John Q. Civic was born in 1902. He had an early interest in public transit, and he liked it so much that he never saw a need to travel otherwise. Mr. Public never relied on schedules, he simply went out to the corner and caught the first thing headed his way.

In 1910, at the age of 8, he rode transit for the very first time, catching the #11 Trolley from his home in Civiconia to visit his Father who owned a business in the Civic Square. It was an easy trip, as the cars ran quite frequently, so he made many trips to visit his father.

Using his walk out and catch the first vehicle method, he figured his average travel time to be 30 minutes exactly!

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In 1920, John began working at his Father's firm. At the same time, the Civic Electric and Power Company created a branch off of his line to a newer development called "Civiconia Heights." This cut in half the amount of trips headed to his home in Civconia. Still, considering the level of service, it was no great loss.

John rechecked his averages. Now his average travel time had grown to 33 minutes!

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In 1930, John was called upon to help save his Father's troubled firm in the grips of the Depression, at the age of 28. The same year, the Civic Electric & Power Company went under, to be reorganized as the Civic Transit Company. Looking to reduce costs, they implemented a Short Turn operation on John's line, called "Civic Circle." Since John's home in Civiconia was well beyond this new Terminus, there were now even fewer cars headed to Civiconia. Still, it was not that bad.

John made a new figure for his average - Now it was 36 minutes!

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By 1940, John had helped save the firm. His Father retired, and at age 38, John was now the President. The Civic Transit Company actually bought newer Streetcars. However, since they were single ended, they required loops to reverse, resulting in a new Downtown Routing that required John to walk an extra block to catch his car when coming home.

The new cars were faster, but got caught in the same (now growing) traffic that the older cars did. John's newest travel figure: 37 minutes!

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By 1950, John was sitting pretty in his firm after the War. The Transit Company had been bought out and renamed the "Civic Transit Lines." They converted the Civiconia Line to a bus route, and added another branch to a rising development to the North called "Civiconia Hills." The company touted these changes as vast improvements. Ridership was dropping however, and service levels began to reflect this - John's method of never looking at a schedule was beginning to hurt him.

John made a new calculation as to his average - now at 39 minutes!

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In 1960, John's firm was still enjoying much success. The Civic Square area was starting to see challenges for its commercial areas, and it was decided to make Civic Street a Pedestrian Mall. This meant that the bus lines had to be rerouted away from the Square itself. This, and an onslaught of one-way streets caused a great change in the routing patterns of the Civiconia line.

With all this added walking on a 58 year old man, John's newest calculation came out to 42 minutes average travel time!

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1970 dawned, and John finally retired. He still worked as a consultant for the Firm though, and made many trips into town to do work for the Firm. The Civic Transit Lines had been bought out by the City, and transit service was now operated by them under the name "Civic Transportation Authority." This meant security for the service, but it also meant politics! A powerful developer swayed City Hall to divert all service on the Civiconia lines to travel into his newly built Shopping Plaza that was over 1/4 mile off of the line. A short turn was even added to this "Civic Plaza." This was a convenience for some, but a headache for most, as it added considerable time to their commute.

John was outraged at this, but continued to ride. Still, this headache now made his average travel time 46 minutes!!!

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The year was 1980 - John's transit riding had kept him in pretty good shape for the age of 78! He still made numerous trips to the Firm at the Civic Square. However, politics had taken hold again, as the city looked to become a tourist mecca with its waterfront. As a result, half of the Civiconia line buses were redesignated and diverted to these new "Civiconia Shores" (formerly referred to by locals as the Stink Hole). It now seemed like John was spending more time standing on corners than riding, as the new branch went well out of the way of the Firm.

John took his records, and made a new estimate - now 50 mnutes average from door to door!

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There was a buzz going around the firm in 1990, as Trolleys were returning to Civic Square. John, now aged 88, thought, my this is grand! Maybe I can get home in less than 40 minutes once again! However, this new "Light Rail" line was not the Civiconia Trolley of his youth. The line would serve the Civic Square, but would instead head out to a new "Civiconia Mall." The 11 line would be discontinued , to be replaced by a feeder bus that would bring passengers into stations. John's one seat ride from Home to Work would now be history. Nothing would beat a wait, but two waits, he thought, and for once he actually considered picking up a schedule, until stubborness got the best of him.

While the train was fast, the waits, particularly for the bus, were not. John jotted down his figures on a scrap of paper - Now he was at 55 minutes!

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Seems that John finally retired in 2000, as he worried that he'd drop dead one day waiting for transit service. Meanwhile, it seems that the Light Rail line was a "success" as many people drove to the stations to catch the new line. Hard core transit riders were few and far between, and the Authority decided to streamline the numerous bus feeders into a single "efficient" line called the L5, which turned around at new housing development dubbed the "Woods at the Civics." John fondly recalled when there actually were Woods all within that area. John decided to give his old time trials a go, and make a random round trip to the Civic Squrare, now renamed as the Civic Convention Center

John took note of his trips, checked and double checked his figures, and sat there scratching his head. He wondered where the progress was in this scenario. For alas, his newest estimate now stood at 62 minutes!

 

Year	1910	1920	1930	1940	1950	1960	1970	1980	1990	2000
Time (minutes)	30	33	36	37	39	42	46	50	55	62