This past week, the Journal Star reported on changes being made to CityLink bus routes:
Beginning Sept. 8, Northwoods Mall will no longer be used as the unofficial – and privately owned – northern transfer station for CityLink buses.
In an agreement with CityLink and the mall’s ownership, Simon Properties, the bus service will reduce the number of routes to the mall from six to two. That reduces the number of buses that pick up and drop off at the mall’s main entrance by J.C. Penney from 250 to 50 a day.
This news has elicited some strong negative reaction to Northwoods. For example, PeoriaIllinoisan has found evidence that Simon has done similar things at other properties they own, in one case even admitting on tape, “We want to reduce the negative, um, aspects of the Center — one of them is the young, black customer.”
I was initially put off by Simon/Northwoods’ decision myself. However, as more details have emerged, I’ve changed my mind.
First of all, Northwoods is not eliminating bus service to their front door — there will still be 50 buses a day going to Northwoods. So it’s not like they’re trying to keep public transit riders out of their facility, or kick all the buses to the perimeter of the property. All they’re saying is that they “[don’t] want to be the de facto north Peoria transfer station any longer.”
And that brings me to my second point: It’s not Northwoods’ responsibility to provide a transfer station for CityLink. Whatever you may think about Simon Property Group, their past actions, or their perhaps secret motivations, the fact is that it is unreasonable to expect a private business to provide their facilities as a “de facto” transfer station. They get no subsidy to provide those services, and yet those services cost money. Many riders are simply using their property to change buses, not shop at Northwoods. Bus drivers are using their property to rest and use the bathroom (what they call “recovery time”), not shop at Northwoods. All that additional traffic puts wear and tear on their parking lot, which they have to maintain on their own dime, unlike downtown businesses who get their parking subsidized by the City of Peoria.
It is CityLink’s responsibility to provide a transfer station where one is needed, at their own expense. It appears that’s just what they’re going to do, as the end of the newspaper report states, “The transit district is looking for land and money to build a transfer station in the mall’s vicinity.” Isn’t the site of the old Denny’s at Sterling and I-74 for sale?
I agree that using the old Denny’s site would be a good use of the building, but then the customers would have to cross Sterling very near a highway intersection. To me that just screams bad idea. I think it has been suggested before that they use a section of the parking lot that is not used by NW Mall customers. It seems like the area by JCPenney’s is always empty.
Why would they have to cross Sterling? This isn’t a dropoff for Northwoods Mall customers. This is a transfer center. People who want to go to Northwoods would get on a bus that goes to Northwoods and be let off at the front door. People who want to switch buses would simply stay at the transfer center, just like downtown.
I see– I think I got my thoughts crossed. Sorry. I wasn’t thinking about it that way. I was still focused on the passengers that get off at the mall and lost site of the fact that they use it as a transfer station. Must remember to engage brain before fingers next time.
“All that additional traffic puts wear and tear on their parking lot, which they have to maintain on their own dime, unlike downtown businesses who get their parking subsidized by the City of Peoria. ”
You still have an issue with that don’t ya?
Is it cheaper for the city to subsidize parking downtown or build new roads, extend sewers, build more firestations and add police protection for the business’s to all move out north in the cornfields? Downtown business districts are totally different animals and I bet most cities subsidize their downtown parking in some shape or form.
Peoriafan: They can’t afford to do both. Are you proposing a boundary beyond which the city will not grow in return for continued parking subsidies downtown? If so, then I will support that.
yes
An issue with using the old Denny’s as a bus transfer station is that buses would not be able to turn left onto Sterling directly. The nearest place buses could turn north onto Sterling would be the signal up at the mall entrance.
Why not use the old Schlotzky’s Deli parcel at Scenic and Sterling? It’s at a signalized intersection and closer to the center of the Northwoods/Glen Hollow shopping district.
This could also be a good time to look into tweaking the bus schedules and routes as a whole – I’m not sure how much sense it makes to have 8 buses leaving the same destination at the same time without having another bus come within 90 minutes.
Two things here. First, which two buses will still use the mall?
Just saying that someone can grab a different bus that goes to the mall is not taking into consideration where that person is catching the bus in the first place.
Second, waiting for a bus at a transfer point is not like catching a bus en-route.
In the latter, you simply show up at the nearest bus stop within a few minutes of it’s scheduled arrival time.
The Mall, like the downtown station, provides shelter from the weather. Waiting on a transfer can take up to 60 minutes, due to Citylinks ridiculous practice of only running hourly between 10AM and 3PM.
I know that I would not want to be stuck outside in a situation like we had this past winter where the temperature for two days was about -20 degrees, before the wind chill factor was applied.
That is a dangerous situation.
Now, I understand the Mall’s position on this, and on some level, I don’t disagree with some of their points, however, people who do not ride the bus (I do daily and have for over three years) are not taking the circumstances of the riders into account, in my opinion, based on the feedback I’ve seen.
The government should just tell the owners of Northwoods they must share their wealth (and their bathrooms) and make Simon use their private property to provide a transfer station to the residents of Peoria for free. Otherwise its just not fair. LOL
Why don’t they just negotiate some sort of usage fee for Citylink….an acceptable amount that Simon could collect from Citylink for parking lot maintenance, and Citylink could continue using the parking lot? Seems like the gravy train has come to an end, but it might be more cost effective to hammer out a number with Simon versus buy property elsewhere, especially property that does not benefit the Citylink riders.
nice to see even-handed, non- sensationalizing, sensible reporting. thank you!