THIS. Especially with Wi-Fi and laptops and stuff like that. Wouldn't you rather sit and post on RedsZone for 6 hours than drive for 4? I would.Originally Posted by KronoRed
THIS. Especially with Wi-Fi and laptops and stuff like that. Wouldn't you rather sit and post on RedsZone for 6 hours than drive for 4? I would.
Depends where I am traveling...
While I like the idea of high speed rail, I have no wish to walk the ten miles or so I communte to work, living south of Huntington, WV. There is never going to be high speed rail in my lifetime in my area.
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The fact that I-71 misses Akron and Dayton would be the reason why I would say the line would only use the I-71 ROW part of the way. Akron and Northern Summit County account for 1/3 of the Cleveland metro area, and I'm not sure how Dayton compares, but I'd say there's enough people there to warrant a connection. If I were designing the line, I'd have it run south from downtown Cleveland, through Northern Summit County to Akron, then follow the I-76 ROW to pick up I-71 around Lodi, the south to Ashland and Mansfield and on to Columbus. From there, follow I-70 and I-675 to Dayton, then I-75 down to Cincinnati.
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I'm all for trains as long as they provide a faster and more economical option. I can drive to Cleveland on half a tank of fuel in about 4 hours. Sell a train ticket that can get there in the same time for less than the price of the fuel and I'll consider it.
The other plus is that if you remove a fair number of passenger vehicles from the highways the commercial traffic can make better time without having to deal with as much gridlock caused by all the cars. I would love to see fewer cars on the road so I could keep my cruise control on for longer periods and not have to deal with as many delays.
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Yes.
All you people get off the road so I can have it to myself.
That's how to solve the transportation problem.
Serioulsy, though, there's still a congratulations to Cincinnati for getting started. You have to start somewhere, even if it's a poor plan. It will get better with each subsequent addition.
I lived in the Bay Area in the mid-80's and there's no better "light rail/train" than BART. It's fast and extremely comfortable. There's so much room you can lay down and go to sleep. It's air conditioned very well and it's not crowded whether you stand or sit. You could get around the Bay Area sometimes faster, sometimes as fast, and sometimes not quite as fast (when freeways are clear you drive 90+ down there because 90+ is accepted by the police), depending on the traffic.
So, that's what I thought ALL mass transit light rail lines should be. Is that what they end up doing in Portland when I return? NO! They put some stinkin' crappy socialist version of Mass Transit Trains in operation.
Seriously, it smelled because there was no air conditioning and people stunk and were crammed together like sardines.
Seriously, it was Socialist because all of the cars came from Eastern European companies where they were used to building light rail units designed to make people feel miserable. Bulgaria and Yugoslavia do not exactly think of "customer service" first when it comes to designing things. This is also why the cars were crammed so that when two skinny people sat down across from each other their knees touched unless they tilted their legs at an angle. Two skinny people could also sit in the seats and end up touching each other. Fat people are a whole other story.
So, this "Portland Mass Transit" became the "model" for every major City in the United States (Cincinnati will follow it, too) because Portland's downtown went from almost becoming a ghost town in the 1970's to becoming one of the fastest growing metropolitans of the last 30 years in the United States. Many Governors, Mayors, Transportation Heads and Commissioners from around the U. S. have traveled to Portland on various trips to see the success it's achieved. St. Louis got theirs started about 10 years ago after modeling Portland's, as an example, in hopes of reviving their own Downtown area. It's starting, but it takes a whole lot of commitment from different areas of a City's Economic areas, such as Real Estate Developers, and City(s) AND County(s)departments working together.
My point is that I hated it at the time because it was modeled after Eastern European designs (what were they thinking!), but after almost 30 years, it's got a nice infrastructure that goes around the entire Metro Area. In another 20 years it will be ready to serve 2.8M people (the Portland Metro surrounding area including Vancouver, WA) comfortably, while using electricity, not gas, as it's means of propulsion.
The end justifies the means in this case. Now if we can just get the governor(s) to stop tearing down the dams that provide good clean renewable energy.
The one bad thing about Light Rail is that it brings high crime rates to half the places it goes (the suburbs) where there wasn't very much before, while destroying businesses along it's routes, except in the Downtown areas. The crime can be curtailed if it's not left to fester and grow. An increase in Transit Police and it can be controlled.
I haven't included New York City because there's is underground mostly and a completely different type of system. I'm only talking about above-ground systems.
Portland's biggest problem, though is that the government hasn't taken over the Transit system. It's quasi-government, meaning that taxes can be diverged to the Transit system but the Transit system remains a private company. Kind of the worst of both world's instead of the best of both world's. It's too important to be in private hands.
Last edited by Kingspoint; 02-01-2010 at 06:32 AM.
So what happens to the freight that is going to be displaced by the passenger trains? More semi trucks on the road? How is that a win?
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I don't understand how government works nor do I pretend that I know. I also think that people in government don't understand how it works as well. But what I do know is you have to start somewhere. I always wonder if Cincinnati wouldn't have cut bait on its subway project how much nicer it would be with a light rail system in Cincinnati. If the money and funding is there to begin to build a light rail system I say go ahead and do it. It may be wasteful but the government is wasting money left and right and if that is true, I want to get me some.
The issue for me is I will probably never ride a rail to Columbus. From my house to my friends house its about 145. From my house to OSU its about 140. To me its not worth the rail. My inlaws also live in Canton. There have been many times in which I have hated that drive up and back home. If a rail could get me there within 4 hours I certainly would consider it.
The thing is I don't think anyone expects gas to remain at $2.50 forever. I imagine train service will be more a lot more appealing when gas is $5, $10 or $15 a gallon. Actually, passenger rail service might not catch on with the masses at all until gas prices are that high...
"In our sundown perambulations of late, through the outer parts of Brooklyn, we have observed several parties of youngsters playing 'base', a certain game of ball. Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our close rooms, the game of ball is glorious"
-Walt Whitman
HUGE win for my industry.
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I need the highways to do my job. That will always be the case, no matter how many trains there are carting people around. The fewer non commercial vehicles on the road, the smoother it is for those of us who have to use the highway and keep a schedule.
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Never say "never." When I lived in Salzburg, the train (not high speed) would take about the same time as driving, but even my friends who had cars would often take the train if we were going to some festival or something. The two keys were that 1) we could travel in a larger group, and 2) no need for a designated driver. Hop on the train in the morning, ride for 90 minutes, have a good time sampling the city's beer offerings, and ride the train back in the evening. I imagine if a train could get people from Cincinnati to Columbus within a reasonable amount of time compared to cars, it might become highly popular on Saturdays in the fall.
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Not if I have to go somewhere beyond the train station at the other end of the trip. For a saleman the train option makes zero sense. Longer trip, still have to rent a car, can't haul all your samples/catalogs, etc.
That was my first thought. I live North of Dayton, and we have quite a few friends in Columbus and some family in Cincy.
Will there be a direct route from Dayton to Columbus, or will we have to go Dayton->Cincy->Columbus? That's probably kill it for me.
GL
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