Our Q‑Bus Quest, Macon-Bibb’s E‑Bus Quest

New Haven and a combined city-county government in Georgia hope that they can convince regional bus companies to bring service into the 21st century.

In New Haven, more than 350 people have viewed a post on the SeeClickFix citizen problem-solving website pleading for the Q bus — which runs from Fair Haven through downtown to Dwight, Edgewood, Westville and West Hills — to run past 6:45 p.m. on weekdays, not to mention more than once in a while on Sundays.

Down in Macon-Bibb County, Georgia, officials are pushing for buses to run downtown on Sundays, period, and to obtain federal money to create a new electronic bus line into their reviving downtown’s ​“2nd Street Corridor.”

Those were among the common challenges — and different approaches — found in the two communities in the latest edition of WNHH radio’s SeeClickFix Radio, a weekly look at grassroots-powered news from New Haven and some of the other 300 cities whose officials and citizens rely on the Elm City-based site.

Both cities are wrestling with blight, seeking to boost recycling, and looking for regional decision-makers to boost bus service.

“The Q Bus currently does not run later than 7:00 PM on week nights. This really does not work for folks who work in the restaurant industry, work late office hours, want to get food after work or have an after work event or meeting or want to attend evening events at City Hall. As one of the most popular bus routes this really needs to be improved,” one recent New Haven SeeClickFix post argued.

Another citizen posted: ​“I would love to see 7:30pm, 8:00pm, 8:30pm, 9:00pm buses. The existing 6:55 pm is usually crowded (as are the B and Z buses at that time that I take to Westville when needed, which run later than the Q) so that’s a good sign that there would be demand.”

“This will be considered at our next service review meeting,” an official from CT Transit — which runs New Haven’s buses — subsequently posted.

To which another citizens responded: ​“Thanks for the consideration CT Transit. It does seem that more riders would ride the buses in the morning if they could return us at a reasonable time at night. It would probably also be good for the restaurant business downtown as well.”

City and state officials have launched a mass transit study that, among other tasks, will reconsider how and where and when bus routes should be reworked. Click here to read about that; and here and here for sample stories about our broken bus system.

In Macon-Bibb, Georgia — where in 2014 the city and county governments merged — citizens and officials also are looking for increased and better targeted bus service, according to Chris Floore (pictured), an assistant to the county manager. He appeared on the radio program along with county government ​“customer service specialist” Denise Mercer, who posts and communicates with citizens each day on their local SeeClickFix page.

Floore said his government is seeking to build up the ​“Second Street Corridor” section of downtown as ​“walkable and bikeable,” similar to New Haven’s stated goals of reworking the downtown grid along the former Route 34 Connector mini-highway. In conjunction with a regional transit agency, Macon-Bibb is seeking a federal grant to construct an electronic bus line where drivers could recharge at stops. It’s also seeking expanded service, especially on Sunday. Unlike in New Haven, people in his community can count reliably on getting bus service form downtown until 11 p.m. on other days.

Macon-Bibb has also been rolling out a recycling program because of limited room left at its landfill. In that respect, it is years behind New Haven. Rather than mandate recycling at first, officials invited citizens who want to recycle to ask for bins.

The response has been far higher than predicted, and the government has run out of bins. More are on order. In one hour alone Wednesday, 40 citizens asked for bins.

The government’s strategy was to start with ​“low-hanging fruit” — motivated recyclers. In New Haven, the city started years ago by mandating that all neighborhoods recycle. Officials have since strategized about how to convince more people in low-participating neighborhoods to separate recyclables into their toters.

Another SeeClickFIx posting prompted a discussion about a similar trend in both communities: housing conversions and blight. Both cities are experiencing a hot market for new apartments; Floore said Macon-Bibb ​“could add 200 apartments in the urban core” each year just to meet existing demand.

In New Haven, a SeeClickFix poster reported that the two elevators have been broken at the Strouse Adler/Smoothie apartment building on Olive Street.

“There are at least two elderly residents who cannot climb stairs to get to their apartments. The main elevator has been broke for months with no evidence of any effort at repair. Now the secondary elevator is broken with no repair crew in sight. Becoming more and more typical of this building,” the poster reported Tuesday.

The former factory building was the subject of emergency orders from the city last month over allegedly unsafe conditions.

Floore said Macon-Bibb hasn’t experienced the same kind of problems with the quality of downtown residential conversions. However the community has a serious blight problem in residential neighborhoods. Floore said Macon-Bibb moved to allow government inspectors to directly hand out fines to problem property owners rather than, in the past, having to wait months for a judge to set a fine. In New Haven, the Livable City Initiative (LCI) anti-blight agency already has the authority to levy $99 daily fines.

Click on or download the above sound file to hear the entire SeeClickFix Radio episode, which includes discussion of how Houston’s new mayor is promising to fix potholes within 24 hours of receiving complaints, and personally filling some of them himself. Or or subscribe to WNHH’s new podcast ​“Dateline New Haven,” where episodes of the show will be delivered directly to your phone or smart device. (Click here for details on how to subscribe.)