These are just some random ideas from a resident (me), meant to be a starting point for brainstorming.  I will post it on hawthornevillager as well to start a conversation.

• Transit should be a big part of the urban design.  Drive along Derry, houses facing Derry should’ve been medium density, 3-4 storey condos and townhomes.  More people next to major arterial roads –> more transit customers.  That’s a missed opportunity, but lets fix it for future surveys.
• Will it help if people with monthly passes had an option to use a taxi in case of emergencies (eg. Go train came in late and the last Milton bus left). Basically if the transit could guarantee that you’d never be stranded, perhaps more people would be open to it?
• Go to large employers, offer them a discount and give their employees monthly passes.  Promise them good bus service.  Wait, isn’t town of Milton itself a “big employer” in town :)? Hint, hint! 
• Investigate vanpool (I used to commute from the Snohomish County to the King County in WA. King County has 1,031 vanpool vans that provided 2.7 million rides at a cost of $0 to the municipality.  Snohomish County’s website explains the program.
• Consider charging for parking along the Main Street and Go station after a majority of residents have access to a reliable transit service.
• Consider limiting the number of parking spaces an employer can provide within the urban part of town (I personally don’t like it and if I were asked, would vote against it, but it worked for the City of  Redmond). 
• Another extreme opinion, that I am against, is to increase the subsidy up to 100%.  The town runs buses and people can ride them for free.  Nothing beats free.
• Plan new subdivisions with transit in mind.  I have written more about this in my “urban plan” series. 
• I wonder if, on routes with low ridership, running a couple of hybrid minivans is cheaper than running a large bus that costs not much less than half a million dollars to purchase. 
• EDIT: Should Milton think about running dynamic routes?  If you need a bus, you call a number, enter the stop # and go to the stop.  Based on demand, routes automatically adjust themselves to move people as optimally as possible.

Overall, I think transit ridership will naturally go up as the Derry Green Business Park comes online, Milton Education Village gets started and generally more people and jobs move to Milton.

So here are some of my ideas.  What are yours?