Bloomington Sustainability Indicators

9/13/10

Sustainability Indicators

From the Bloomington Commission on Sustainability “2008 Sustainability Trends Assessment Report for the City of Bloomington” http://bloomington.in.gov/media/media/application/pdf/5917.pdf

The indicator of Annual Rate of Bus Ridership addresses more than one aspect of sustainability. By looking at the total numbers of ridership in a year, this indicator is a proxy for the proportion of people using public transportation opposed to private transportation, and can also be used as a proxy for proportion of people who use more sustainable modes of transportation such as bicycling or walking. Besides the obvious issue being taken into account here, of using sustainable modes of transportation and reducing the need for non-renewable resources, this indicator also shows something related to sustainability and not directly measurable, a form of social capital. In a society where people tend to not have their first social interaction of the day until sitting at their desk at work, riding the bus puts individuals into a group setting, one which may not be ideal for a social gathering, but which still provides more group stimulus than a car ride where in the only entertainment is the radio.

Since the data appears as total ridership it is inherently flawed because it does not take into account riders who use the bus system more than once a day, or use different busses to make connections. Therefore we can assume these numbers to be generally inflated. However, what may be more important here is the trend. Which shows that ridership for both Non-IU riders and IU-Students has steadily risen over the past 3 years, argueably this could be due to increased population in Bloomington or increased student population. This also serves as a poor proxy for the proportional measures mentioned above, but until a more through and direct indicator can be made for percentage of Bloomington residents who use sustainable transportation modes over private motor vehicles, this indicator can tell policy makers a good deal about the sustainable nature of transportation in the city.

Annual Rate of Bus Ridership would be described as a forward looking indicator according to Maclaren. It describes progress being made increase the use of mass transit, which in turn decreases the use of fossil fuels (a non-renewable resource), and moves towards intergenerational equity. It lacks a distinct reference point, but clearly shows a trend moving towards sustainability. Maclaren may not have described this as an integrating indicator, yet based on the arguments above that this indicator also indirectly measures some of the social dimensions of sustainability, and could thus be seen as an integrating indicator as well.