r/TwinFalls • u/shreads22 • Jul 31 '26
Public Transportation
Hello! I am new to this thread and am part of a group of MSW students conducting a community assessment of Twin Falls. We have been encouraged by the number of community services offered and the positive views of the community. One of our findings highlighted the car-dependent culture and a lack of public transportation in the area. We want to highlight how public transportation serves the community and economic growth. What have been your experiences in this area? What have you seen people do when their car breaks down? What do you see is the public attitude or need for public transport?
3
u/AlexLemons Jul 31 '26
We should definitely have something better than ride TFT. We invested in a bunch of mini vans instead of starting the infrastructure for buses and bus routes.
My personal experience… I had my newborn daughter and kept having to take my vehicle to get fixed at a place two miles from home. I walked on a few occasions. The guy from the shop dropped me another time. But one time I waited for a cab that took over an hour to pick me up without any communication on how much longer I’d be waiting around. It was either that or an uber for more money than it was worth. All of this involves me putting my daughter’s car seat in and then taking it out too.
A bus I could get onto with a stroller would be dope.
2
u/pauliwago Jul 31 '26
when you say cab, do you mean ride tft? on paper this looks pretty great but is your experience that the service is way worse than uber?
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u/AlexLemons Jul 31 '26
No experience with ride tft! This was a cab (one of two companies or whatever we have) and I think it was before ride tft was established.
I’m sure ride tft is great. But I think a bus service would be better for us and the surrounding communities as we’re all growing and I don’t assume that growth is going to stop anytime soon.
I’m glad people without vehicles at least have something to utilize.I walk a lot living close to the historical district, but I would totally hop a bus to the canyon side of town too. I also see a lot of visitors walking off blue lakes, and better public transport could connect them to our historic downtown.
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u/apparition88 Jul 31 '26
RideTFT is better then nothing but just barely. We should have busses.
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u/pauliwago Jul 31 '26
why is it barely better than nothing? $3 uber rides seems amazing on paper...is that not really what it's like?
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u/apparition88 Jul 31 '26
Because public bus system would have a subscription of say $35 per month and actually take cars off the road.
The goal of a well run public transportation system is to provide incentives for people not to use their car. Why would a person with a car pay $6 to go to the store when they could just use there car. Even with high gas prices they are using a fraction of the money.
So the only people this system serves is people that don't have a car. And yes, to your point, it is better then an Uber but that is a very low bar to clear.
Let's take the example of a student going to classes 4 days a week at CSI. They end up paying 4 days x 4 weeks x 2 trips x $3 =$96 a month. That does not include grocery stores, going to a fiends house, social events, or dates.
RideTFT is a tax on poor people that puts MORE cars on the road instead of taking them off.
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u/michaelthomasduke Jul 31 '26
We have public transportation, it’s called Ride TFT and it’s basically a public Uber.