Reply #20: There's an intermediate solution: Demand Response Transit.

[mwooldri]

It's a blend of the economies of bus transit and the convenience of a taxi. You call to schedule your ride ahead of time, and the bus meets you at a mutually agreed upon point (end of driveway, end of a local road, etc). The bus would then travel to an end destination (mass transit hub, connection to a fixed-route bus, shopping center, etc) and arrange pickup from that same place at another mutually agreed upon time.

Greensboro has it for its disabled residents. My home village of Cranleigh in England has it for the outlying areas - but for everyone (so no longer restricted to the infrequent regular fixed-line bus service).

Combine Demand Response Transit with fixed-line buses, also develop mixed-mode School/Transit bus (serving the schools during school time, and taking regular passengers at other times). You would then have something beginning to approach the flexibility of car travel - without the car.

Mark.