fortunately, the significantly higher price tag necessitates more scrutiny from the FTA. BRT is still a bus, which is a good and bad thing when it comes to routing, as you've noted. fixed guideway can't be moved, so route and stop selection must be backed up with significant commuter ridership data (not just tourists or weekenders) and it must show competitive travel times for those commuters.ComandanteCero wrote: yeah... i can see this "not voting for a specific route" thing coming back to bite everyone in the ass. How much more time will be spent studying the specific route even if the thing is passed? Will the big wigs start moving behind the scenes and mess with the route so that it stops at their front entrance like the MAX does, and make it a shit light rail route?
Especially considering what happened to the MAX, i don't trust the council to back the ATA and consultants on following the best route over a meandering politically motivated one.
downtown and 18th street streetcars are still a glimmer in lots of local eyes. i wouldn't be surprised to see one or the other proposed in the regional plan or as a public-private partnership after this is approved.
another side note about BRT: BRT and LRT funding all comes from the same bucket. those who would propose $700 million of simple bus improvements can forget it... highly unlikely the way the process is structured today (which favors projects or groups of projects based around creating, upgrading, or expanding routes). simple bus enhancements usually come through earmarks or other programs/mandates like CMAQ and ADA.