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According to this site:
www.KOB.com - City could see new Rapid Ride routes (http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S1194597.shtml?cat=0 - broken link)
There are three Rapid Ride routes being proposed. In addition to the long-rumored San Mateo route, ABQ RIDE is also proposing a Montgomery/Carlisile Rapid Ride route, as well as a Coors/Montano/4th Street Rapid Ride route.
These are all interesting ideas, although I think the San Mateo route should continue on Gibson into Kirtland AFB.
It is a good start. We need to end our dependence on single occupant vehicles. Even though we are spread out here, with the right planning and techology we can develop a system that allows us to use public transportation for at least half of our needs.
Why do we (as Albuquerqueans) need to end our dependence on single occupant vehicles? Just playing devil's advocate here.
Also, the most irritating single occupant vehicles I see are empty buses.
Well, ABQ RIDE simply won't put a Rapid Ride route on any random corridor. The San Mateo and the Montgomery/Carlisle corridors are among the buisiest transit corridors in Albuquerque, only behind Central. Both of these corridors are being considered to get a Rapid Ride route, along with a third option (a Coors/Montano/4th Street route).
We need to end our dependence on single occupant vehicles.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zoidberg
Why do we ... need to end our dependence on single occupant vehicles?
We don't.
It would be nice to reduce our dependence on single
occupant ( motorized ) vehicles. There is no country in the
world that is even close to eliminating dependence on
single occupant ( motorized ) vehicles and no country that
wants to do this.
Single occupant vehicles are the most efficient
form of public transit that we have.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zoidberg
... most irritating single occupant vehicles I see are empty buses.
I don't know why this is so irritating to you.
The empty busses are there for a reason. They fill out a schedule.
Many people who ride the ( more full ) rush-hour buses don't have
the luxury of leaving by 5:30 pm and need those other, later buses
to get them home. If the buses weren't there, they wouldn't be on
the rush-hour buses. The more you eliminate the empty buses by
just canceling their 'run' then the less people will ride in general so
that buses that were formerly lightly-used will become the empty ones.
Any mass transit system in the world has sparsely populated vehicles
running in the early hours or the late hours. I've been on trains in
Tokyo where there were less than one person per entire train car riding.
(That is, for six train cars, there were only 4-5 riders in the whole train.)
Does it also irritate you when you drive down the highway in the wee
hours and only see a couple of cars driving on a three-lane stretch?
How is that different? The government spends a lot of money to run
that freeway 24x7 that is hardly being used at that time.
I know it's a difficult concept, but stuff like trains, highways, buses
all cost money 24x7 whether or not they are being used or garaged.
That's why it's so ironic that the state is running a massive budget
deficit so soon after building out the unfunded Railrunner. Even if we
scrapped the whole thing tomorrow and sold off the railcars, it would
still be costing huge amounts of money.
According to this site:
www.KOB.com - City could see new Rapid Ride routes (http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S1194597.shtml?cat=0 - broken link)
There are three Rapid Ride routes being proposed. In addition to the long-rumored San Mateo route, ABQ RIDE is also proposing a Montgomery/Carlisile Rapid Ride route, as well as a Coors/Montano/4th Street Rapid Ride route.
Andros
I would seriously like to know where you get your information.
Granted, the news agencies jumped all over ABQ-Ride Director Greg Paynes statement about now having the funding to be able to begin planning for additional routes and infrastructure. This statement was made directly after the 1/4 cent tax extension was passed by the voters (and yes, San Mateo was mentioned as a possible candidate for a new Rapid Ride Route.) However, the news agencies (as often is the case) left out a few additional facts...
ABQ-Ride is not planning to implement any of these routes untill the grant money for purchasing additional artic buses is available (July 2010) each of these buses has a price tag exceeding 3/4 million dollars. Once the FTA Grant funding becomes available, then ABQ-Ride will be able to purchase up to 6 additional Artic buses (60 footers) which will allow ABQ-Ride to then add a single additional Rapid Ride route. The purchase/acquisition process usually takes anywhere form 9 months to a year, and the bus configuration (adding the GFI, GPS and AVL Equipment) usually takes an additional 3 months. So the earliest we would see any of these buses in operation would be somewhere around January 2012. ABQ-Ride planning devision is currently studying which of 5 cooridors would best be suited for an additional Rapid Ride Route, and as of present has not made any final reccommendations.
Last edited by Poncho_NM; 10-21-2009 at 09:47 PM..
Reason: fixed quote
I live near Montano and Unser, about 1 1/2 miles further west from the "proposed"
Montano / Coors route and the housing out this way is the pretty typical
single family homes that make up almost all ABQ with few apartments in the area.
This means that almost all of these residents would have to drive to (or be
driven to) a bus stop to use this route since there are no real population clusters
to tie into that would provide the passenger volume to justify such a route. For
most of the residents of this area, it would be faster and far more convenient
to drive than to take the bus.
The other routes through more urban areas seem to make sense, but I have
real doubts about the utility of the Coors / Montano route. I'd think it
would make more sense to add coverage in the central and northeast areas.
According to this site:
www.KOB.com - City could see new Rapid Ride routes (http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S1194597.shtml?cat=0 - broken link)
There are three Rapid Ride routes being proposed. In addition to the long-rumored San Mateo route, ABQ RIDE is also proposing a Montgomery/Carlisile Rapid Ride route, as well as a Coors/Montano/4th Street Rapid Ride route./quote]
Andros
I would seriously like to know where you get your information.
Granted, the news agencies jumped all over ABQ-Ride Director Greg Paynes statement about now having the funding to be able to begin planning for additional routes and infrastructure. This statement was made directly after the 1/4 cent tax extension was passed by the voters (and yes, San Mateo was mentioned as a possible candidate for a new Rapid Ride Route.) However, the news agencies (as often is the case) left out a few additional facts...
ABQ-Ride is not planning to implement any of these routes untill the grant money for purchasing additional artic buses is available (July 2010) each of these buses has a price tag exceeding 3/4 million dollars. Once the FTA Grant funding becomes available, then ABQ-Ride will be able to purchase up to 6 additional Artic buses (60 footers) which will allow ABQ-Ride to then add a single additional Rapid Ride route. The purchase/acquisition process usually takes anywhere form 9 months to a year, and the bus configuration (adding the GFI, GPS and AVL Equipment) usually takes an additional 3 months. So the earliest we would see any of these buses in operation would be somewhere around January 2012. ABQ-Ride planning devision is currently studying which of 5 cooridors would best be suited for an additional Rapid Ride Route, and as of present has not made any final reccommendations.
Interesting point, although it seems to leave out one fact: ABQ RIDE has signed a contract for 94 options with New Flyer for 60-foot articulated hybrid buses. This contract was signed when ABQ RIDE ordered the 6900-series New Flyer DE40LFR buses. 25 of those options have been piggybacked on by MBTA Bus in Boston. ABQ RIDE can of course exercise some of these options into orders, so I would probably say the earliest ABQ RIDE can get the buses into service would be either in December 2010 or January 2011.
In addition, ABQ RIDE has signed options with New Flyer for 68 40-foot hybrid buses. When ABQ RIDE decides to replace the 300-series buses, I am guessing ABQ RIDE will exercise some of these options.
Now, what I am really curious about is what will ABQ RIDE order to replace the remaining 400-series buses when the time comes. ABQ RIDE's contract with New Flyer is only valid for 40-foot and 60-foot buses. There will definately be a need for some smaller buses on certain routes such as the D-RIDE and the 51 Atrisco/Rio Bravo. In addition to New Flyer, some other options might be Gillig, NABI, Orion, and ElDorado.
Why do we (as Albuquerqueans) need to end our dependence on single occupant vehicles? Just playing devil's advocate here.
Perhaps someone with a DUI or 2, someone left a paraplegic or quadriliplegic as a victim of a DUI crash is in a better position to answer that question.
And those lying around in cemeteries as a result of a fatal crash, if only they could give an answer to your question.
And let's not forget the benficiaries of this continuing madness of driving a car: chiropractors, pain clinics, insurance companies, the police, personal injury attorney's, OPEC.
Perhaps someone with a DUI or 2, someone left a paraplegic or quadriliplegic as a victim of a DUI crash is in a better position to answer that question.
And those lying around in cemeteries as a result of a fatal crash, if only they could give an answer to your question.
And let's not forget the benficiaries of this continuing madness of driving a car: chiropractors, pain clinics, insurance companies, the police, personal injury attorney's, OPEC.
Last time I checked, most vehicles tend to remain harmless stationary objects until a human being climbs behind the wheel.
Chap
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