RE: PRT, Beneifts for Mpls and the Planet I wanted to thank Dean Zimmerman for all of his work to bring PRT to Minneapolis, and also to thank Gary Schiff for his efforts to promote the revival of street cars in Mpls. Dedicated busways (especially with hybrid electric busses) would also be great.
I live near the Midtown station for the Hiawatha LRT and can't wait till it opens. The Twin Cities (including my family are too car dependent.) My number one contribution to global warming is driving- 1 pound of CO2 produced for every mile driven. It is a real shame that Standard Oil, GM and Firestone bought up and dismantled the wonderful trolly system we had in Minneapolis (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_City_Rapid_Transit ) The big question is how to get people out of their cars and into transit? LRT is good at attracting riders of every income level. I have seen this in both Denver and the Bay area. The trouble with LRT is how to get to the station if you live more than a quarter mile away. A feeder system like Trolleys, PRT, circulator buses, pedi cabs or bikes is needed. The benefit of bringing Trolly's back would be the strengthening of social capital among people of different races and income levels. PRT offers the benefit of being elevated so that traffic congestion is not made worse with at grade street crossings. PRT also is the most similar form of mass transit to our familiar cars. Our air quality, neigborhood livability and climate all are calling for a rapid move away from single occupancy vehicles. While people can do a lot individually to reduce their driving, we also need investment in new transportation infrastructure (such as in Europe) in adding housing density near transit corrdiors and in funding transit adequately (to avoid situations like the current transit crisis.) Sean Gosiewski, Corcoran Neighborhood Resident REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
