As Max has pointed out below the problems with the reporting on the trip of the Raleigh officials to worship Charlotte’s "Golden God", Raleigh officials can’t even get their stories straight on the reason to have transit. (N&O article here.)
Wake County Commissioner Tony Gurley (R) – "A good transit plan will stimulate economic development," Gurley said
in an interview. "I don’t expect the transit plan to create a
significant reduction in traffic on the roads." (Emphasis mine).
Wake County Commissioner Betty Lou Ward (D) – "The bottom line is that as our population increases, the roads don’t get much wider, and we get stacked up in traffic."
So which is it, are trains for economic development or for congestion relief?
I’m sure there are better ways to achieve economic development than increasing taxes by $6 billion, and we already know that trains won’t do jack for congestion relief due to: 1. the lack of density in the Triangle. 2. The sheer fact that trains carry 20% of the riders of roads at 500% of the cost.
Let’s end this fantasy now.
U.S. Census Bureau population estimates for 2006:
A few areas with light rail systems:
The New York metropolitan area: 18 million +
Boston MSA: 4.45 million +
Chicago MSA: 9.5 million +
Dallas MSA: 6 million
Washington D.C. MSA: 8 million +
Pittsburgh MSA: 2.5 million +
Houston MSA: 5.5 million +
San Francisco MSA: 4.18 million +
Tacoma MSA: 3.2 millon +
Charlotte MSA: 1.5 million +
And the Raleigh MSA’s estimated population: Nearly 1 million.
I don’t think many people would argue that most — though not all — of the areas listed above with light rail systems could make good arguments for needing them.
Raleigh has some growing to do before it can make that kind of argument — or spend our taxpayer money doing it.
Most other transit systems have one central area to take people to (downtown). The Triangle would have 4 areas to take people to: Downtown Raleigh, Downtown Durham, RTP/Airport, and Downtown Chapel Hill.
There is just no feasible way to make that work.
With the Charlotte rail line they are taking commuters from the south into downtown.
Rail just doesn’t work for the Triangle. It’s not a hub and spoke designed area. Think about the commuting patters of people in the Triangle — they go everywhere, from everywhere. There isn’t one central location that a large number of people go that would justify mass transit being used to get them there.
Maybe in 50 or 100 years, rail travel of some sort might make sense in the Triangle.
Currently, I don’t think that it makes any sense to do any more than having the state accept donations of any rights of way that may be abandoned by our existing railroads. That way, if we ever develop the densities that would support light or heavy rail, it will cost less to build something than it otherwise would.
It is interesting to note that the Triangle local rail travel proponents seem to be the same folks who are against growth. This is leading me to believe that, if they have their way, we will NEVER develop the appropriate densities to support local rail service.
Andy why do we not ask Norfolk Southern how much it would cost for them to provide whatever services that we supposedly want? I know that this will preclude us from hiring as many bureaucrats as some would like, but I bet that they could do it cheaper and better than the TTA. They already run an efficient railroad, and would NOT be starting from scratch.