Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati

Photo courtesy of here.

For years, I have heard rumblings that there exists some kind of systemic racism to how the Metro bus routes are designed.  I’ve heard how unreasonable it is, for example, for people from black neighborhoods to have to go all the way to Government Square for a transfer out to a white neighborhood.  Or how it is impossible to get from places like schools to jobs in the necessary amount of time.  I never knew, however, the best way to substantiate these rumors one way or another.  At least, not until now.  I just realized that the Metro site has this trip planner, kind of like MapQuest for the local bus routes.  So does anyone feel like thinking up sample locations for departures and arrivals, to see what the go-Metro trip planner returns?

The interface is a bit bulky.  For example, when I tried typing in an address or location and then hitting the “Get a Trip” button, I was returned to a screen where I had to select the same address I typed from a list.  Whatever.  Though the interface isn’t perfect, it does seem to return results.

For example, it takes over an hour to get from Fay Apartments to Hyde Park Square.  The route involves .81 miles of walking, and a transfer downtown, at Government Square.

Or, it takes 33 minutes to get from Avondale to Mt. Lookout, with one transfer at Highland Avenue and Goodman Street.

I do not mean to indicate one way or another if these particular routes are highly accessible, or inaccessible, or whether they are representative.  I programmed the routes for 1pm, on today (April 22nd).  I would be interested if any readers had ideas for locations to program, or times of day, or whatever, to make a strong indication one way or another about whether there is truth to the rumor about systemic racism in the Metro bus routes.

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