Regional transit system in Denver sparks ideas for Chatham County expansion (Savannah: 2015, neighborhoods)

[Airforceguy]

It's nice to see CAT thinking big like this. It would be nice one day for the city of Savannah to have a modern streetcar system linking downtown and neighborhoods.

CAT Board Chairman Pete Liakakis said he plans to host a workshop with leaders from across Chatham County and Coastal Georgia. The CAT board will invite Chuck Sisk, a member of the RTD board of directors, to discuss his organization with these community leaders.

Speaking by phone from Colorado on Tuesday, Sisk said that like CAT, RTD encountered its share of resistance when work began to develop the regional transit system. The first attempt failed to get enough voter approval to move forward. But the second time, he said, armed with facts and support from the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, the project was approved.

“It was a resounding victory in people coming together,” Sisk said. “What we were able to do is really go out and find out what was feasible.”

In the time since, Sisk, a former mayor of the town of Lousiville, Colo., said he’s learned that transportation is an enormous driver of economic activity in the Denver region.

To get to that point meant coming up with the right proposal and enticing the skeptics to try public transit, he said.

“I’m no expert on anything of any sort, other than the fact that I know that I don’t know much,” he said. “I can certainly talk about transportation as something that is vitally important for your economic development and working with private sector to make a difference. That’s so important. It can’t be government by itself.”

In other business Tuesday, Shalonda Rountree, marketing and business development manager at CAT, reported that the transit organization is working to boost ridership on CAT’s Airport Express shuttle.

In the face of a host of competitors to transport travelers to and from the airport — taxis, shuttles, trolleys and the rideshare service, Uber — CAT is working to get creative with its marketing and promotions.

Regional transit system in Denver sparks ideas for Chatham County expansion | savannahnow.com