Is Tampa Bay big enough to support rail lines?

[chi_tino]

Originally Posted by DUNNDFRNT

say I live within walking distance to bay to bay and bayshore, its a 15 min ride to downtown, $5 to park, a negligible amount of gas, why would i want to jump on a light rail unless i was going to drink? South Tampa is already a short commute and reverse one from those places, the idea of saving $50 a month is not going to entice me to pack a train and have to listen to people being too loud on their phones, look at the other demographics in the city of tampa, central tampa, tampa heights, do you think the majority of the people work downtown or in westshore?

It's funny you should bring that up. HARTline DID have an exclusive bus trolley (4 of them, actually) from 2003-2007 dedicated to running between the Hyde Park/South Howard area and downtown. The economics were something like this:

annual cost: several hundred thousand dollars
frequency: 2,580 trips/month
ridership: 1.6 riders per trip at a maximum fare of 50 cents/trip. That is not a typo. They were running a full route that was making $0.40 to $0.80 in total revenue per trip.

From the Tampa Downtown Circulator Study Final Report issued in 2007 that was the nail in the coffin: "There was virtually no ridership activity on the segments between Downtown Tampa and Hyde Park."

Don't worry, some busybody in South Tampa will soon come up with a "GREAT IDEA" to do the same thing of spending another dollar of taxpayer money to get back a nickel of revenues.

Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.

[thethinktank]

Originally Posted by chi_tino

From the Tampa Downtown Circulator Study Final Report issued in 2007 that was the nail in the coffin: "There was virtually no ridership activity on the segments between Downtown Tampa and Hyde Park."

Don't worry, some busybody in South Tampa will soon come up with a "GREAT IDEA" to do the same thing of spending another dollar of taxpayer money to get back a nickel of revenues.

Fortunately, no one here is suggesting this and it has absolutely nothing to do with the proposal we're discussing, which will not run lines in South Tampa.

[things and stuff]

Originally Posted by TXRyan23

So the proposal is to tax 1.3 million residents to build a train that will benefit a maximum of 25% of the population?

Good luck getting the voters of Hillsborough County to pass that.

This is one of the most logically flawed "arguments" that I always see pop up when it comes to mass transit.

Funny, you don't think that way when it comes to rural roads or other more common services. Hell, the idiots of Tampa are spending $6m on a Bass Pro Shop! (lol)

BTW: everybody benefits from mass transit, just like everybody benefits from adding extra lanes to roads. It takes traffic off the streets and increases the attractiveness of the city to actual educated people and entrepreneurs with money. You also save lives and money by reducing drunk driving.