Modal Integration and the QCA

 I was looking at my transit cards from various agencies, and thinking how cool it would be if we in the Quad Cities actually had some fare integration, transit integration, or general modal integration: if you could get around the QCA consistently without friction, moving from one mode or agency to another.

And no, I don't just mean being able to stick my bike in the back of my car.

1. Cross-state Integration

I would love to live in a world where there were more real connections between the Citibus in Davenport and the Metro system in the Illinois side. The same company even operates the (inadequate) Bettendorf transit as does the Illinois system! We could do better! 

Look, they do fine for their scale at a US level: they do have buses across the river despite the differing state and municipal authorities. The timing is even OK for transfers, mostly. But holy moly is the opportunity there for more.

Imagine if we could be like WMATA, even though we obviously aren't the DC area, and just have one transit organization that plans and schedules and so on--and that includes multiple river crossings instead of one bus for each of two bridges.

I don't expect a Metro, just decent interstate work.

2. Last Mile Issues

QCA transit has a big last mile problem. You can take a bus a lot of places--sort of. Imagine if we had either more buses or real bike integration with the existing routes! Or even functional sidewalks near major streets! So much could actually work!

I hear protected bike lanes allow people to actually safely bike on the street, not just in Vancouver.

Rumor has it that sidewalks work in Louisville, and could perhaps here, on Kimberly Road even.

Or on Eastern Avenue...except not. 

3. Don't Forget the Ferry!

The Channel Cat is not like the world's most ideal transit mode, but it does provide valuable service shuttling humans across a very wide and inconvenient (in this sense) river. 

It's also not integrated at all with anything else.

Vancouver, like us, has a giant bridge--but they also have the SeaBus across that same body of water.

Toronto will also put you on a ferry as part of your public transportation. And that's not even mentioning that I grew up in Seattle...

I just miss having consistent, connected ferry service that actually feeds into other consistent transit as well.

Consider the possibilities! We could actually have an integrated system and you could get around smoothly and efficiently.

Or we could keep what we have I suppose.