Fancy trains aren't magic. To get LRT, we'll need to spend 2 1/2 times more
than BRT (assuming dedicated right-of-ways for both). And that gets a 20%
bump in ridership.
You're right, they're not magic... they're just proven to work! Nothing magic about that. We need to give people alternatives so they don't have to drive everywhere. Besides, I don't care if it costs more. Throwing money at a problem is not the goal here. The goal is actually upgrading the system.
Everyone and their grandmother wants to build a couple lines and are beggin' the feds for money for it.
We don't want a couple of lines, we want a system. A system that lets people make choices about how they want to get around. We have a funding source for transit, it's just that unlike other cities (Denver?) nobody has the guts to do it!
***
Raise the gas tax and dedicate it to transit! (How much would a 10-cent raise in the gas tax generate every year?)
***
The main problem with the BRT is that it is half-baked. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the dedicated lane, and the stations stop north of 46th street. How does that help exactly? All it does it get more people to the bottleneck even faster... so they can slow down and sit in traffic.
If we're going to build a BRT line. Do it right. Make stations all the way to downtown. Give it a lane and right of way all to itself. Build it so it could be upgraded in the future to LRT. (Because the stations, right-of-ways, etc. will be in place)
If that was how the BRT was going to be built. I would be all for it. As it is.. it's just shifting the problems around because it is being designed in the "Micro" instead of "Macro" sense.
On Mar 19, 2005, at 9:52 AM, Allen wrote:
Fancy trains aren't magic. To get LRT, we'll need to spend 2 1/2 times more
than BRT (assuming dedicated right-of-ways for both). And that gets a 20%
bump in ridership. We got a decent deal on the first one because the Feds
were happy to share a lot of money. But they're not so quick to do that
anymore. Everyone and their grandmother wants to build a couple lines and
are beggin' the feds for money for it. They don't have infinite pockets and
are likely to cough up less and less or even none at all (just ask Seattle
about that). Chances are if Minneapolis is going to get a LRT line running
along 35W (btw- how about up Cedar to build up that corridor?), we'll have
to come up with a billion dollars of our own money, county money and state
of Minnesota money. I don't think that is likely. So it's going to be a
long wait in line waiting for the feds to cough up half of that.
Allen Graetz Lowry Hill
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf
Of A.J.Colianni
Sent: Friday, March 18, 2005 10:43 PM
To: Sean Wherley
Cc: Mpls Forum
Subject: Re: [Mpls] True impact of Crosstown "victory"
Why not extend an exclusive BRT lane all the way downtown? As soon as those BRT buses hit 46th street, they are going to be in the same congestion as everyone else. Besides.. are the people between 62 and downtown not trying to drive in as well? Or is it only people in Apple Valley that need rapid transit?
But if they had the vision to extend BRT the whole way, perhaps they would have seen an even better solution staring them in the face: An LRT expansion.
Vision. We need it. I don't care if LRT is more expensive now. I don't care if it's not "next in line" for LRT expansion. It's the right solution! A stopgap solution is just that: a $240 million dollar waste of money. In the long run, LRT will be cheaper for everyone involved... and it is actually an alternative to driving more and more cars through, as you said, the busiest interchange in the state.
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