Bus rapid transit is coming with lightrail to follow soon after (Richmond: suburbs, automobile)

[brocco]

Originally Posted by pantin23

The good thing is is that when oil prices go up high enough, people aren't gonna be living in disconnected autocentric crap. This wont be going on in 100 years.

you really don't think we will find alternative sources of energy by then? in the 1800s people were whining that we were going to run out of coal lol. with high oil prices there is a strong profit incentive to innovate. trust me it will happen. i dont know if we will still have cars in 100 years, but we will certainly have some sort of popular vehicle- perhaps safer, better and faster than today's car.

[pantin23]

Originally Posted by brocco

you really don't think we will find alternative sources of energy by then? in the 1800s people were whining that we were going to run out of coal lol. with high oil prices there is a strong profit incentive to innovate. trust me it will happen. i dont know if we will still have cars in 100 years, but we will certainly have some sort of popular vehicle- perhaps safer, better and faster than today's car.

But eventually somebody is going to have the sense to stop sprawl, and instead, make areas more urban, and include light rail as a major form of transportation.


The End of Suburbia - 52 minute documentary on peak oil - YouTube

New Urbanisim.
Congress for the New Urbanism

[DarkWolf]

Originally Posted by brocco

you really don't think we will find alternative sources of energy by then? in the 1800s people were whining that we were going to run out of coal lol. with high oil prices there is a strong profit incentive to innovate. trust me it will happen. i dont know if we will still have cars in 100 years, but we will certainly have some sort of popular vehicle- perhaps safer, better and faster than today's car.

You still have congestion , and Driveless cars won't solve that. So you need Transit , and in Europe there speed limits are higher , between 90-140mph on Rural Highways in Germany , 80-100mph in most of Western Europe. There cars get better fuel mileage some as high as 80mpg. Europe , Australia and Parts of Asia are perfect examples of balance Transportation cultures , they have highways and roads , along with Light Rail , Subways in there cities and regional Rail / Intercity connects the cities and towns... Sadly in North America the Oil , Auto and Air Industry's have prevented the Rail industry from bouncing back like it did in Australia , UK and South America... They also have prevented development of alt fuels to oil.... Europe and Japan are way ahead in that dept. Auto use is on the decline and has been since 1995 , dropping 15% , Public Transit usage is on the Rise nationwide up 46% since 1995.

[AJNEOA]

Originally Posted by AJNEOA

Being someone who chooses to ride GRTC everyday back and forth to work, I can say that GRTC does not appear to be in a spot to expand service. I really really hope that BRT will get funding (maybe the 2015 bike championships will tip things in the right direction), but GRTC is frequently looking to drop service on routes that don't keep pace. Ridership is so-so, with the most service in areas where people can't afford a car. The failure of the counties to support PT reduces the benefit of a BRT system that they will most certainly not support.

I'm optimistic that service will get better, like GPS on buses (that would be huge, but still hasn't happened), but such a large investment would need to be backed by a different public perspective on PT and regional support.

Just had to call myself out, because I recently learned that GRTC is in fact developing GPS maps for all their bus lines, and will be putting out an app in the near future. The link below seems to go to a production-level site, but I think they're still testing; and the app isn't ready yet.

http://grtcbustracker.com/

[snatale1]

So by 2015 we may possibly have what other cities have had for decades? Way to go GRTC!

[Octa]

Originally Posted by AJNEOA

Just had to call myself out, because I recently learned that GRTC is in fact developing GPS maps for all their bus lines, and will be putting out an app in the near future. The link below seems to go to a production-level site, but I think they're still testing; and the app isn't ready yet.

http://grtcbustracker.com/

Yeah I was looking at that a couple weeks ago. It's something a lot of other transit services in other cities have. Glad to know GRTC will be releasing one soon.

[AJNEOA]

Originally Posted by snatale1

So by 2015 we may possibly have what other cities have had for decades? Way to go GRTC!

Richmond is certainly behind the times on this stuff, but I think it's more of the Richmond state of mind (and politics) than it is about GRTC.

[Octa]

From the GGDC site:

Richmond maps out a better transit network - Greater Greater Washington

[Anders15]

Originally Posted by Octa

From the GGDC site:

Richmond maps out a better transit network - Greater Greater Washington

Lol I'll believe that when I see it. This story comes up every 5-10 years. Even my grandparents tell me about them.

[VA Yankee]

Originally Posted by Octa

From the GGDC site:

Richmond maps out a better transit network - Greater Greater Washington

Nice dream, once again everything is center on downtown although most people probally work in the counties. You can't justify this kind of infastructure when the demand is not there.