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Transit: Is Wake County Ready For It?

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• Dan R06/23 01:08 PM

  When does the talking end and action start-when gas hits $10 a gallon. The Triangle is behind the curve in just about everything these days.

• Greg06/23 03:45 PM

  I think we are more than ready for it.  I cannot wait til I no longer need my car to get around daily here.  I would use the bus system if it was reliable and went where I needed it to go.  I would much rather take a train and a cab here and there than drive. 

  I agree with Dan as well…

• justelise06/23 04:33 PM

  I think it’s ridiculous that the Transit system here is still non-existent considering how many people are commuting to the Triangle, downtown, or to the big universities in the area. It’s almost criminal that transit here is so far behind other cities.

• Charlie06/23 04:38 PM

  I would love to see a commuter train in the Triangle.  A rail corridor already exists, and should be used!  The pedestrian traffic around the stations ensures economic success for commercial, retail, and residential development.  I could be car-free if there were a train from Raleigh to Chapel Hill!

• Tony06/23 05:08 PM

  Perhaps I am a pessimist, but I assume any plans would neglect any areas that sit south or east of downtown.

• robin06/23 05:24 PM

  We are more than ready.  As transit is a catalyst for development, it should be ahead of the curve.  Too late for that, but there’s never going to be a better time to reduce our car dependency.

  We should not be pessimists like Tony, but we should be very careful with how we use this powerful tool.

• JZ06/24 12:20 PM

  The distribution of the population poses some challenges for a fixed rail system.  The TTA project would have had its greatest impact in shifting the development patterns in the region, but would not have helped many established “settlements” far from the existing rail corridors.  I like trains…ney, I LOVE trains.  Easy to follow schedules, routes, etc.  Buses are confusing as hell with labyrinthian routes and so many different buses to choose from.

  
  HOWEVER, Seattle demonstrates how a bus system can be expanded and be successful.  In the short term, I am not too proud to suggest we consider fixed lanes and more buses.  Durham just placed an order for…was it natural gas or hybrid buses?

  But long term, I hope that PRT systems offer a viable solution:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_rapid_transit

• ChiefJoJo06/25 04:01 PM

  Thanks to NewRaleigh for posting this.

  To Tony’s comment, an early STAC proposal showed a potential streetcar down New Bern Ave.  New Bern could just as easily be light rail, but streetcar is more likely.  The idea would be to connect Wake Med’s growing campus with a growing downtown.  Plus, skirting SE Raleigh should attract a lot of ridership from the residents would now take the bus.

  Forget about PRT.  The fundamental advantages of scale that rapid rail transit offers can’t be beat.  Also forget about BRT, like the STAC flirted with, but wisely avoided.  The whole point of building rapid transit is not only connecting existing activity centers, but shaping growth (which we have done a lousy job of without rail).  Transit is a catalyst for sustainable economic development, and individual preferences for the permanence of fixed rail has proven over and over that BRT or PRT will never be able to deliver anything close to the promise of rail.

• JZ06/25 04:26 PM

  Absolutely…reshaping growth is paramount and that was the goal of the proposed TTA system.  But even in cities such as DC, the organization of the radial Metro system makes it impractical for many residents to use the system due to distance.  This problem increases the further you move from the center—more into the residential concentrations—where the spokes on the wheel get further and impractically apart

  How this is relevant here is that there is already a large majority of infrastructure and residents off the main corridor, the only corridor, for rapid rail.  TTA focused on using the existing rail corridor to minimize cost of land acquisition.

   

  What is appealing about PRT is the lighter infrastructural requirements that would allow the entire system to surgically insert itself into the existing fabric—over roads, above city sidewalks—without having to deal with the large cost of land acquisition. Of course you need a hub and stations.  And the technology is in its early stages.  But long term, with the cost for a fixed rail system like what TTA was proposing is going to increase and still have limited impact on the existing population

   

  
  I don’t know, I’m not an expert by far….$10/gallon gas prices may make everyone flee the sprawl to some linear urban concentration along the rail corridor. But its hard to imagine that the world’s automakers won’t find alternative solutions to personal mobility first.

• ChiefJoJo06/25 10:55 PM

  JZ,  I like your thought process.  Here’s what I will say about that.

  We HAVE to start somewhere.  As many potential holes as one can find in the current STAC proposal, it’s the best, most sensible affordable plan out there, period.  Bottom line, enough of the talk, time for action.  In reality, this is a “starter plan” to get us going FORWARD.  There is no doubt in my mind that in 10 years and possibly sooner, another plan will come along and add many more options to the system.  It has happened nearly every metro area in the country, including Charlotte, Denver, etc.  One people see it and ride it, the community is hooked and wants more.  The forum tomorrow will hopefully be a stepping stone to achieving the support we need to get some local transit funding off the ground.  It should be interesting!

• jz06/26 12:06 AM

  here, here!  we DO have to start somewhere…and whatever the community chooses to lead off with, i will be there to embrace it!....its time for choice, something we’ve had so little of in this arena.

• Steve W06/26 12:38 AM

  The transit forum will be televised LIVE by WRAL on channel 100 and online.  The Raleigh Television Network will also record it to play on cable and on-demand video online. This is going to be a big event! Hope to see you all there.

• ChiefJoJo06/27 04:12 PM

  The streaming video for the forum is linked here:
  http://www.wral.com/news/local/video/3113921/

  I really think it was a success.  We had about 300 people show up and there were numerous elected officials and leaders present, including some that I’d never actually seen at an event like this.  Carol Coletta gave a national economic sustainability perspective, while Keith parker (CATS) gave the Charlotte perspective, while providing a few friendly Charlotte-Raleigh jabs along the way.

  I thought it was interesting that Coletta said we were recognized as the ‘#1 technology oriented region in the country… you should design a system that befits your status’ or something like that.  I wonder how many people here actually believe that (not sure I do), but we clearly have some smart, talented people here.  Surely, we can get this transit thing right.

• JZ06/27 04:29 PM

  Wow!  300 people….the cost of gas has gotten people’s attention finally. The TTA line could have been well under construction by now. For all of our supposed intelligence, we really are a dumb species.

• Steve W06/27 04:46 PM

  If we get a local funding source, it will be much, much easier to get federal (and state) funding. It seems to me the 1/2 sales tax is the way to go.  It’s certainly a proven model in the southeast U.S., and a fairly stable revenue source as opposed to others that can fluctuate wildly.

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