Obviously, the owners believe that there are not enough bus riders who shop at the mall to justify the existence of the bus stop.

Does AATA or the city of Ann Arbor lease the bus stop area? If the owners saw a financial benefit to keeping the bus stop, maybe they will change their minds.

Chair Nacht’s probing on the express bus service is entirely justified by the need to shape policy for future express bus routes. But of course, the most difficult audience to survey is the audience that isn’t there. It’s pretty clear that lack of marketing isn’t the real problem with the service. It’s the lack of frequency. I hope a solution can be found involving smaller, less expensive buses, running more often and later at night.

That said, experience in other cities has shown that commuter rail is always preferred to bus service. Part of it is the smoother, less jerky ride, but there’s also a snob appeal to rail – you know, the image of the big-city, big-bucks businessman who rides into his 68th floor office from his tony suburb with his face buried in the Wall Street Journal.

And I’m afraid it’s the lack of snob appeal that Arborland management has in mind with the bus station on their property. It’s apparently been a subject of discussion at shopping center management meetings around the country: bus riders just aren’t the big-spending clientele they have in mind to fill their stores and parking lot. After all, how much can a bus-rider carry away with them on the bus? And aren’t they just as likely to be shop-lifters as purchasers? A very unfortunate misconception, and one which will need to change as transit-oriented development ramps up with the Washtenaw Avenue Talent Center project.

Even scarier though are the times that I ride my bike up there. I’ve had several folks wave at me with just one finger when I ride through (I love to be waved cheerfully at–but not with one finger! That makes me sad).