Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Virginia > Hampton Roads area
 [Register]
Hampton Roads area Chesapeake - Hampton - Newport News - Norfolk - Portsmouth - Suffolk - Virginia Beach
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 01-05-2010, 07:53 AM
 
Location: norfolk
129 posts, read 359,074 times
Reputation: 45

Advertisements

Because you said "metro this size". Metropolitan refers more to an area rather than population. It makes sense to me.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 01-05-2010, 08:04 AM
 
1,477 posts, read 6,015,934 times
Reputation: 1116
Quote:
Originally Posted by Randomdude View Post
The rail lines will eventually pay for themselves, given they are correctly priced, and extend far enough to attract a large ridership.

Remember, the cost for the original tracks, stations and original trains is sunk. The fairs people pay will be continuous. The only ongoing cost will be maintenance and train employee pay and any interest on bonds or loans used to pay for the trains.

However, just a little bit of math for you though. Imagine a metro card costs $50, and they can manage to convince half a million people to ride a month. 50x500,000= 25 million dollars a month. Now you tell me how long you think 100 million would take to pay back at 25 million bucks a month revenue? A few years?

Whether or not light rail makes sense is indisputable. The only possible argument against it would be mismanagement by regional authorities.


.
Your wrong...Anyone who claims that a new light-rail line will pay for itself in lower operating costs is engaging in wishful thinking. Show me a city where they can claim light rail pays for itself and I can show you 5 times that many cities that dont...

Now this is almost to stupid to reply to but I cant pass it up.... if you think 500K people are going to ride light rail.....well I have to ask what color the sky is in your world
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-05-2010, 04:53 PM
 
Location: Virginia Beach/Norfolk.
1,565 posts, read 4,340,580 times
Reputation: 460
Quote:
Originally Posted by rtandc View Post
. Show me a city where they can claim light rail pays for itself and I can show you 5 times that many cities that dont...
Show me an interstate highway that pays for itself and can show you 10000000 that dont

Quote:
Now this is almost to stupid to reply to but I cant pass it up.... if you think 500K people are going to ride light rail.....well I have to ask what color the sky is in your world
That 500K number would actually be closer to 250K.. Everybody needs to ride twice in order to get home. If you don't think with a fully built out transit system, 250K wouldn't ride then Idk what to tell you. Anything it's possible.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-06-2010, 06:42 AM
 
1,477 posts, read 6,015,934 times
Reputation: 1116
Quote:
Originally Posted by cityboi757 View Post
Show me an interstate highway that pays for itself and can show you 10000000 that dont.
But everyone loves to scream that light rail will pay for it's self and its much cheaper then building roads........with or without light rail roads will still need to be built...all light rail is doing is adding an additional expense...



Quote:
Originally Posted by cityboi757 View Post
That 500K number would actually be closer to 250K.. Everybody needs to ride twice in order to get home. If you don't think with a fully built out transit system, 250K wouldn't ride then Idk what to tell you. Anything it's possible.
Read his reply again...he is talking about monthly ticket holders....Most places that have light rail you can buy either a one day pass or a 7 day pass or a monthly pass.......This allows you unlimited access to the trains during those time frames...

What he is saying that 500K people would have to buy the monthly pass....that means that every man, woman and child in Va bch would have to buy a monthly pass plus tens or thousands more from other cities....Now that you have a better understanding see how silly that statement is.........
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-06-2010, 12:39 PM
 
Location: Virginia Beach, VA
5,522 posts, read 10,194,695 times
Reputation: 2572
Quote:
Originally Posted by sbullet View Post
Because you said "metro this size". Metropolitan refers more to an area rather than population. It makes sense to me.
No, metro refers to a statistical area, which is mostly used to derive demographic information from the resident population. It is almost never used for geographic purposes.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-06-2010, 12:45 PM
 
Location: Virginia Beach, VA
5,522 posts, read 10,194,695 times
Reputation: 2572
Quote:
Originally Posted by rtandc View Post
Your wrong...Anyone who claims that a new light-rail line will pay for itself in lower operating costs is engaging in wishful thinking. Show me a city where they can claim light rail pays for itself and I can show you 5 times that many cities that dont...
Light rail largely doesnt pay for itself in many areas, mostly because of poor operation authorities and low density lines. If you only build the line exclusively where it will have high density ridership, and keep costs in control, it will pay for itself in time.

Quote:
Originally Posted by rtandc View Post
Now this is almost to stupid to reply to but I cant pass it up.... if you think 500K people are going to ride light rail.....well I have to ask what color the sky is in your world
I dont know how many people are going to ride the rail, hence why I said "if they can convince". Further more, that was just an example, in reality, it should only take a fraction of that to cover operating costs. The rest will go to interest and principal on bonds and loans, no matter what the time horizon is for paying them back.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-31-2010, 04:57 PM
 
7 posts, read 13,615 times
Reputation: 10
No transportation system (light rail, subway, metro, etc) in the US has ever paid for itself - you are dreaming<G> As far as extending that light rail to the Peninsula, why? who would use it - any system needs a destination - why would enough people on either side of the Hampton Roads harbor need to use the rail system to go to the other side? What few that do work on either side are not enough to support the extension and the Light Rail being built on the Southside. Who on the Southside is gonna use it cept a few workers and more than likely not enough tourists..... where is the Destination that the average person needs to go - certainly not to downtown Norfolk or to the Beach if it is ever extended there. Think about it, seriously............the area was built for cars and no system that I can think of can change that in the near future. I have been to cities where they do have a light rail system and sometimes it does work on the weekends but most of the time it causes traffic jams......
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-31-2010, 05:08 PM
 
7 posts, read 13,615 times
Reputation: 10
Most cities that do have a metro or light rail system that works, are a "single" city, not like the Hampton Roads area where there really is not a single city, just a collectioin of smaller cities with lots of houses etc, and grandeous dreams. The places where they do work have thousands of workers working in the Center of "A" city, a place with large office complexes and mass buildings not spread out like the Hampton Roads Area..... To me the light rail being built is a folley of a wantabe city - Certainly is a shame a transportatoin system was not built long long ago in the area, but now that cars are here - me thinks they are here to stay......
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-31-2010, 06:20 PM
 
Location: norfolk
129 posts, read 359,074 times
Reputation: 45
Quote:
Originally Posted by iamchad2 View Post
Most cities that do have a metro or light rail system that works, are a "single" city, not like the Hampton Roads area where there really is not a single city, just a collectioin of smaller cities with lots of houses etc, and grandeous dreams. The places where they do work have thousands of workers working in the Center of "A" city, a place with large office complexes and mass buildings not spread out like the Hampton Roads Area..... To me the light rail being built is a folley of a wantabe city - Certainly is a shame a transportatoin system was not built long long ago in the area, but now that cars are here - me thinks they are here to stay......
I can't speak for most metro systems, but if you look at the system in noVA, trains run through out DC, to Arlington, to Alexandria, to Springfield, to Falls Church, to Vienna, and a couple other cities in MD. Additionally, they are extending the rail from Vienna, to Dullus airport, which may have stops in Reston, and Herndon. Each of those cities are all big places to work.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-31-2010, 07:23 PM
 
1,700 posts, read 5,929,144 times
Reputation: 1584
Quote:
Originally Posted by iamchad2 View Post
Certainly is a shame a transportatoin system was not built long long ago in the area, but now that cars are here - me thinks they are here to stay......
Norfolk did have a rail system long long ago, but because of pressure from oil companies many cities (not just Norfolk) ditched their rail systems and streetcars, and the personal automobile took over. No one is saying cars are gonna take a back seat to mass transit, but a new way of city planning and building is taking place called "urban renewal", and it's hard to have an urban renewal without some form of sustainable public transit.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Virginia > Hampton Roads area

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 07:19 PM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top