[Mpls] RE: "lack of public transit"

[Alan Shilepsky]

Bruce Gaarder is right on in saying:
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"....If you will ride a train but not a well-run,
well-maintained bus, that's your individual preference and problem, not a
problem the taxpayer needs to worry about."

"One of the very vocal supporters of lrt in Houston has written that nobody
rides the bus but minorities and the servant classes, and that's why lrt is
needed. By inference, he doesn't ride with "those" people."
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I've always wondered if, leaving aside various special interest group agendas, LRT was the shiny, high-technological fix that was supposed to overcome the social factors that surpressed usage of our adaptive and quite adequate bus-based transit system. These social factors included racism, classism, and ageism.
On the other hand I felt that the sometimes "lack of civility" in public spaces did contribute to transit avoidance. Remember the sobering Stribe article on riding the Number 5 several years ago. But since then we have advanced beyond the misplaced toleration of "broken windows" and the bus experience has improved. (Though even then it certainly not bad at all.)

LRT's political promoters mixed up two objectives--public transist for the urban transit-dependent, and a rapid rail line for affluent commuters. Fast, long haul rides conflict with fine-grained, city block coverage! Our leaders were willing to dump hundreds of millions of dollars in a system that would not increase ridership much at all, esp. if you considered the claimed gains are achieved by forced displacement of passengers from existing bus to rail. Further, it would create a money pit that would suck financial and managerial resources away from a bus system that served people without cars or driving capability. And at budget crunch time the rail riders would have the political clout to make sure their wants were prioritized ahead of bus riders.

I never could accept the refusal to test PRT, Personalized Rapid Transit, which offers potentially cheaper solutions, while at the same time speaking to the individual convenience and perceived safety concerns of people who prefer exclusive use of a vehicle. While LRT generally seems a 100 year old technology with a new paint job, PRT leverages new scientific advances in computers (for individualized dispatching) and light weight, high strength materials (for suspending four person vehicles from pylons). Instead of trail-blazing something new (and invented here in MN) we chose to chase after a speeding buckboard! :-)

My transit heros Lynn Woodward and Lisa Lee had it right on LRT.

Alan Shilepsky
Downtown




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