I do understand your point however I think the idea behind it is to attract people who would otherwise not ride the bus already. Giving it a shiny new look and big stations with skyways crossings really captures the attention of everyday people who view riding the bus as "unpleasant" and confusing (transferring from route to route) I am one of them I used to live around Palomino's park and ride and took the bus from their to MOA to downtown only because I was in the process of moving downtown. Of course I was shockingly surprised at the high level of comfort on a city bus! I think many people decide to hop in their cars and drive to the MOA instead of taking the bus when it could easily meet their needs! It basically almost as if they threw 30 lbs of glitter into the route to make it sparkly!Again, none of this is a change from the current situation. You can catch a bus to the MOA at least once an hour (all day) as it is. I have done all of these things myself with the current system. The extra frequency is nice, but I would much rather see later hours of operation and more service on feeder routes than something that just duplicates existing service for the most part.The route is not geared for people going downtown! The idea is that it's for suburbian people wanting to go to the Airport and MOA. They do have the option to go downtown via the blue line if they choose but they will be better of taking the express bus downtown to work!
IMO it gives much more flexability to workers in the area say they have to stay late past the express bus times then they have option of taking the blue then red line back home.
Although cedar ave is a road that has it's traffic issues and is limited to it's ability to expand the road way or convert more of the road to freeway. I think the project will be a huge improvement to the bus service by having the improved shoulders for the buses. Also If the commuter buses uses the same stations then it gives the people in the suburbs much greater incentive to use the stations and really starts them to reconsider using the bus instead of driving and can in theory help cap the traffic increases of 77
Of course this reminds me of that one comment I saw in another thread about how the city spends so much on nice cozy buses for the commuters from the suburbs while they neglect downtown routes which see much greater volume of commuters!...
Either way I don't think this route should be designated as a color route because it's really not a core route as it would fit in a ideal transit system because it for the most part feeds into the blue line. Although being that the metro has so few color routes (blue and green so far) I think it would be a great way to promote the route by giving the color title. Maybe in 30 years when we actually have a transit system or BRT, LRT, and streetcar system then maybe it should be redefined. Until then it's a great promotion strategy IMO. Also with the farm land on the south end of the redline their is great potential for dense development! I really like the concept of building transit routes before the entire route is developed it can help mold the transitway for example Paragon outlet mall! I think it will be very exciting to see what develops along cedar ave now!