Mark V Anderson wrote:
The Met council web site says there are about 200,000 bus trips each weekday.
My guess is 5 miles per trip, which yields 1 million peoplemiles. Add that to
the 193,000 daily miles for the LRT, and compare to the 39.7 million miles by
auto, and it appears that about 3% of total miles are by mass transit. It
seems to me that autos are taking people where they want to go. If we should
spend significantly more on mass transit (or even continue spending as much as
we do currently), I think we need to see a plan that shows how it can move
people as efficiently as autos. I've only heard rhetoric about how we're
behind all these other cities, no numbers showing
the superiority of mass transit. The arguments sound kind of like those of the
stadium proponents.
Peter Vevang writes:
I disagree with you analysis not because of the facts you present, but because of the theory they are based on. Your argument is a bit like saying just because you like ice cream, all other forms of desert should be banned unless I can prove other deserts are just as tasty for you before I can go to the store to buy my own desert.
Your analysis posits that the most efficient form of transit is the automobile
because it moves large numbers of people long distance on highways. That fact
is self evident, I don't dispute that. I would argue that this has nothing to
do with superiority. This has to do with need and planning for a future that
we know is coming. We have certain needs as a city, we have clear impending
dangers due to escalating traffic congestion, we need to ensure we can move
people around despite our limited highway options. Our solution so far has
been to throw up our hands and shrug our shoulders when it comes to highways,
we don't have a major highway expansion planned or budgeted for a variety of
reasons. We know huge numbers of people are moving to the metro. Huge numbers
of cars will be driving long distances and will cause vast amounts of new
traffic. We need a path forward, rail provides that, and it is more effective
than the alternative.
You seem to take it as an article of faith that rail will fail. It is untested
in our market, that is a fact, but it has been a proven success around the
world 'if' properly implemented. The traffic is bad now and it will get much
worse, we can be certain of it given recent experience. These are two things
we can be sure of. We also know that doing nothing is a plan that will not
work. Implementing rail is a logical choice, it is a reasonable and rational.
Rail also has a natural constituency that pays taxes and wants to see it
implemeted. I think it is fair and appropriate that we have our taxes spent in
a way that benefits all of society.
I think one reason many people are against rail is because they see it as a cultural threat. As if the decadent city dwellers are going to force independant and self sufficient drivers out of their cars and into trains, where they will be subsumed into a faceless proletarian mass. I think those fears are overstated.
Another reason people seem to be against rail is because they think they will
never use it, and they don't want the government invest in something they
personally will never use. There isn't any daylight at the end of that
argument.
In my mind this is about doing what is necessary for our city to be a success.
If we fail, our city will fail. Rail will help us succeed and is a great
re-development too for existing urban areas. Rail will not replace the car,
this is not an all or nothing situation.
Peter Vevang
NE Minneapolis
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