Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

Transportation topics in KC
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GRID
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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

Post by GRID »

Baltimore's 2 billion dollar Red Line LRT project is one step closer to reality!

This will be a very nice project and huge transit improvement for Baltimore.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/co ... 6424.story

More info on red line:

http://www.baltimoreredline.com/
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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

Post by GRID »

DC Streetcars delayed again:

http://wtop.com/?nid=654&sid=2441618

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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

Post by DaveKCMO »

rode a significant chunk of the DART system this weekend in dallas. their newest line (green) serves deep ellum/baylor/fair park on the southeast edge of downtown and the northwestern suburbs of farmers branch/carrollton. like many modern US light rail systems, the bulk of the CBD alignment is street running, with long sections of dedicated ROW (elevated above an underutilized freight line, in the green line's case). another benefit of note is a more direct connection to love field @ inwood, which i used (via a very short bus transfer on the existing #39). eventually, a people mover will connect with a closer station on the west edge of the airport property.

the biggest takeaway was the existence of local vs. regional fares and passes. most major cities keep light rail and commuter rail separate, but here you have the option to buy a regional ride or pass that covers systems in dallas, ft. worth, and the suburbs. for $10, i bought a regional day pass and rode from downtown dallas to downtown denton and back (not really recommended, unless you're dying to ride a 60s-era Budd DMU for the next month while new equipment arrives for denton's A-Train).

also, lots of seamless physical connections: cross-platform transfers between amtrak/TRE/bus in ft. worth, between amtrak/TRE/DART/bus in dallas, and between DART/A-Train/bus in the suburbs. if your itinerary is limited to a few well-known areas (and you don't mind the heat), you can definitely do DFW without a car.
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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

Post by FangKC »

Tea Party: Don’t build public transit, because the terrorists might attack it

http://www.grist.org/list/2011-09-15-te ... ist-might-
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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

Post by chingon »

Big trouble in Cincy. Slate of anti-streetcar mayor and councilpersons elected. Vow to "kill it".

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/2013 ... ck_check=1
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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

Post by Eon Blue »

Wasn't the previous mayor term-limited out?

Stuff like that, combined with MoLeg shenanigans has pretty much set me against term limits.
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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

Post by pash »

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Last edited by pash on Thu Feb 09, 2017 7:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

Post by flyingember »

pash wrote:
Cranley said he also talked with Cincinnati Business Committee Executive Director Gary Lindgren about using some of the money to build a new interchange at Interstate 71 and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. The CBC, a group of the region’s top executives, has pushed for a new, $108 million interchange there.
:oops:

I'm so happy KC has managed to scramble onto the right side of the divide in outlook that distinguishes the mid-size cities in this country that are beginning to thrive from those that continue to fade into paved-over irrelevance.

Can we snatch up the streetcars Cincy has under construction and keep them on hand for use in our extended network in a short seven or eight years?
from the business journal piece it sounds like snatch is unrealistic. they're legally obligated to Cincinnati. Should this whole situation happen I'm sure we could buy them from Cincinatti for much less than full price and then modify to KC standards if the funding was available. there's already a history of selling streetcars to other cities
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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

Post by chingon »

Sadly for Cincy, a wonderful town and very like KC in a lot of respects, their (very similar) streetcar project is in deep shit:

http://www.wcpo.com/news/political/loca ... ng-project

Feds have frozen funding:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/n ... l?page=all


Elections have consequences...
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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

Post by flyingember »

imagine the feds deciding to fund Cincinnati's busses less as a result. it's the same agency. this mayor is heading down a path to a recall election if the dominos keep falling
Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld said the FTA's letter concerned him because of the potential for the FTA to garnish SORTA's bus funding if the city kills the project altogether.

"I'm concerned about a path toward damaging the most basic of transportation needs," Sittenfeld says. "I think this could eventually lead to harming bus service."
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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

Post by phuqueue »

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-expo ... z2nef44IE1

Study shows residents living within a half mile of LA's Expo Line have reduced their driving by 40% and tripled their rail ridership since the line opened. Also a 30% reduction in carbon emissions from households within a half mile of the line.
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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

Post by pash »

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Last edited by pash on Thu Feb 09, 2017 10:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

Post by flyingember »

good crime stats item to show just how little crime happens related to transit

http://www.mbta.com/transitpolice/crimestats/

2012 Alewife Station numbers (end of red line in NW corner)
53 crimes in all of 2012, 50 of those were simple larceny (stealing without attack?)

this station has a 2700 car garage and 8 bus lines meet the train here. it's one of the biggest crime spots in the system

this helps show what those items are

http://www.mbta.com/uploadedfiles/About ... tation.pdf
the #1 crime is fare evasion (p 2)
for larceny it's bikes, motor vehicle and other.

so it appears to me that someone parking their car or bike at a park and ride is the #1 target of crime on the system, or very close to it
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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

Post by chaglang »

Worth noting that Alewife is a pretty affluent area. I'm surprised that stations on the Orange or Blue Line aren't higher.
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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

Post by flyingember »

chaglang wrote:Worth noting that Alewife is a pretty affluent area. I'm surprised that stations on the Orange or Blue Line aren't higher.
it was focused on crimes at stations and on the system. like bike theft was a big part of the basic theft numbers
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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

Post by FangKC »

Two news stories about how light rail is expanding, and affecting economic development of older neighborhoods, in Houston.

Light rail in midtown Houston, the area known as Montrose.

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/clip/115003 ... e-district

Houston celebrates opening of two new light rail lines. The Green Line runs 3.3 miles, and the Purple Line runs 6.6 miles.

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/story/29035 ... yo-concert


The Green and Purple lines are expansions to the already operating Red Line.

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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

Post by flyingember »

I'm going to be in Houston in September. We'll see if I get to the new lines. My brother lives one block from a stop on the red line so it's super convenient to use.

Houston is an interesting analogy to the KC Streetcar. In their downtown the train has the same average stop spacing as our system. They're buying a variant of the same CAF Urbos as KC. The only real difference is they went dedicated ROW through their downtown.
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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

Post by DaveKCMO »

streetcar projects opening in 2016: http://transitkc.com/?p=1303

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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

Post by DaveKCMO »

seattle's second streetcar line opened today (a 'soft opening', no less): http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/first-h ... day/np94L/
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