[presidio9]

Lyle Lanley: Well, sir, there's nothing on earth
Like a genuine,
Bona fide,
Electrified,
Six-car
Monorail! ...
What'd I say?
Ned Flanders: Monorail!
Lyle Lanley: What's it called?
Patty+Selma: Monorail!
Lyle Lanley: That's right! Monorail!

[End Times Sentinel]

Yeah, well... I ride light rail to work every day, and with the kind of hair triggered, nuclear inferno type of temper I have, anything that will keep me off the road is money well spent.

 

 

Owl_Eagle

" WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
DIVERSITY IS STRENGTH"

 

 

 

Yeah, well... I ride light rail to work every day, and with the kind of hair triggered, nuclear inferno type of temper I have, anything that will keep me off the road is money well spent.

 

 

[Onelifetogive]

It’s a way to increase the density of the community.”

I agree with this. The communities that have bought into the light-rail craze are all very dense!

[KevinDavis]

Ping

[Fudd]

My city's transportation authority is pushing for the monorail light rail program. However, the authority's spokesman was cited as saying something to the effect of, now that we've decided we want LR, we need to define our goals.

Very expensive cart before horse.

[narby]

cost per trip for light rail as forecast by Valley Metro will be over $12, and non-riders would pay 95 percent of that cost.

If taxpayers are already footing 95% of the bill, why don't they just make the rides free. That would increase ridership.

Of course, then they couldn't maintain the illusion that the riders are paying their own way.

[Petronski]

Goofy/scary skybus photo please.

[Mr. Bird]

In Baltimore, LR and a subway/metro line have succeeded in helping lower income city dwellers move to cleaner, safer suburbs. However, those suburbs were even more clean and more safe before the mass transit projects came.

The lesson: if a commuter line is coming to your corner of suburbia, get the heck out of there.

[Dead Corpse]

We already havea "mass transit system" that is infinately more efficient than anything the government could hope to come up with.

It's called the automobile.

[backhoe]

Light Rail- Boon or Boondoggle? The Quest for the Holy Rail....

[Arrowhead1952]

Sounds like the same "deal" Capital Metro in Austin is trying to push on us.

[pax_et_bonum]

ping

[PAR35]

Light rail is public transit for middle class folks who would never get on a city bus.

WIth regard to Myth 5:

Economic Impact of DART's Light Rail System

Research by Drs. Bernard Weinstein and Terry Clower of the University of North Texas Center for Economic Development and Research determined:

* Between 1997 and 2001, office properties near suburban DART Rail stations increased in value 53% more than comparable properties not served by rail.
* For the same period, values of residential properties near DART Rail stations rose 39% more than a control group of properties not served by rail.
http://www.dart.org/newsroommain.asp?zeon=economicimpact

[tdadams]

I don't know why so many people have this knee-jerk reaction against light rail, as if it's a concession to leftist advocacy to support it. If my city had light rail, I most certianly would use it. I may even consider giving up my car. It does improve traffic congestion, I've seen it. It does improve pollution, I've seen that too.

[Doctor Stochastic]

How does the cost of light-rail (or other public transit) compare to just buying each family a really tiny sedan?

[southernnorthcarolina]

This article should be stapled to the forehead of each city council member in each mid-sized city (including my native Charlotte) which is building or contemplating commuter rail of any kind.

Having "a train" makes us feel so urbane, so sophisticated, so world-class. But rail is hideously expensive in terms of land acquisition, street modifications to accommodate the train, utilities relocations, construction of the rail system, purchase of the trains -- and, of course, the payroll and operating costs are never-ending. Commuter rail is a bottomless pit into which to shovel tax money -- both from the taxpayers of the city involved, and taxpayers across the country in terms of federal matching funds.

The real problem with fixed rail is that it is fixed (duh). Using the best 18th-century technology, it takes people from where they are not to where they don't want to go at a time not of their choosing. With more and more commuting taking place suburb-to-suburb, trains running on a hub-and-spoke route are an anachronism. Even if your commuting route is suburb-to-downtown, additional transportation is usually required at one or both ends of the trip, anyway. Fewer and fewer folks are willing to forgo the convenience of having their own cars for unscheduled business visits during the day, or to meet the kid at soccer practice, or to buy a gallon of milk (or gin) on the way home.

Again and again, we see incrementalism. Train proponents (many of whom just happen to own land near the proposed stations), after a long battle, will triumph over the "antis" and obtain funding for one line, say to a suburb north of downtown. Well, we can't stop there, can we? Wouldn't be fair. Plus, operating costs will decrease when the "whole system" is built. Right.

My advice: if your city is on the verge of starting a commuter rail system, move without further ado to a suburban county, and lobby the commissioners of that county not to participate in the funding of the rail system. Commissioners of Union County, NC, where I live, on the southeastern fringe of the Charlotte metro area, seem to have a good grasp of the situation. They know that if they cede any of their taxing power to a regional government entity, or if they themselves vote so much as a dime toward the Charlotte rail system, their political careers are done.

No, Gomer, having a train is not going to instantly transform your town from Podunkville to London. But the new tax rate will make you feel like you live in a big city.

[sergeantdave]

Move to the country where the only traffic congestion is your feet trying to beat the many other feet making their way to best fishing spot on opening day.

Cities - Blah!

[toast]

I never understood the focus on using a train for public transit. Buses are much more flexible and much cheaper to purchase.

The only advantage to a train is the dedicated tracks and the "right of way" that comes with it. If a city builds a dedicated road for buses only (not those stupid diamond lane things) they would have the right of way and traffic would have no effect on them. They would also be flexible enough to pick up passengers on regular streets, then get on the dedicated road.

There is a bus line like this in Minnesota. It goes between the Minneapolis and St.paul campus of the U of M. Everytime I have ridden it has been easy, pleasant, and rather cheap. Yet Minneapolis is scheduled to open it's first light rail line this next spring. The costs of which have been hugely debated for years.

Some people wouldn't know a solution if it bit them in the a$$.