Here Comes the Express!

The 380 Express at Court Street Transit Center, Iowa City

Intercity bus service began this week between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, in advance of construction on I-380 which is expected to cause significant delays (i.e. more than just neither lane of traffic is moving as fast as you want to go). The rollout of the 380 Express has been modest, but the governments involved seem committed at least for the time being to giving the service time to establish itself. This is the first area transit service in decades that is oriented to people who prefer not to drive, as opposed to those who are unable to drive.

Interior shot of the blue bus

The service runs half-hourly during morning and evening rush hours, and hourly betweentimes, for a total of 22 round trips per day. The first bus leaves Cedar Rapids at 5:20 a.m., the last at 6:50 p.m. They start showing up at the Court Street Transportation at 6:17 a.m. with the last departure at 7:42 p.m. with 8:40 p.m. ETA in Cedar Rapids. Other stops are Kirkwood Community College (both ways), Coralville's bus station, and the University of Iowa Hospital. In case it occurs to you that the UIHC is across from Kinnick Stadium, home of the Hawkeyes, it is my sad duty to inform you the buses are only running on weekdays, although weekend service is under discussion.

Temporary UIHC stop during stadium construction

Fares are $3.50 one-way, with discounts for 10-ride tickets as well as monthly passes available.  Payment can be by cash (exact change only) or by the Token Transit phone app. I used the app; once I'd set it up, it took me about 30 seconds tops to buy a second ticket. Most people who traveled with me also used the app, though one used cash. Another woman who boarded at Kirkwood had had trouble with the app and lacked the right change, but scrounged up $3.25 and I provided the other quarter. As the prophet Red Green says, "We're all in this together!"

Passengers boarding at the Kirkwood Community College stop

Parking is $1 an hour near the transit centers, but free at Kirkwood. That may be a wash if you are used to paying for parking near your workplace, but it makes the cost of a full day's travel $17 (before discounts)... less than the $40+ at the IRS's business driving reimbursement rate, but maybe enough to give people pause?

View of construction zone in its early stages,
where I-380 will be widened near North Liberty

I gave the express a trial run on Tuesday, October 2, the second day of service. I was one of five passengers to Iowa City; when I returned I was the only one aboard until the woman boarded at Kirkwood. The driver on the way down said that on Monday, the most passengers he carried was five.

Riding with me was Brock Grenis, transit administrator/planner for the East Central Iowa Council of Governments. He told me that, in addition to free onboard WiFi, the buses also have luggage areas capable of transporting bicycles, albeit not securely latched; that could be helpful for people who have a ways to go after they get to the transit center.

Before returning to Cedar Rapids, I enjoyed blue corn pancakes and coffee
at Fair Grounds Coffeehouse near the Court Street Transportation Center

The 380 Express illustrates the tension between coverage and usefulness. The more stops, the more people that have access to the bus, but the trip becomes unattractively slow. My rides took about an hour each way, longer on the way down because of the stops at Coralville and UIHC. Because the Kirkwood stop is well off the highway, getting there added ten minutes to the trip, but given that's where most of the passengers boarded it's probably an important stop. No one got on or off at Coralville, which makes me wonder about its future on the route.

Coralville Intermodal Facility, where one can transfer to a local bus

I am unabashedly hopeful about the 380 Express, albeit realistic about the prospects for effective intercity transit in an area where both residences and job centers are widely spread out, and overall population is not large... a prime example of why American public transit lags so far behind other parts of the world, particularly Asia (Florida 2018). The bus may become more attractive to commuters when construction really starts to affect traffic, but Brock Grenis suggested that wouldn't occur until 2020, which is a year and a half away. Even then, the bus will be fighting the same messes commuters would be trying to avoid driving in.

Why do I have hopes for the success of this service anyway? Public transit is scaleable and adaptable in a way that highways are not; you can only widen highways so much with the returns on that investment dubious anyhow, and you can't unwiden them when circumstances change. It's much easier on the environment, assuming large enough ridership, and less anti-social than solo commuting in a private car.

And I have more than hope to offer the 380 Express. I have a theme song to suggest!

SEE ALSO: Mitchell Schmidt, "Cedar Rapids to Iowa City Bus Route Begins Oct. 1," Cedar Rapids Gazette, 18 September 2018