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This has been food for thought. It seems to me that a light rail would have the same problems the bus system has. Due to our Sprawleigh nature, not enough people want to go from Area A to Point B. We want to go from areas A-Z to Points A-Z. So although the light rail would get you where you are going quickly, You'd still have to get in your car, park it at the station, get on the rail, get off at your stop and find some way to get from your stop to your workplace.
Which is why I don't take the bus to work. I have to walk to my stop, transfer twice with as much as a 20 minute wait each transfer, then walk the rest of the way to work. 1.25 hours one way instead of one half hour drive.
Also, as a single working mom, what am I going to do when the school calls me with a sick kid? make her wait 1.5 hours for me to get there? I run an errand on the way to or from work every day. My workplace has some amenities nearby, but not quite enough. I can't get a carpool because no one in my neighborhood goes where I am going at my inconsistent work times.
In a city like DC where the suburbanites go IN to the city in the AM and OUT in the PM, public transit makes more sense. But how many people do you know who live in one point of the triangle and work in another? LOTS! DCs map of commuter patterns looks like spokes radiating out from an axle. Ours looks like it was made by a spider on crack.
Think of it this way. If a better transit system were already in place, you would have chosen a neighborhood that's on the same rail line as your job and your child's school. You could then trade in your car (easily $700 plus a month payment/maitenance/fuel/insurance/taxes/parking fees) for a $90 monthly unlimited transit pass for you and your child ($60 for you; $30 for your child).
That's EXACTLY what my mother did and paid for my Catholic school education with her savings. Then again, my mother was an ex-New Yorker that never learned how to drive, so there were other factors.
Think of it this way. If a better transit system were already in place, you would have chosen a neighborhood that's on the same rail line as your job and your child's school. You could then trade in your car (easily $700 plus a month payment/maitenance/fuel/insurance/taxes/parking fees) for a $90 monthly unlimited transit pass for you and your child ($60 for you; $30 for your child).
That's EXACTLY what my mother did and paid for my Catholic school education with her savings. Then again, my mother was an ex-New Yorker that never learned how to drive, so there were other factors.
If I could turn back the clock, I might wish for a rail line built in 1953 (the year my house was built. So I guess that means the time to plan such things has long come and gone.
If I wanted to live in a city where I could manage without a car, I suppose I could have done so...there were lots of jobs in my field in DC, but even without the car I could not have afforded to move there. It's a different age now...I can't imagine living in DC without a car (my brother and his wife live there and do just fine with one vehicle)
I didn't get much of a vote about where to move. For now it is Raleigh or Durham. And although I would LIKE to ride public transit again, I'm not willing to give up other good things about Raleigh to do so. Over all, I'm happy with my lifestyle choice and I imagine many others are. I do still wish we had a better transit system for those who would benefit the most.
If I could turn back the clock, I might wish for a rail line built in 1953 (the year my house was built. So I guess that means the time to plan such things has long come and gone.
I don't think that makes sense. Yes, ideally it would have been nice if a rail line would have been built in 1953, but just because it wasn't, that doesn't mean that "the time to plan such things has long come and gone." Don't you think the people 58 years from now will wish that people in the Triangle in 2011 had had the forethought to plan for future growth and mixed transportation needs, so that they can enjoy the varied benefits of a strong transportation infrastructure?
Just got back from Portland, Oregon, and we hardly had to use the car at all. Pay five bucks for a day pass and you can go anywhere the light rail, buses or streetcars go, including the airport. There's a downtown "free zone" where you pay nothing. Everything runs on time, and getting around town is effortless. Light rail has its own lanes and runs on city streets, right beside the cars, so there's no need to buy more right of way. Raleigh has a lot to learn about getting people around. It's way, way behind the curve on public transportation.
Just got back from Portland, Oregon, and we hardly had to use the car at all. Pay five bucks for a day pass and you can go anywhere the light rail, buses or streetcars go, including the airport. There's a downtown "free zone" where you pay nothing. Everything runs on time, and getting around town is effortless. Light rail has its own lanes and runs on city streets, right beside the cars, so there's no need to buy more right of way. Raleigh has a lot to learn about getting people around. It's way, way behind the curve on public transportation.
Okay, MarkCanWrite. So, you know this, and I know this, and some other people know this (including a number of people who post on this thread). But my question to you now is: How do we sell a critical mass of our fellow Raleigh citizens on the concept?
That's the real trick, right? You or I or anyone can have all the wonderful ideas in the world, but if we're unable to persuade other people to go along with them, they're not worth much. And I don't know how to do it. Especially in this day and age of economic instability, and even worse economic anxiety, and tight-as-a-tick government budgets, and a trend towards a "No Spending on Anything" spirit in the political discourse. Getting people excited about the (to you and I obvious) benefits of proactive public transportation seems to be hard. Do you have any ideas?
I don't think that makes sense. Yes, ideally it would have been nice if a rail line would have been built in 1953, but just because it wasn't, that doesn't mean that "the time to plan such things has long come and gone." Don't you think the people 58 years from now will wish that people in the Triangle in 2011 had had the forethought to plan for future growth and mixed transportation needs, so that they can enjoy the varied benefits of a strong transportation infrastructure?
I guess what I really meant was that in order for light rail to be practical for me personally would be to run it right down Wade Ave. Can't really re-arrange the entire neighborhood just for that. I'm sure there are less dense parts of the triangle where you could put in light rail, but I'm still not sure which direction it should head in.
For the cost of light rail, we can buy a few busses for each neighborhood in the entire triangle and operate them for decades. This area is not conducive to efficient mass transit, even if we build a fancy new way to implement it.
Last edited by sacredgrooves; 09-24-2011 at 12:16 AM..
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I'm sure there are less dense parts of the triangle where you could put in light rail, but I'm still not sure which direction it should head in.
