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Thanks for sharing your experience with BRT. I agree that it would be less expensive to simply increase frequency. I wonder how much ridership would change without BRT. Will Raleigh residents embrace buses without us making it seem more interesting than it actually is? I think the value in BRT beyond dedicated lanes and frequency is that it may seem glamorous to some.
I think BRT could be beneficial for Raleigh along certain corridors and I think they've picked out some good ones (not sure about the one running north of downtown since it doesn't hit Capital Blvd between 440 and 540) - NC State students and people along New Bern Ave will use the service. The real question is how to get people on the buses - I agree light rail is expensive and improving the existing bus system is the way to go.
I think ridership would increase if the bus routes were better (getting people where they actually want to go instead of forcing them downstairs to Moore Square with the hub and spoke model) - Houston recently re-did their bus routes to form a grid instead of the hub and spoke model and ridership has steadily increased Houston Sees Metro Ridership Gains After a Bus Network Overhaul - CityLab
Obviously, frequency is the main thing - if people have to wait more than 15-30 minutes for a bus, you can easily drive anywhere in Raleigh in that time period so you have to make the system appealing enough to use it when you want it and not have to plan your day around the bus schedule.
Where would the foot traffic come from to propose BRT along Capital Blvd?
Light rail or BRT will never be financially feasible in Raleigh without major infrastructure changes for pedestrians and zoning changes for more density. Is Raleigh willing to invest and do this thing right or will they do it half-assed and wait for it to inevitably fail.
Where would the foot traffic come from to propose BRT along Capital Blvd?
Light rail or BRT will never be financially feasible in Raleigh without major infrastructure changes for pedestrians and zoning changes for more density. Is Raleigh willing to invest and do this thing right or will they do it half-assed and wait for it to inevitably fail.
The #1 and #15 bus to TTC and WakeMed are the routes with far and away the most ridership here in Raleigh. If you are out on Capital at all hours of the day, there is always someone waiting for the bus at stops there. The demand is clearly there for BRT if it was implemented.
I do agree though that Raleigh will have do something to make it more pedestrian friendly and allow more density. Capital Blvd is a death trap for pedestrians - seems like every few months there's a fatality out there. (Doesn't help that people always try and cross the street mid-block but it also doesn't help that the road is 500 lanes wide)
Millennials are having fewer children and not buying homes. I blame the economy and current financial situation. I'll be 30 soon and I'm still not financially stable enough to have children because of paying student loans and a small car payment. Luckily I don't want kids, so it works out well.
Less than half of my friends from high school and college have children. Compare that to my parents' generation where almost everyone has kids.
I blame the economy and current financial situation.
I understand individual financial situations vary, but don't blame the economy. Unemployment is down, housing market booming, consumer confidence high, stock market high, GDP up. Anyone that thinks the current economy is bad is in for a real shocker with the next recession.
Millennials are having fewer children and not buying homes. I blame the economy and current financial situation. I'll be 30 soon and I'm still not financially stable enough to have children because of paying student loans and a small car payment.
Get married. Pool your resources with your partner.
Get married. Pool your resources with your partner.
I think the concept of having a stay at home parent is slowly going by the wayside - now a days both parents seem to work even with children (if it is possible)
I think the concept of having a stay at home parent is slowly going by the wayside - now a days both parents seem to work even with children (if it is possible)
For sure.
But I think it'd be tough to control for the age demo of dual household workers and use that solely as a means to attempt to discover a trend. But I know a couple of 20 and 30 something finance guys whose wives stay at home or work limited part time hours... or they're "consultants" with flex hours and a home office...
I also know of some 50+ year couple's who both still work... With that said, there are variables, and I think it depends on location, sector, motivation to remain in the workforce, income (of course), etc.
With that said, it's hard for me to say it's primarily just a "millennial" age influenced trend as suggested by the other poster.
But I think it'd be tough to control for the age demo of dual household workers and use that solely as a means to attempt to discover a trend. But I know a couple of 20 and 30 something finance guys whose wives stay at home or work limited part time hours... or they're "consultants" with flex hours and a home office...
I also know of some 50+ year couple's who both still work... With that said, there are variables, and I think it depends on location, sector, motivation to remain in the workforce, income (of course), etc.
With that said, it's hard for me to say it's primarily just a "millennial" age influenced trend as suggested by the other poster.
No I don't mean to say it's a millennial age influenced trend - but I do bring it up to say that wages aren't necessarily keeping up with the cost of living, compounded with other factors like student loans and increased cost of housing, it becomes a necessity for both parents to be working.
I understand individual financial situations vary, but don't blame the economy. Unemployment is down, housing market booming, consumer confidence high, stock market high, GDP up. Anyone that thinks the current economy is bad is in for a real shocker with the next recession.
It's not really the economy, but the job market. More and more people with college degrees are forced to work low paying jobs because they cannot find a job in their field.
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