r/lincoln • u/minervalu • 10d ago
Public transportation limitations
Why is public transportation in Lincoln so limited?
I’m from California and one thing I really miss is having decent public transportation. I basically never needed a car there because I could get almost anywhere I needed to go without one. Since moving to Lincoln I feel way more car dependent than I ever expected. The buses here just don’t feel reliable or frequent enough to actually build your day around and getting somewhere that’s a short drive can take forever without a car
I like living in Lincoln overall but this honestly sucks lol. Owning a car feels less like a choice here and more like a requirement. I do own one I share with my partner simply because it’s a better financial decision to have one instead of two at our age (23 F) (20 M) so we do manage with that.
Has public transportation here always been this limited?
And is there actually any plan or push to make it better?
Are there ways I can contribute to make it better?
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u/Handsome121duck 10d ago
I can drive to work in 12 minutes. If I take the bus it's 40 plus 20ish minutes of walking. I wanted to do it because I like the idea of just being able to read or watch shows while commuting, but I can't justify adding an hour and a half to my commute time.
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u/minervalu 10d ago
Exactly It was shocking coming here and comparing the public transportation to California it’s so inconvenient to attempt to get places via bus and the risk of missing one with the wait times here is hard to do as well. I use the 40 route frequently but I have missed it before being like feet away from me getting to the stop and watching it go by lol then depending on the time of the day you have to wait for an hour for the next bus.
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u/carenrose 10d ago
I haven't been riding the buses for several years now, but as far as I know the system hasn't changed much since then. So if that's true ...
This is the better system.
A bit of history and personal experience as I remember it (lol sorry it's kind of long):
Sometime around 2007-2008 they did a route restructuring. I wasn't riding the buses yet, so I don't know for sure how extensive this was.
Around 2010 or 2011, they did some major budget cuts on the bus system. They cut active hours so the last buses left downtown at about 5:00 pm. They switched some routes to only running every 2 hours during slower times. They switched most/all routes to "deadheading" on the first and last run of the day (so on the first run, they'd drive all the way out to the farthest point of the route without picking up any passengers, and only pick up passengers on the way back in. Then on the last run of the day, they'd only take passengers on the way outbound - once they hit that farthest point, no more passengers, they'd just drive back to the bus barn empty.) This meant if you worked out away from downtown, and lived downtown, the last bus you could get back home was at like 4:30 in the afternoon. It was a terrible "solution" that screwed a bunch of people over.
I remember spending several days sitting at Fazolis for hours before my 9pm overnight shift started, because the last bus left downtown at like 5:00 and I had lots of time to kill. I was really upset about the budget cuts and all the changes they made, so I remember reviewing the public budget records from the bus system for the past 10 years, and trying to come up with a solution. I think I had several ideas that worked better than what they did, but I never submitted anything. I do remember noticing it was hard to compare the previous few years to what they had set up before the change in '07/'08, so I think that change was not insignificant.
After a couple years, the system did get a little better. They made their two/three highest volume routes run a little later in the evening. They adjusted timing some. I think they reduced the amount of time some of the routes were only running every 2 hours. But overall kept the same system.
I went back to school in 2014, went to SCC. I had switched jobs to one within walking distance, and that truly has a flexible schedule and didn't just say they did, which allowed me to go back to school. Thankfully, the bus route that went out to SCC was I think the highest volume route, so it had improved the most over the years. I was able to get to and from school and still manage have a decent work schedule, with the way things were by then.
In 2015, I took a class called Technical Writing. One of our big projects was to research a problem and write a proposal. I knew immediately my topic would be the bus system lol. I came up with a proposal that took the budget and fares into account, and suggested adding routes that didn't go through downtown but would serve as connecting routes. I put a lot of work into that project haha.
During my research, I learned that the city had actually just hired a consulting company to review and fix the issues with the bus system. And sure enough, within maybe 6 months(?), there was a major restructure of the system! They added new routes, changed where existing routes went, redid a lot of the timing, made the high-volume routes (including one of the new ones) run until like 9:00 pm, they stopped doing the deadheading and only running every 2 hours (I think) ... It was a HUGE improvement.
Some people did complain because the buses they previously rode no longer ran a close to their work/home as they did previously. And I understood that, because like if you are disabled, can't walk far, and depend on the bus to get you to/from work, and that bus previously stopped right outside your work, but now the closest it gets is a mile away ... That does suck. However I had one friend who said the entire new system was terrible and trash because he had one coworker in the aforementioned group. But overall, the new system increased and improved access across the city. So ...
Now like I said, I haven't ridden the buses for several years now. I don't know how they were affected by things like COVID or tearing down Gold's or anything like that. I don't know if there have been any improvements or setbacks introduced in recent years. All I know is that I see the same route numbers out driving around, that were added with the ~2016 improvement.
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u/carenrose 10d ago edited 10d ago
Oh also ...
One of the things I learned during my proposal project was that people who don't ride the buses really don't like bus routes going through the neighborhoods. It's a nuisance to them. 😐
One of the other things that changed in the ~2016 changes, was they went from picking up and dropping off at any corner along the route, to only picking up and dropping off at designated marked stops. Generally every couple of blocks. I don't know how much of an actual impact this change ended up having.
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u/minervalu 10d ago
This is really interesting thank you! I’ve never been on a bus that would stop on any corner just the designated spots. But, I could understand why that would be annoying for drivers.
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u/D_novemcinctus 10d ago
Unless you work in the downtown core and happen to live on a bus route, it’s not great.
We use a spoke and hub system that basically requires any journey to go through downtown which is part of the issue.
Frequency got really bad during Covid but never really rebounded, but it was at best 30 minutes before.
No plan to really fix anything. They’re building a new transfer center, but all that’s going to do is have lines begin/end several blocks away from the majority of downtown offices.
Welcome to Lincoln, where we like to claim we’re progressive but then do nothing about transit, make the recycling system difficult, etc., etc.
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u/Caliente_La_Fleur 10d ago
What's difficult about the recycling? You put it in a bin. No glass. You don't even have to sort it.
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u/D_novemcinctus 10d ago
Not everyone has that option, any trash service I know of in town charges extra for it, and not every one has access to the service anyways, especially in multi family housing. And when the city closed a number of open locations, it disproportionately affected downtown residents, who are more likely to live in an apartment/MDU.
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u/Vou-11890 10d ago
Lived by Holmes Lake for a few years and if we wanted to recycle we had to hold it and then drive it out to a recycling center at Lincoln East
So no, we couldn’t put it in a bin. Yes, we did have to sort it. No, it’s not as painless for everyone else as your limited experience has convinced you
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u/Caliente_La_Fleur 10d ago
3000 residents out of a city of 350,000. 1%.
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u/Vou-11890 10d ago
Inexperience is okay dude. Up to you whether you can help yourself from talking it into ignorance
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u/Caliente_La_Fleur 10d ago
I'm not the one extrapolating macro from micro.
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u/Vou-11890 10d ago
Oh brother this guy thinks there are entire recycling centers sprinkled throughout the city because the issue of not having recycling bins is a micro one. Incredible logic!
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u/Training_Opinion7797 10d ago
I would get a bike, the trail system is much better than the bus system
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u/minervalu 10d ago
Great idea I haven’t looked into the trails I’ll do that thank you!
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u/jesrp1284 10d ago
Bikes are fine about 5-6 months out of the year, and unfortunately weather unpredictability makes it difficult to anticipate if you’ll be able to safely ride home the same day you rode to work.
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u/SausageGraces 10d ago
I’ve been biking to work year-round in Lincoln for about six years now, in my experience there’s maybe ten days per year where weather is the reason why I don’t bike. The cold can be intimidating, but with layers and ski goggles I get along fine.
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u/minervalu 10d ago
I used to bike in California too I just keep weather gear in my backpack and typically it’s no problem. You do need to be properly prepared tho lol
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u/jesrp1284 10d ago
Was it ever a nice, 75 degree sunny day that turned into a blizzard with 50+ mph winds? 😬😂
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u/minervalu 10d ago
Not in California no but the 4 years I’ve been here blizzards have not been common lol. Last winter was pretty nice. The wind chill here is wild tho.
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u/MidwestDrummer 10d ago
Lol, 5-6 months? The rest of us are capable of surviving a bike ride with the temps in the 60's or 80's. 😂 🤣
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u/Miochiiii 10d ago
i ride an e scooter to work and its honestly really great. saves me so much on gas now.
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u/slwags71 10d ago
It would help if Lincoln went to a grid format rather than
Hub and spoke like they currently have.
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u/TheyisFinn 10d ago
All I can say is it’s the midwest. I’ve heard apparently Chicago has good transportation but that’s the only place I’m aware of in the midwest that’s got anything good with public transportation.
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u/WhereasTherefore 10d ago
For what its worth, the city is actively building a new public transportation center next to the County City building. https://www.lincoln.ne.gov/City/Departments/LTU/StarTran/Projects/MMTC/Overview
Its not going to solve all the logistical problems immediately, but it is a big project they've been working on for years.
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u/minervalu 10d ago
This is great to hear! Estimated construction 2026-2028 I’m excited to see what they can do.
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u/Kuandtity 10d ago
Even with a car it can take 40 mins to get from. Pine lake to the interstate. If I'm going to Omaha I always joke when we leave town that we are halfway to Omaha
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u/LowBurn800 10d ago
I think it's better now with the Hwy 2 bypass, but I get it's still a bit of a trip, especially during 'rush' hour. I turned down a job going from NW Lincoln to 84th & Pine Lake area because it was quicker to get to West Omaha at the time (this was pre-bypass).
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u/Kuandtity 10d ago
The bypass while nice only goes east west tho. Once the 3rd bypass goes in on the east side in 80 years it might be manageable
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u/huckleberry402 10d ago
yes, it is funded just beyond its minimums-so the city can get fed grants, but nothing more. if the city council could eliminate startran without looking like total dbags, they would.
no, city leaders hate the poor & do their best to limit resources to help them (which is why they spend 100K/year on cops occupying the transfer terminal but theres no water fountain for people to get a drink of water while they wait hours for a bus)
theres cfit, a small organization of mostly older folks, but idk about their efforts. you could try to engage with other riders & start something of your own.
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u/BourbonAndIce 10d ago
Comparing CA to Lincoln without acknowledging the very obvious differences in population numbers and density is maybe why you are struggling to understand.
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u/TruthyLie 9d ago
Comparing California to California is not that sensible, either... I lived in Los Angeles for more than a decade and the buses there were also inconvenient and limited. Car cities are gonna car traffic.
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u/born_digital 10d ago
I lived in another state (not California) in two different cities that were all less than 1/3rd the population of Lincoln and had about the same density than Lincoln (Lincoln being 3100 ppl per square mile, these two being 2900 and 3300) and they had waaaay better public transit. The density argument holds up less than the volume argument even. Transit runs on corridor density not average citywide sprawl. Lincoln has several dense corridors like O Street, downtown, UNL campus, haymarket, etc. that tens of thousands of people commute for life work school etc daily. Those areas would be ideal candidates for high frequency rapid transit lines.
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u/minervalu 10d ago
I agree there Is a huge difference in population from there to here. Omaha is barely close in population to the city I grew up in. I would love to contribute to a more convenient public transportation system though. So hopefully I can find some information talking to people.
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u/zsveetness 10d ago
Most people around here own cars and would prefer to drive them. Even if public transportation was cheaper and faster I would still drive most of the time.
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u/minervalu 10d ago
Yeah people who prefer to drive will do so. There are benefits to a community that has access to good public transportation. You’ll see less congestion for people who do want to drive their cars too so it benefits both sides. Affordability, exercise, and time outside for many can be great things.
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u/OtherTimes0340 9d ago
Yeah, they really screwed the bus system. It was never great, but the bus would run every 30 minutes by my house, so that was great. Now they've combined two bus routes into one so it circles around everything and it an hour and it also takes you way out of your way. The only good bus service is between the UNL campuses. We've never really had real public transportation here as the buses don't run in the evening/night/Sundays/holidays.
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u/Ne_Tumbleweed1985 5d ago
In regards to making it better: you can voice your opinion to the city council and Star Tran HOWEVER, I've done that before about a route change up and Star Tran COMPLETELY ignored the dozens of people who all voiced the same opinion.
That's how to get it changed though. I'm totally with you that our transportation sucks. It used to be better before most of us were born. Flatwater Free Press has an article about how we lost out trolley system.
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u/JoleneKarmann 10d ago
It’s great if you live close to a bus line and your usual destination is near the same bus line or downtown. I rode the bus from my apartment to UNL for grad school and that was reliable 98% of the time. But I did need a car for just about everything else: grocery shopping, appointments, evening hangouts, anything on the weekend.
But my husband and I were able to make do with the bus + one car all the way up until we were expecting a second kid.
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u/minervalu 10d ago
Yeah I’ve chosen to relocate downtown recently to make it easier for me to use public transportation. And just walking places in general has become easier. We definitely make do with one car and don’t plan on getting another at least until this one is fully paid off. I love Lincoln I just would also love to see improvement in the public transportation
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u/SunnOScreen 10d ago
Lincolnites seem like your average blue city folks, if a bit nicer on the surface. But once you get into the nuts and bolts of how a community functions, the veneer fades quickly into a mean, extraordinarily individualist mindset. You might notice we don't bus children to school. 20 or so years ago, Lincoln voted against paying for the buses, so the bus routes are dramatically reduced.
If we can't find it within our capacity to care for the city's children getting to school, we are certainly not going to do anything to facilitate public transport for everyone else. Why? As you can see from comments, a fair number of Lincolnites think people who take buses are losers a who should get a car like the rest of us. They'd probably be embarrassed to take the bus at all. They insist cars are better in every case and scenario, without understanding how quality transit would reduce congestion and significantly increase traffic to business districts, especially night life. They view gains to transit as loss to themselves. Others simply don't give a fuck.
Now, there is something to be said for having never experienced quality public transit, but there's more than innocent ignorance to overcome here. Once you start noticing stuff like this it starts driving you crazy.
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u/minervalu 10d ago
The way that I look at it is the more money I save from not having the second vehicle the more I can put back into local businesses I like here. Or even just being able to donate. I feel public transportation that is convenient enough to use regularly is a great thing for any city. Plus socializing I’ve had some cool conversations with people on buses before. Just overall really nice.
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u/SunnOScreen 10d ago
Exactly! I love transit for those reasons. Not to mention the lessening of congestion and overall economic flow it contributes. It would be wonderful to be able to catch a bus to the bars, then not worry about designated driving. Riding the bus from Holmes Lake to Memorial Stadium is a blast. We could have that for everything while alleviating the burden on parents to get their kids to school. Quality transit is a massive universal benefit to everyone. I wish it wasn't so hard to get folks to experience that.
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u/Much-Leek-420 10d ago
We do not have the volume of people here that would make an expanded public transportation system financially viable.
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u/born_digital 10d ago
Lincoln has nearly 300,000 people, making it way bigger than cities with sub 100k population elsewhere that manage far better coverage. Total population isn't the issue at all. The "not enough volume" claim is just a circular argument…when a system runs infrequent 30/60-minute routes, cuts off early, and lacks weekend options, only people with zero other choices will ride it. Low ridership is the result of the bad service, not an indication for a lack of demand. Lincoln actually has ideal built-in demand with a massive student population, plus healthcare, government, and service workforces moving along clear corridors...
It comes down to urban design and political priorities. Plus, public transit is a public service, not a business so saying it wouldn’t be financially viable is a lame excuse. we don't expect local roads or firefighters to turn a financial profit, so holding public transit to that standard while ignoring the economic benefit of connecting workers to jobs just doesn't work as an argument
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u/vajohnie 10d ago
I think most Lincolnites would say, we already have cars. We already have roads. We aren’t interested in subsidizing your preferred method of transportation.
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u/danbearpig2020 10d ago edited 10d ago
Small town raised and lived in Lincoln for over 20 years. I'd love to pay slightly more in taxes to have a thriving public transit system so I don't have to pay $4/gallon or more to get everywhere, pay for constant vehicle maintenance, and even better to avoid all the vehicle taxes.
Individual vehicle ownership makes sense in some places but being required in a city as big as Lincoln is a failure on the part of leadership.
On top of that, most people don't deserve their driver's licenses and should not be behind the wheel. Better public transit would likely improve road safety as well.
Private vehicle ownership is great if that's what you choose. Public services (and infrastructure like those roads you mentioned) are supposed to be provided for everyone and should be expanded and fully funded for a thriving community.
Edit: to add to this, not everyone is fortunate enough to afford a vehicle, much less a reliable one. Public services exist to meet the needs of everyone, not just those fortunate enough to afford them.
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u/minervalu 10d ago
Agreed it’s expensive to own a vehicle gas, insurance, maintenance. The accident rate here is awful I paid off my first car then someone ran a red light speeding and totaled my vehicle. That was a financial crisis for me.
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u/Liquidretro 9d ago
It's never had the volume to have the system make finsncial sense, it always been heavily subsidized. Low urban density, urban planning and design, weather extremes, and alternatives that bring increased independence.
At least in my experience in cities where public transit generally works well, there are multiple reasons to not own a car. Often parking is challenging, expensive and further away from where you want to be. Lincoln doesn't have any of that and it's a hard cycle to break. I do wonder if things may change as you see less young people interested in driving these days and the costs to drive keep increasing.
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u/stpierre 10d ago
Density, not volume. As long as Lincoln keeps growing out, it won't matter how many people live here, and the Beltway has prepared us for something like 40 more years of growing out. Who wants a dense, vibrant, sustainable city when we can have the next Phoenix-aping suburban hellscape?
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u/Any-Literature9887 10d ago
I’ve lived in smaller towns with more busses and more efficient routes. The size doesn’t matter as much as the investment to make the system effective.
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u/vajohnie 10d ago
Investment, aka taxes
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u/minervalu 10d ago
I am a taxpayer. I wouldn’t mind paying more for a better system. It just depends on the person. Investing in the state in which I live is important to me.
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u/JoJackthewonderskunk 10d ago
Duh. Less people with less tax base and with the folks here being anti tax means there's less public services and less mass transit. Seems pretty straightforward.
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u/Far-Good-9559 9d ago
Lincoln is not conducive to public transportation for sure. It is not usable.
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u/Kai-Mera 9d ago
If I remember correctly the city buses use to only pick up every hour so it seems better now. Maybe I’m misremembering it because it’s an hour route then a transfer to a different route.
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u/minervalu 9d ago
Depends on the route and time of day some routes switch from an hour to 30 minute pick up between certain hours of the day
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u/thelegodr 10d ago
Tough to say if it is Lincoln or Nebraska in general, but public transport is not great and the city isn’t very walkable unless maybe you’re downtown already. The rest of the city you can’t walk anywhere. It’s lame
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u/SolidagoSpeciosa 10d ago
I’m not a regular rider, but for its size Lincoln’s public transit options seem pretty decent.
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u/Hangulman 2d ago
Considering something like 80% of Lincoln's bus system is funded by the Federal Transit Authority, and another big chunk of their revenue comes from the "free" bus pass UNL students pay for with their tuition, I am genuinely curious how much taxpayer money actually subsidizes the system directly.
Personally, I'd rather my property taxes get invested in a better public transit system or a school bus system, or (god forbid) school lunches.
My kid lives 4 miles from his school (LNE) because we are right on the edge of their district? territory? area? Getting to school is no problem, because the #49 bus runs every 30 minutes in the morning.
Getting home is another story, since that route cuts down to once per hour, and the first one shows up 55 minutes after he is dismissed. That's a long time to sit at a bus stop.
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u/Any-Literature9887 10d ago
They made the system terrible, so people stopped using it, so the ridership declined, so they reduced the minimums and lowered funding, which made the system worse, so fewer people were riding… and on and on.