Streetcar Service Bound for Sandy Springs? (Atlanta, Savannah: 2013, apartment, mover)

[bu2]

Originally Posted by primaltech

If it was simply a streetcar instead of a bus, without a dedicated lane, you might get a few more riders and a few new choice riders (so fewer cars on the road), but not much. Most people will still drive.

However, if you take one of the 2 car lanes on each side of Roswell Rd away, and replace them with a fixed guideway, exclusive right of way mass transit system (whether bus or rail), the whole game changes because you've done 2 significant things:

1. Made taking transit a million times more convenient to use

2. Made driving a million times less convenient

Thus, you've changed the circumstances of that corridor in a fundamental way, and the people living along that corridor will have a change in their preference.

Think of it this way: if there were no car lanes anywhere, nobody would be driving. Everyone would be taking transit or walking. And if there were more car lanes than there are now, more people would be driving even more often than now, and even fewer people would be walking or taking transit. For one becomes that much more difficult just to cross the street.

If you set things up to favor cars, people will prefer cars. If you have dedicated lanes for transit, a lot more people will take transit every day, especially during 9-5 rush hours. And that includes people who own a car: choice riders.

People will move and abandon the corridor.

[bu2]

[quote=demonta4;43556843]We've had streetcars out to Marietta at one point and they were successful.[/QUOT

We don't live in the roaring 20s.

[primaltech]

Originally Posted by bu2

People will move and abandon the corridor.

Why, because now they can get where they're going, in a reliable and convenient manner, any time of day, without having to sit in terrible Sandy Springs backed up traffic? Really, that was the big draw that was keeping them there?

Anyway, I'm not saying let's take all the existing cars and pack them into less lanes. I'm saying let's replace one of the two lanes with a higher capacity transit corridor, thus favoring using that, thus reducing car usage significantly, so the congestion with one lane would be not much worse than it is now with two lanes.

Exclusive transit lanes coupled with high frequency = more transportation capacity = shorter travel times.

[primaltech]

I lived in Sandy Springs right off Roswell Rd for 2 years, and chose to move just recently. I probably would have stayed if I knew of definitive city plans to take away a lane from Roswell to make a dedicated lane BRT or LRT system.

Sandy Springs directly borders the city, I lived ITP. Transit is the future of urban areas with almost 6 million people. If you refuse to use public transportation even when it's more convenient than a car, then move out to the sticks.

[jsvh]

"Driving on Roswell Rd is terrible" is not a strong argument for why there should not be other alternatives to driving.

There is never going to be enough room to allow enough space for car-only transportation on that cooridor. Unlike cars, transit gets better with more users.we need to start giving dedicated RoW to transit on corridors like these in order to increase the total capacity. If you still want to sit in traffic, don't worry, you will still have that option. But the rest of us have places to go. Get out of the way. More people want to move to these areas and need transit to support their numbers.

[MattCW]

Originally Posted by jsvh

"Driving on Roswell Rd is terrible" is not a strong argument for why there should not be other alternatives to driving.

There is never going to be enough room to allow enough space for car-only transportation on that cooridor. Unlike cars, transit gets better with more users.we need to start giving dedicated RoW to transit on corridors like these in order to increase the total capacity. If you still want to sit in traffic, don't worry, you will still have that option. But the rest of us have places to go. Get out of the way. More people want to move to these areas and need transit to support their numbers.

You're putting the cart before the horse. AGAIN as I said just a few posts above, you're not going to improve the area by making car travel hard, you have to make it easy to get around first. One of the main ways to do this is the 400 HRT extension, and I-285 high capacity transit. Just like with Atlanta's transit, you're not going to improve traffic in the city if people are still going to and from the area in cars!

[fieldm]

If it was up to me I would add a loop heavy /light rail line that circles Medical Center and North Springs station. It would be its own seperate line and not the red line. So if North Springs is at the north and Medical Center is at the south it could have maybe 2-3 new stations on the east portion of this circle and the same amount of stations on the other side

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by MattCW

You're putting the cart before the horse. AGAIN as I said just a few posts above, you're not going to improve the area by making car travel hard, you have to make it easy to get around first. One of the main ways to do this is the 400 HRT extension, and I-285 high capacity transit. Just like with Atlanta's transit, you're not going to improve traffic in the city if people are still going to and from the area in cars!

Ideally, this would come in addition to, at least, the Connect 400 expansion, or just around that time. I don't see any issue with doing either one before the other, as long as they both get built.

I know this area was slated to get ART service as part of the Fulton plan since those routes ARE heavily used, but that might not be enough for the City government in the area.

I would LOVE to see some I-285 top end transit, but doubt it'll get seriously planned until Gwinnett joins the system. The state was sort of working on it, but decided that they'd put in HOT lanes instead.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by MattCW

you're not going to improve the area by making car travel hard

No your not. You are going to improve the area by offering options to get there besides sitting in traffic and making walking along the side of the street more pleasant. The only viable / affordable way to do that is by taking RoW from cars. Car travel in the area will suck regardless. If you prefer that, dont worry you will still have that choice and it will still take you about the same amount of time.

[Newsboy]

Originally Posted by fourthwarden

I really, really wish people would stop using the term trolley. It's just... it brings to mind the wrong kind service in my mind. I don't know if it's the same for others (hell, I know it's not), but trolley just kinda brings to mind the old tram cars from the 30s and such.


Anyway, we'll see what they choose at somepoint, I guess.

Originally Posted by TheTravelinMan

I 100% agree about the term 'trolley' - talk about an 'old-timey' word that sounds like it belongs from an age when horses and buggys were also a main form of transport.

TROLLEYS:

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