Convincing growing areas of the need for PT

[supernova]

Ugh. I live in one of the fastest growing areas in the US: the counties of Wake, Durham, and Orange in Central NC. That's Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill and environs.

To put it mildly ... we are bursting at the seams. x( We are fast approaching the time when building more roads and more lanes on these roads will not relieve congestion. I-40 at rush hour can feel like a parking lot, all 8 lanes of it.

We do have city buses in each of these towns and there is some commuting by van between them, but there is no coordinated effort to think aobut what our area will look like in 10 20 or 50 years.

In the 90s we did have a Triangle wide commission to consider light rail but that never went anywhere. People just yawned and IIRC, that commission was disbanded several years ago.

Personally I think this is exactly the time to think about installing a metro or light rail system. We have the free land, we have the tax base to support it.

[nxylas]

1. Getting people to think of the future is hard

I live in another fast-growing area and even some PT advocates here seem to think that the system doesn't need fixing, despite the fact that it is barely adequate for Columbia's present population, let alone the 25% increase which the Census Bureau has projected for 2020.

[supernova]

3. The thing of it is

we all regularly work and play in all three places, regardless of which town our bedrooms are located in. :-) Sometimes all in the same day! :D

And with Downtown revitalization projects that are oh so popular right now, like CityMarket in Raleigh, or the Franklin St in Chapel Hill it would be very nice to take PT and not worry about parking or driving home drunk.

I understand Columbia is really taking off too, though I haven't been down there in a while. :hi:

[ramapo]

2. Makes NJ seem good

We love to bitch and moan about how awful the traffic is in the NYC metro area, and it is. But I think it pales in comparison to what is going on in places like Atlanta, SoCal, NC, etc. Although I haven't visited these areas, my bet is that they are even more dysfunctional than North Jersey as these newly developed areas were built entirely around the automobile society. At least my area is old enough to have mass transit roots, though most were ripped up long ago.

Of course the flip side is that new construction presented the opportunity to do things right, i.e. light rail, etc. Most cities took a pass on the chance but perhaps now some will reconsider.

Many obstacles present themselves. Nobody wants higher taxes to pay for mass transit. People have been conditioned to think that highways are built for "free" thanks in large part to the Federal government (which everyone loves to hate) and to a lesser degree the individual states.

The amount of time to even start a project is mind-boggling. It takes years to do the studies. Then comes the hearings, bickering, and on and on. Like Bush says, if this was a dictatorship it would be much easier. If it was me, I'd make it a priority of the State to institute mass transit.

[Gormy Cuss]

4. Since there is an existing bus system, the easier next step may be BRT

I'm a big fan of light rail but if that idea has failed in your area it may be time to propose bus rapid transit. Bus rapid transit is much cheaper to implement than any rail system and is more flexible to changing commuting patterns and community growth. It's essentially buses operating in the same manner as LRV -- using exclusive lanes and making less frequent stops than a regular bus route. Changing the number of buses on a route to meet demand is easier than adjusting LRV service too.

http://www.gobrt.org/

[ThomCat]

5. Letters to the editor are a good place to start.

A lot of people read those letters, and it can get the conversation moving. I wish there were other options that had more impact, but our society is not set up to allow people to be heard.

Are there any local advocacy groups that already deal with public transportation?

[nxylas]

6. Just found an excellent resource page

The Center for Transportation Excellence has a http://www.cfte.org/critics/default.asp">web page with lots of information for dealing with anti-transit arguments, including some template letters to the editor for you to customize for your own use.

[ThomCat]

7. Very cool site.

Good find. :)

[nxylas]

8. My only complaint about it...

...is that it's very light rail oriented, at the expense of other modes of public transportation. I think these turf wars between bus rapid transit advocates, light rail advocates, monorail advocates and so on do a lot of damage at a time when we need to put on a united front against a society that puts the needs of the car above all else.