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will never live up to real cities. I've been waiting on this city for over 20 years and everytime we think we are getting Nordstrom..well it never happens.
There is no Nordstrom? Barbaric! Seriously, without a Nordstrom, we are like a bunch of savages living in mud huts.
P.S. What is a Nordstrom? Is it a place to buy foreign made products that we will keep for a while and then dump into a landfill?
A bus can run on dirt. A bus can run on the road the next block over.
Valid in theory, but it sounds like you're reaching...
That's because you are dazzled by the shiney metal rails.
Ever hear of utility line construction? You put a rail line down an old
street like Central. Later, you experience a water line break, can you
run the railcar on compacted dirt that the contractor could have put
up to run the Rapid Ride on? Can you run the railcar on the street the
next block over? Even the electric buses can do that. Sometimes it
helps to think beyond the end of your nose.
That's because you are dazzled by the shiney metal rails.
Ever hear of utility line construction? You put a rail line down an old
street like Central. Later, you experience a water line break, can you
run the railcar on compacted dirt that the contractor could have put
up to run the Rapid Ride on? Can you run the railcar on the street the
next block over? Even the electric buses can do that. Sometimes it
helps to think beyond the end of your nose.
Sounds a bit extreme...and you're reaching again. Just because it happened in the recent past doesn't mean it's time to start fearing it will happen every other month. And it's certainly not a good reason for totally ditching the idea of rail car system. And how do we know a foundation enhancement wouldn't be part of the construction plan? We don't.
The point is the benefit is all in the perception. When it comes down to it buses are more flexible. What if there is a SWAT situation? What if there is an accident? What if you want to close the street for a parade, bike rally, fall crawl, or shop and stroll?
I mean we can all appreciate the majesty of a Ferrari or Lamborghini or some such, but you aren't buying one of those because it is practical or a good investment or because it does things a normal car can't (legally). You are paying for the perception, the looks, the idea. A sedan, a trunk, a SUV, a minivan, depending on what you are doing is far more useful. You aren't piling your friends into a Ferrari or taking a camping trip to the Jemez or going up some driveways, etc. Of course even if the Ferrari is free you still have insurance cost, gas and maintenance on it that that will be astronomical compared to your other options.
A street car or light rail or what not is cool, but thats it. People already live on central because it is the easiest corridor to get around on without a car, a street car isn't going to change that (and may make it worse if they replace buses with it). Of course unlike the Ferrari example you are using other peoples money to build it and run it, so the cool factor suddenly gets a lot more compelling.
I could come up with some pretty good arguments for replacing my scooter with a Ferrari if all I had to pay was the gas.
"Since 2001, when a tax for the rail line won approval, the area along the line has experienced $3.5 billion in private investment and about $1.5 billion in public investment, according to Phoenix’s Community and Economic Development Department."
"Since 2001, when a tax for the rail line won approval, the area along the line has experienced $3.5 billion in private investment and about $1.5 billion in public investment, according to Phoenix’s Community and Economic Development Department."
A rail line down central could spur some development, but a rail line within Albuquerque cannot be compared with this project. It is much more practical to use trains as opposed to buses to connect cities, but doing so is much different than transit inside of the city.
Edit: Oh yeah, I forgot the obvious questions...How much money was and is being spent in order to spur these investments? How were these investment amounts generated? Can we trust these amounts when they are reported on by the city that spent the money to build the rail line?
"Since 2001, when a tax for the rail line won approval, the area along the line has experienced $3.5 billion in private investment and about $1.5 billion in public investment, according to Phoenix’s Community and Economic Development Department."
That rail line runs past high rise after high rise after high rise. There's more high-density downtown-style office space along one mile of that train's route than there is in the entirety of downtown Albuquerque.
Those buildings were valuable before it was ever installed, and they kept getting built higher and higher.
If you're ever going to build a high-rise in Phoenix, odds are it will be next to other high-rises. We'd see more high-rises going up next to the train but in otherwise isolated locations like along Camelback if the train had much of anything to do with it. I'm sure the train didn't hurt, but Phoenix's cornucopia of other reasons to invest probably played a far greater role.
If anyone remembers Albuquerque's Trolleys, (Molly, Ta-Molly, Guaca-Molly, etc.) they'll remember they were extremely popular with the tourists, but they were little more than overglorified buses with open windows. Combining that with BRT-capable speeds and perhaps dedicated rights-of-way where practical would be just as large a boost, if not larger, than the streetcar salesmen's most glorious dreams.
Anyone remember why they discontinued the trolleys?
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