I actually like public transportation in big cities. I love being able to walk and ride subways to get around, but in bigger cities a particular stop could be accessed on a regular basis in any given hour. That's just not the case for Franklin.
I could give you several examples, but here is one example of why the Franklin Transit Authority doesn't work for the business class.
I have an hour for lunch, let's say I want to ride the trolley from my office down the road 2 miles to eat lunch. I would have to walk 10 minutes to a stop at 11:34a to catch a trolley. So I leave at 11:24a.
I would arrive at my destination 4 minutes later according to the schedule making it 11:38a. I would then have to walk another 10 minutes to the food establishment making it 11:48a. The next trolley to take me back to my office leaves at 12:27 pm, so I would need to leave the restaurant by 12:17pm to catch the trolley, leaving me 29 minutes to eat which is plenty. However, since I had to leave work at 11:24a, I would already be 3 minutes late getting back to work. But allowing 14 minutes for the return trip, I would ultimately be 17 minutes late getting back from lunch.
So here's a chart of the time difference it takes to make a 2 mile round-trip on the Franklin Trolley.
My Car = 10 minutes
Trolley = 48 minutes
Trolley = 48 minutes
I'd use the Trolleys if they were convenient. They simply are not.
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It's a shame that many times, it just doesn't seem worth it. I looked into seeing if my middle child could take the rapid transit to a community college: car = 20 mins. transit = 90 minutes (if on time). That won't be happening.
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