Oh the Horror!!!

Atrios writes:

I don't know Phoenix at all so don't have any opinion whether the light rail system there makes any sense (I mean, over and above my general feeling that they should be built everywhere), but I loved this from a hater:

I can't wait for all the complaints we'll hear once the temperature is 110 degrees . . . and the riders find no shade (has anyone looked at those useless wings provided for shade?) while waiting and, worst of all, will have to walk blocks to get where they want to go.

You might have to walk blocks!

Oh the horror!!!

H/T SF Bike Blog

Thanksgiving Links

An article on California's new land use law.

Essentially the law, which will take years to implement, uses incentives and requirements to encourage local governments and builders to concentrate growth in urban areas or close to public transportation hubs, in an effort to reduce Californians' use of cars and lower their greenhouse gas emissions.

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I find it hard to believe that the light rail line on the Central Corridor will cause as much noise as these folks are claiming. It's not like they didn't have tons of cars and buses going by before.
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Eugene has acquired federal funding for the next part of its BRT line.

The federal government on Wednesday formally announced its $32.5 million contribution to the project, which adds a second leg to the Lane Transit District’s EmX system. The U.S. Department of Transportation previously had agreed to provide the money, but it’s still reassuring to get the formal award, said Andy Vobora, spokesman for LTD, which is developing and will operate the new transit line.

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There weren't a lot of interesting articles today, but hopefully everyone will have a Happy Holiday. Posting will be light the next few days.

Doling Out Stations

After the main station locations are decided along a commuter rail line, I've been thinking that perhaps there could be a few more auctioned off to the highest bidder. In Utah, a station location hasn't been decided but a development agreement is in place in Draper along the South End of the commuter rail line making things a bit interesting. If the developer offered to build the station and maybe that section of track, I say UTA would get a pretty good deal.

The Green House Gas War

Here's an interesting article in Slate that talks up the difference between driving and transit and airplanes and GHG emissions. It's nothing you don't already know but a nice read complete with links to the Reason Foundation and the Center for Neighborhood Technology. Here's an interesting clip:

Secondly, you can't discuss the environmental impact of getting around without considering the infrastructure that makes travel possible. We have a tendency to focus on the environmental impact of the things that move—the cars, trains, and planes we see getting from point A to point B. But Chester and Horvath found that in some cases, construction is the biggest polluter. Roads were responsible for more particulate matter than tailpipes, for example. For rail travel, operating the trains actually accounts for less than half of a system's greenhouse-gas emissions. The implication: Making concrete and asphalt in a more environmentally friendly way can be just as important as getting vehicles to run more efficiently. In other words, it's not just the road you take, but what it's made out of, too.

H/T Public Transit in Ottawa

New Poll: Worst Rail Project in Planning

Thanks for all the input. It seems like we have a few projects that are pretty bad. Again I'm not going to let you choose more than one. You have to choose what you think is the worst. So here are the contestants based on feedback. I added in two specifically nefarious BRT projects as well.

BART to San Jose
NJ Access to the Regions Core
LIRR East Side Access Project
San Francisco Central Subway
Montreal Train de l'est
LA Gold Line to Montclair
Toronto Spadina Extension
NY Subway 7 Line Extension
Metro to Dulles (Silver Line)
MBTA BRT Silver Line Phase 3
US 36 Denver BRT
Miami Metrorail North
Anacostia Streetcar

So those are the list. Usual week for voting applies. Vote for Other if there is a project not listed.

Space Race Poll Result: Dallas Fort Worth Region

So it looks like we have a winner. You all believe that the next region to up the ante in the Space Race will be Dallas/Fort Worth. Now my North Texas friends will kill me for not putting Fort Worth in the poll with Dallas, but we all know which city is cooler. It looks though like the Norfolk region was a close second. It will be interesting to see what happens there as well.

So the new poll will be up soon.

The Next Poll: Bad Rail Projects

So these polls seem to be popular. I think the next one will rank the worst rail or fixed guideway projects that are in planning. But you all have to help me out and list some in the comments so I can put them in the poll. The current poll ends tomorrow so vote up if you haven't already.

Tolls Would Pay for BRT

Does anyone feel like if they tolled downtown San Francisco, that BRT would be able to carry the load on Geary that would swell with new riders? It already seems like a sardine tin. I hope Tom's comments pertain also to Geary, not just the Muni Metro tunnel.

Drivers interviewed said that better transit service will be necessary if the plan is to work. Tom Radulovich, a BART director from San Francisco, told the board that trains are already crowded and urged investments in BART and Muni Metro as part of the plan.

"We've already reached our design capacity," he said, "and are going to need to make investments in expanding rail capacity."

Do You Have Friends in Cul De Sacs?

They probably have lots of friends! According to a study in the UK, the less traffic you have, the more friends you have.

Expanding or Contracting?

Two articles in two separate Denver papers paint somewhat different pictures of what is going on with the Fastracks program. One discusses the exponential cost increases that have occured on the Northwest rail line. The usual libertarians are given a voice are calling for the line to be cancelled because in their view it was a worthless investment anyway. Losing out on direct transportation from the center of cities is not a proposition the proponents want to consider, since they had hoped to develop centers around the stations, something the opponents don't think is important. It shows thier true colors really. They don't believe that climate change is a problem and they don't really believe in the true conservative idea of saving infrastructure money by building centers instead of furthe sprawl.

Instead, Calongne says, the debate centers less on transportation and more on lost opportunities for development near rail stations. "If there's no train, then a train won't go through downtown Louisville or the south part of Westminster," she said. "That's what this is about." Officials agree that's a big part of the push for rail. "

FasTracks allows all of us to develop our urban centers," said Louisville Mayor Chuck Sisk. "Transit-oriented development keeps our population densities in the core areas," he said. "We made choices not to expand and grow our population outward, and this transit piece is the important part of growing and developing our cities."

But then there is the other article from the Denver Post. It states that the cost projections are all messed up by the global economic slowdown. Sure sales taxes have taken a hit, but so have commodity prices.

Pointing to the volatility of some commodity prices, Heimowitz presented a chart showing the price of steel (using an index cost of 100 for January 2001 as the base) bouncing from 252 last year to a high of 507 in June before tumbling to 384 in September, 257 in October and 144 on Nov. 14. "People were completely apoplectic about the price of steel four months ago," Heimowitz said, "and here we are, it's a whole other world."

If it continues this way, it could be a real boost to the program and lower construction costs, especially since fuel costs are down. And a stimulus boost would probably help even more, getting these projects moving faster. So what will happen? It would be nice to say that things will continue to go down, but we know that is bad for the overall economy. Perhaps some simple balance of the two would be best. But for now, we'll have to wait and see the true effect.