Thoughts on Public Transportation

I read an article in the Arizona Republic (http://www.azcentral.com/community/mesa/articles/2011/06/24/20110624mesa-temple-light-rail.html) about the city of Mesa building a light rail line to connect to the temple. Personally I think that this is a great idea. I lived for some time in Provo, UT and the bus was a major method of transportation to the temple. The LDS building in Manhattan (combo temple and chapel) is located near the subway, and by all accounts most patrons come on the subway. Outside the US, public transportation also seems to be a big means of transportation to the temple. Thinking about this, I think there are two big reasons people use public transportation: they don’t have any other option or the public transportation is significantly more convenient.

Inside the United States, most people have access to a car, and so only use public transportation when it is more convenient. The exceptions are big cities and students (which explains the use of public transportation to the Manhattan and Provo temples). Another problem with taking public transportation is that many temple patrons are located far away from the temple, without a viable public transportation link to the temple. By my calculations, it would take about two days for me to take the bus to the Oakland temple, with another two back. Even during rush hour the drive time is usually less than three hours one way. There is lots of free parking at the temple. Temples that are going to be most amenable to public transportation are temples located in big population centers which serve mostly that area. This is a pretty rare combination. Outside Utah, I can think of only Mesa and the Idaho temples that fit this criteria. Mesa was not always this way. When it was built it served the American southwest and most of Mexico (and was the first temple to offer services in Spanish). Now, with temples in Mexico and several in other parts of the state, including one being built in Phoenix, the Mesa temple increasingly serves local patrons.

Any location, business, arena, church, whatever, that generates a lot of traffic is a good candidate for public transportation. Temples are particularly well suited for this because they tend to generate steady traffic, rather than big crowds, such as sports arenas. This means that regular medium volume public transportation is best, coincidentally the best kind of public transportation for encouraging ridership. I applaud Mesa for increasing their public transportation and hope other cities will do the same.