David Saturday, July 28, 2007

Transit

Transit Update

The fever around our public transit is heating up.  Last weeks City Council meeting addressed the sad state of affairs regarding busing.  While Brier Creek and Towne North malls have reopened to buses, there are many other issues regarding busing and public transit.  Anyone who has traveled to larger urban areas has experience with organized public transportation.  As Raleigh increases its density, solid public transit that is convenient and comfortable is important to maintaining a high quality of life.

During the city council meeting there was discussion about researching the lack of shelters and trash cans at most bus stops. This is a problem, particularly where bus use is at its heaviest on Capital Blvd., Wake Forest and Mill brook.  Council members also discussed the location of bus stops as shopping centers and big box stores often sit far away from their closest stops.  The balance lies between how close buses can come without slowing their route down.  Mayor Meeker did push for the consideration of where bus stops lie within shopping centers and the acknowledging accessibility laws in a possible ordinance that would regulate the location of these stops.

This Tuesday the Special Transit Advisory Commission will meet. They are providing a lot of public information about the issues they are considering. Their mission is to “Provide the technical basis for a regional Transit Blueprint that describes future transit corridors and planned or potential transit infastructure investments in the corridor.” The triangle has complicated issues regarding transit, lets hope that central Raleigh and the broader area get the attention they need, weather that means cyclists, automobiles or public transportation.

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  • Barden07/29 12:03 PM

    Transit can be a very complicated issue indeed. Let’s hope Raleigh doesn’t get bogged down like Charlotte is regarding its light rail plans.

  • Shannon07/30 09:25 AM

    Raleigh/Triangle has been *bogged down* for over 10 years over their light rail plans.

  • Smith07/30 10:00 PM

    There is not enough density in the Triangle to provide daily ridership requirements for Federal matching funds.  The only way the Triangle light rail will work is if the local and state governments fund it through higher taxes, and get developers to donate land by allowing almost unlimited density and height around stops.

  • David07/31 12:25 PM

    Those are undesirable concessions for sure but I would think the particulars of the Triangle would have some impact on what is or isn’t needed.  Most notably the heavy flow of commuters toward the Research Triangle daily and their return home in the evening. 
    The Triangle has the 23rd worst Ozone Air Pollution in the US:
    http://www.lungusa.org/site/pp.asp?c=dvLUK9O0E&b=50752#graph4 much of which is coming from our heavy reliance on cars. A simple direct transit route, unhindered by traffic, running from Durham and   Raleigh into RTP would reduce traffic in a huge way.

  • Smith10/03 10:46 AM

    The Triangle does have bad air pollution, unfortunately that’s not a valid currency in the US. 

    Light rail is extremely expensive, and requires higher ridership projections to receive any funds from the Federal level.  With the Triangle’s low density, there are simply not enough riders to qualify for the Federal Government’s matching funds program.  Even a direct-route program to and from RTP would have to be paid entirely by state or local governments. 

    The State does not have enough money to make this happen, and how receptive are Wake / Orange / Durham County residents and business to much higher taxes?  Probably not that receptive.  A more cost efficient transportation system involve drastically improving the bus system. 

    Even with the best dense urban environments, light-rail and subways always lose money.  Without dense, centralized areas of employment and residence, light-rail systems are completely not cost-productive.  A region can choose how it spends its money of course, but its tough to convince tax-payers to fund a project that will never break-even, and most likely will not even be worth the cost on a virture perspective.

  • go go girl10/03 05:43 PM

    We don’t expect utilities like sanitary, storm and water to pay for themselves - other then the increase in property taxes via the development that they chase after - which adds to the sprawl - which requires more utilities, more roads, more strip malls, ad-infinitum.

    Why are light-rail and subways expected to make money? They are a service, a utility, a function of the business of growing a city in a responsible way that takes into account limited resources and the efficiency of higher density.

    Maybe when the Triangle can wrap it’s mindset around the long-term benefits in creating a light-rail system, and the dependability and compactness of the development that would follow - we might move forward with an entirely locally funded light-rail that goes where it makes sense.

    This is the Triangle - on dozens of top ten lists - and the creation of a first class, locally funded mass transit system would secure our future as a desirable place to live and work - much like the making of RTP 50 years ago.

    IMO - mass transit is a utility the community should provide.

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