beautyfromashes wrote: ↑Fri Mar 26, 2021 10:13 am
I guess this map makes me wonder why we need the riverfront extension at all; just to get the casino? Do the extension across the river to NKC and put a stop just before the bridge at BarK for those going to the riverfront park. What does the riverfront extension get us?
In theory it enables a commuter system transfer at some point in the future. Even a short walk from one side of the street to the other would be a good one.
And if we can get under I-35 there's thousands of jobs in the east bottoms.
Think even further out, and Front St to Chestnut can connect to a line on Indep Ave with a jog over to Prospect.
Looking past it to a larger regional system you have to look at who benefits
The starter line has X riders from the area when it opens. The expansion gains Y new riders from the expansion area and Z new riders from the starter line area who want to travel to the expansion area.
So the total ridership of the new expanded system is greater than the sum of it's parts.
And in terms of a vote, the more people who are pro-transit the better the chance it passes.
If there's already thousands of people driving into downtown to ride the streetcar, the idea that someone can now ride from the plaza and reach the riverfront is just a small number of people who didn't ride before.
Let's imagine it's just one person telling two and they each tell two and so on, a doubling each generation. Let's say it takes 4 weeks for this to happen. In one year you've reached 3072 people.
At the end of the second year it's 25 million. Doubling becomes very powerful very quickly. Sure, we won't reach 25 million real world but even a fraction of that is a big deal.
We need to reach more people and start the discussion. And if a small expansion to the riverfront helps do that, it's worth it