Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

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

Post by warwickland »

mlind wrote: I used to go there around 45 years ago and it was creepy then (I was 19-20).  And, coming from KC, it was confusing to me.

My kids' favorite thing was the ramp where all the commuter buses parked.  They always looked for their favorite - Fairfield Area Rapid Transit.  It had it's acronym painted on the side - FART.
Man, and I thought S.C.A.T. was bad (St. Charles Area Transit)!
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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

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Transit Mode Share Trends Looking Steady; Rail Appears to Encourage Non-Automobile Commutes
Though these numbers show little change in use for automobile and transit overall, they do provide some clue as to the effects of rail investments. When comparing cities that have no rail lines with those that have existing lines or have invested in new ones, a correlation between rail and transit use is apparent. Cities with no rail saw far smaller declines in automobile mode shares than their rail counterparts; they also saw declining non-automobile mode shares, compared to increases in the rail cities. These differences were especially considerable when considering rail cities outside of Texas; excluding them, transit saw no mode share change, whereas single-person commuting by car decreased (albeit by a minuscule amount).

This may indicate that rail lines can play an important role in encouraging the population to try modes other than the automobile. The non-automobile mode share, which includes transit, biking, and walking, is particularly interesting from this perspective because it may reflect the number of people choosing to live in areas where it is acceptable to use transportation other than the private car. Is this conclusive evidence that rail works better than bus service to encourage people out of their cars? Not necessarily, but it?s certainly a part of the overall equation.

Looking city-by-city, modal share changes reflect some overall trends. Automobile usage continues to decrease in the nation?s older, densely developed cities: The places recording the largest declines in overall car share were, in order, Washington, New York, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, and Chicago. Those with the largest declines in non-automobile share were largely sprawling cities, including, in order, Columbus, Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Las Vegas, and Nashville.
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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

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New Saudi train ready to shuttle hajj pilgrims
The Mashair Railway, also known as Mecca Metro, rolls out on Sunday to serve pilgrims beginning the annual hajj rituals near the Muslim holy city, bringing a new solution to crowding.

The dual-track light railway, with its initial number of nine stations, connects the three holy sites of Mina, Muzdalifah and Mount Arafat -- areas that see massive congestion during the five-day pilgrimage.

It will replace 4,000 buses previously used.
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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

Post by DaveKCMO »

Opening and Construction Starts Planned for 2011

Image

- Norfolk's "The Tide" 7.4-mile starter line opens in May.
- LA's 8.5-mile Expo Line opens mid-year.
- Sacramento's short Green Line extension opens mid-year.
- Two new lines (West Valley and Mid-Jordan) open in Salt Lake City.

Light rail projects (not counting streetcars, heavy rail, or commuter rail) begin construction in Portland and Detroit.
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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

Post by GRID »

Some updates for DC area...

Baltimore's RED line.  Check out video on right (don't know how to post it).  This will be a nice addition to Baltimore.
http://www.baltimoreredline.com/video
Image

Equally nice will be the PURPLE line in DC which will really help connect some key areas of the city (outside of downtown).
http://www.purplelinemd.com/

You probabably know about the Silver Line Metro expansion in DC to Dulles via Tysons Corner.
http://www.purplelinemd.com/
Image

DC is also building it's first of many planned streetcar lines
http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/t ... ained/2236
Image
Last edited by GRID on Thu Jan 13, 2011 6:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

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DaveKCMO wrote: Opening and Construction Starts Planned for 2011

Image

- Norfolk's "The Tide" 7.4-mile starter line opens in May.
- LA's 8.5-mile Expo Line opens mid-year.
- Sacramento's short Green Line extension opens mid-year.
- Two new lines (West Valley and Mid-Jordan) open in Salt Lake City.

Light rail projects (not counting streetcars, heavy rail, or commuter rail) begin construction in Portland and Detroit.
Not to mention the cities that already have light rail (e.g., St Louis) that are not on there.  It would be nice to see this graphic show up in the KC Star. 
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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

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Judge criticizes light-rail planning, but won't halt it
U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank concluded that the Metropolitan Council and other transit planners were "deficient in ... consideration of lost business revenue as an adverse impact of the construction."

But Frank said the planners, residents and businesses should work together to resolve problems.

"At this stage, the Court concludes that the interest of the general public to keep this important project moving forward outweighs the harm to plaintiffs," he wrote.
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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

Post by chingon »

Kasich cockblocks Cincy streetcar:

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/2011 ... /103090347

Conflicted Cincinnatians seem to be okeh with their beautiful city continuing its long slide into irrelevance:

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/2011 ... y=obinsite
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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

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^^^ from the first article -

"We are not going to waste transportation money on silly little pork-barrel projects," Kasich said in Tuesday's State of the State address, a comment made without specific reference to the streetcar or any project.

  what a doosh.  He also turned down $400m in Fed funds to connect Cincy, Cbus and Cleveland with an improved rail system.  Wow.
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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

Post by smh »

On a somewhat related note: I was riding the MAX home from work today. It was packed to the gills. What is typically a crowded bus (5:10 NB from Plaza) was nearly doubled today with the addition of all the Big 12 tournament attendees. It was kind of awesome...except that the bus was running about 20 minutes behind schedule by the time it got downtown. Anywho, my main point is that all the Big 12 folks were talking and laughing because they'd basically overwhelmed this bus and one guy says to his friend, "You should see when we go to cities with light rail. It is a lot better."

Fuck. At least we have our BRT-lite. Better than just riding the 57 all the time and stopping at every corner.
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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

Post by mlind »

I hope this happens.  This line is heavily used by locals and tourists. 
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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

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This is proposed line is questionable at best. Like Lake Oswego needs more money thrown their direction. Who will ride this particular route? It is convenient that a developer stands to profit if the line is approved, with little or any risk. Especially Williams. How much political clout doet this guy have? :shock:
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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

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macnw wrote: This is proposed line is questionable at best. Like Lake Oswego needs more money thrown their direction. Who will ride this particular route? It is convenient that a developer stands to profit if the line is approved, with little or any risk. Especially Williams. How much political clout doet this guy have? :shock:
if the highway that serves the corridor is (or will be) at capacity, why does it matter how rich the communities served are? one could argue that having the streetcar line would allow lake oswego to offer a mix of housing options that could include affordable.

if america wants public-private partnerships, they had better get used to how they're going to look on paper.
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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

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The amount of money being directed towards this could be used on increased bus service. I would be interested in the percentage of people living in Lake Oswego who use public transit. The equivalent would be building light rail down Shawnee Mission Pkwy in NE Johnson county. Would that justify $$$ being spent. Would there be a high demand for ridership? I don't think so, but I don't know for sure. Lake Oswego=Mission Hills. What is affordable housing in Mission Hills?
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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

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macnw wrote: The amount of money being directed towards this could be used on increased bus service. I would be interested in the percentage of people living in Lake Oswego who use public transit. The equivalent would be building light rail down Shawnee Mission Pkwy in NE Johnson county. Would that justify $$$ being spent. Would there be a high demand for ridership? I don't think so, but I don't know for sure. Lake Oswego=Mission Hills. What is affordable housing in Mission Hills?
if mission hills city council, johnson county, MARC, KCATA, and a private developer were lined up to support a modern streetcar down shawnee mission parkway to mission hills, i suspect it would move forward... especially if an adjacent highway that served mission hills was congested and an abandoned rail corridor would speed up part of the route. also, to consider this a parallel we'd need 2-3 full light rail lines already in existence in KC and a downtown chock full of modern streetcars.

also, these projects don't move forward unless they do a ridership study. does the number of riders justify the $500m price tag? that's for greater portland and the feds to decide.

you can always spend the money on increased bus service (or highway capacity), but that's not the option they chose. that's why the feds call the outcome of the process a locally preferred alternative.
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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

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Seems like there are enough blue hairs in that area that would need some sort of transit like that.
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Re: Light Rail Systems And Routes In Other Cities

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Woodward light-rail project surges ahead after Detroit, feds agree on a route
Light-rail cars would travel down the center of Woodward between 8 Mile on the city's northern border and Adams Street in Grand Circus Park, and then change gears and run along the avenue's outer lanes through downtown's core.

The rail would loop west to Washington Boulevard and to the Rosa Parks Transit Center at Michigan and Cass, connecting the new rail line to downtown's main transfer point for city and suburban bus riders.

The trains would serve 19 stops along the 9-mile route, including 10 on Woodward between Campus Martius downtown and Grand Boulevard in the New Center -- prime locations where the city is banking on transit to stimulate promising clusters of commercial and residential redevelopment.
such an approach (curb-then-center) could be used to extend our downtown streetcar south to the plaza.
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