proposed to ostensibly improve the on-time performance of the two routes. It is difficult to see how that can be achieved when traffic volumes on Nevada Avenue (20-25,000 in 2008) far exceeded those on both N. Wahsatch (8,000 trips), and N. Cascade (18,000 trips). Yet, the more concerning implication of this proposed service change is that it will likely have an adverse impact on public safety. The ROW cross section of N. Nevada Avenueg (going either north or south), between Uintah and Jackson, includes a total roadway width of 28.5 feet. That width includes one 10 ft wide lane, one 10.5 ft. lane and a 7.5 – 8.0 ft. parking lane. N. Nevada (north of Uintah) is designated as a
minor arterial in the City’s major thoroughfare plan. The ROW cross section of N. Nevada does not meet the design standards for a minor arterial street as articulated in the City’s Traffic Criteria Manual. Those standards call for 11 ft wide lanes, a 5 ft wide shoulder, plus a 2.5 ft wide gutter. So, for the two northbound lanes on N. Nevada, the total roadway width should be 29.5 ft, a full foot wider than the current profile for N. Nevada. Additionally, the City’s Tra[…]

Comments: I’m writing to oppose the Mountain Metropolitan Transit’s (MMT) proposed changes to the bus service in the Old North End Neighborhood (ONEN) in particular routes # 6 & # 9 for these reasons:
1. Bus # 6 will no longer service the Bon Shopping Plaza! How do you expect folks to shop for their groceries and get them to the bus stop blocks away?
2. Bus riders who live east of Wahsatch are being unnecessarily burdened by having to walk an extra 2-3 blocks at a minimum in each direction to catch the bus. The same goes for those who live west of Cascade Ave, and those traveling to and from Penrose Hospital or 1st Lutheran Church on Cascade Ave.
3. The infrastructure does not exist on Nevada Ave to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). There are not enough crosswalks or ADA ramps on Nevada to accommodate all the bus riders.
4. Nevada Ave within the Old North End Neighborhood is a Historic District with Overlay protection. Having numerous bus stops on one particular street, in this case Nevada Ave, does not match the streetscape of the neighborhood’s tree lined streets. Concrete slabs and bus signage that may look OK in other parts of the city – do not in historic districts with tree lined streets on the parkways & medians.
5. Who will remove the abandoned bus stops, concrete, and signage on Cascade & Wahsatch Avenues and replace them with deciduous street trees and grass in their place? Who will maintain the trees and grass with proper watering and fertilizing?
6. Nevada Ave is an overcrowded street with relentless traffic. Placing additional bus traffic onto Nevada will not help the traffic problems rather increase them and expedite the wearing down of the poorly maintain road that it currently is today.
7. 15 minute bus service is not sustainable on Nevada Ave. It should be more in the range of 20-25 minutes maximum with buses # 6 remaining on Wahsatch Ave and # 9 on Cascade Ave.

Comments: KEEP the routes on Wahsatch and Cascade. You have already been notified of the many reasons by other citizens.
I’d just repeat that people need to get to Bon Plaza for shopping. It’s too far in snowstorm or heat wave.

Comments: I am in opposition to the proposal to move the Cascade and Wasatch routes into a single route travelling along N Nevada Ave between Jackson and downtown for the following reasons:
1) We live on N Nevada and it bears a much heavier traffic load than Cascade or Wasatch; bus traffic will only increase the traffic loads resulting in increased noise, reduction in safety, and increased transit times and egress from our driveways.
2) Cascade is a much wider thoroughfare than N Nevada allowing more room for traffic to move around buses stopped at the stops along the roadway. Nevada is narrower, with more on street parking, and as already mentioned a much higher traffic load, particularly during the rush hours. Buses pulled to the side for passenger ingress/egress will inevitably impact the right lane traffic flow resulting in additional potential
for flow restrictions.
3) The roadbed and pavement on Nevada is in a poor state of repair. The entire roadway is “alligatored” to the point that patching the inevitable potholes is futile. Nevada needs a major rebuilding effort (I can certainly show you examples in front of my house) and pushing bus traffic on that roadway will only hasten the breakdown. This condition can be alleviated with a complete rebuilding of the Nevada roadway from Fillmore to Uintah with an additional widening of the roadway by 3 feet in both directions. I would strongly recommend this be a condition of any movement of bus traffic onto this stretch of roadway.
4) With small children we already are concerned with the traffic flow on Nevada and have spent significant money on our property to lessen the safety risk. In one sense, the reduced speeds that will be inevitable with the bus traffic will be offset by the tendency of other traffic to “rush to beat the bus”. This risk can be alleviated with concentrated enforcement activities of the Springs PD and would recommend that be a
condition of action.
5) Costs of the above will be prohi[…]

Comments: I am voicing my concern about the proposed changes to bus routes #6 and #9 by the Mountain Metropolitan Transit’s (MMT) in the Old North End Neighborhood (ONEN) in particular routes # 6 & # 9.
• Bon Shopping Plaza is an anchor to the people living in the Old Northend and in the Patty Jewett and Bon areas. A bus route to this vital outlet must be available to all of those people who have no other transportation to get their groceries and medicine, etc. It will be a huge injustice to all neighborhoods and the Bon Shopping Center as well.
• It makes no sense to put more congestion and inefficiency onto to Nevada when it is so heavily traveled as it is by adding buses and routes.
• Bus riders who live east of Wahsatch are being unnecessarily burdened by having to walk an extra 2-3 blocks at a minimum in each direction to catch the bus. The same goes for those who live west of Cascade Ave, and those traveling to and from Penrose Hospital or 1st Lutheran Church on Cascade Ave.
• Old North End Neighborhood is a Historic District with Overlay protection. Having numerous bus stops on one particular street in this case Nevada Ave, does not match the streetscape of the neighborhood’s tree lined streets. Concrete slabs and bus signage do not endorse the beauty of our historic districts with tree lined streets on the parkways & medians.

Comments: Have you considered all the folks who live in the trailer courts off cascade Ave between Fillmore and Winters? all these people live in an area considered to be a “food desert” ( lack of access to grocery stores with fresh produce, etc) if the only north/south bus route close to them is on nevada, it’s a reach to the safeway on Wahsatch plus any other access in the city.

Public Meeting 21C Library

11 Attendees including
Reporter from the Gazette – Matt Steiner

Applicable Comments recorded:

• The loss of bus service at the Bon Shopping Center is a problem. It is hard to drag groceries to
  the bus; lots of senior citizens in area.
• My biggest concern is the stops that are not ADA compliant and how is all that work going to get
  done before the changes are implemented?

Public Meeting City Council Chambers

January, 20 10:00 a.m. ‐ Noon
17 Attendees

Applicable Comments recorded:

• Why do we have to go to the Nevada corridor? The cost to take all of the bus stops out and the cost to move them will be a lot.
• Why remove a stop that has good ridership (Bon Shopping Center)?
• I’m concerned with 8 buses per hour running in front of the emergency room (at Penrose Hospital).
• I ride the 6, 16, and the 9. I don’t like any of the changes; it will be harder for me to walk. Instead of 2 blocks it will be 4. I need to be able to get off in front of the Bon Shopping Center if I have groceries to carry. Won’t this hurt the shopping center? I think it will be a financial burden for them.
• I’m formally requesting a meeting for the Old North End Neighborhood.
• Putting billboards [advertising on bus benches and shelters] on Nevada is not appropriate.

 

 

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