Light Rail - Where and how do we get started! (Cleveland: apartments, hotel)

[WILWRadio]

Indianapolis is apparently is developing a light rail system. I just saw a thread about this on the Indianapolis forum and it is quite an ambitious plan. Rail lines run to suburban communities and airport in what appears to be 3 or 4 lines. Blue, Red and Green lines. Looks like a Light Rail gap is developing with Cincinnati and some of its metro area neighbors. :-)

[WILWRadio]

Cincinnati ranks 46th out of the metro areas in terms of the percentage of its population using mass transit. I think this is one reason why so many people are reluctant to embrace the idea of building a light rail system in Cincinnati. My guess is that once people demonstrate that they are willing to use the bus, then more people would be willing to support the light rail concept here.

[cali3448893]

Originally Posted by WILWRadio

Cincinnati ranks 46th out of the metro areas in terms of the percentage of its population using mass transit. I think this is one reason why so many people are reluctant to embrace the idea of building a light rail system in Cincinnati. My guess is that once people demonstrate that they are willing to use the bus, then more people would be willing to support the light rail concept here.

Is that based on metro?

[unusualfire]

Originally Posted by WILWRadio

Cincinnati ranks 46th out of the metro areas in terms of the percentage of its population using mass transit. I think this is one reason why so many people are reluctant to embrace the idea of building a light rail system in Cincinnati. My guess is that once people demonstrate that they are willing to use the bus, then more people would be willing to support the light rail concept here.

When you consider much of the metro don't have access to mass transit. Of course.

[WILWRadio]

List of U.S. cities with high transit ridership - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Based upon total commuters going into work I think.

Not sure if this is based upon a specific criteria such as a maximum half mile walk to a stop for example and then looking at the population that lives within a half a mile of a stop. Can't really count people in a study that live an unreasonable distance from a stop. But if they use the population in the region that lives near the mass transit lines and then look at the percentage of ridership of that population, then you can get an accurate idea of what the real percentage of ridership is for the region.

[natininja]

Originally Posted by WILWRadio

List of U.S. cities with high transit ridership - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Based upon total commuters going into work I think.

Not sure if this is based upon a specific criteria such as a maximum half mile walk to a stop for example and then looking at the population that lives within a half a mile of a stop. Can't really count people in a study that live an unreasonable distance from a stop. But if they use the population in the region that lives near the mass transit lines and then look at the percentage of ridership of that population, then you can get an accurate idea of what the real percentage of ridership is for the region.

After a quick glance, it seems everywhere above Cincinnati on that list either is a college town or has rail transit, except Honolulu, which is currently building an elevated rail line.

[jmecklenborg]

That list is idiotic. There's no reason why Boston and Cambridge should BOTH be listed ahead of Cincinnati. I mean, the red line subway CONNECTS Cambridge to Boston. There are at least 10 other examples on this list...PATH connects Jersey City to Manhattan, duh.

Also, don't get fooled by the "commuter" thing...commutes often constitute just 30% of trips in an area. This means a system designed around commuting patterns to the exclusion of everything else misses out on 70% of possible trips. This is why slow streetcar systems are getting such high ridership -- they might not get many commuters, but they get a bunch of the 70% of the trips a commuter rail line or commuter bus can't get.

[lipued]

I think the best role model for Cincinnati light rail is Metrolink of Saint Louis, which connects downtown to U of Missouri, Lambert airport and Greyhound terminal with only one line. It can function as a airport railway, urban railway, and commuter railway in one time. This will be the best choice for cities like Cincinnati-which has lots of rail haters and dispersed populations.

[natininja]

^ I wouldn't say the population is especially dispersed. The individual neighborhoods of the city are fairly dense, making the well-defined neighborhood business districts natural places for transit stops. If you are talking about the metro, there are concentrations of population near the interstates, especially north on 75 and east on 71, such that a park & ride system would work well with lines following these population corridors into the burbs.

Despite the engineering challenge of topography, the layout of the city is very conducive to transit. In part because the hills, valleys, and water features help to concentrate development into natural nodes and corridors.

[Bhiggins]

Hopefully from the high amounts of expected ridership from the new streetcar lines, people will see that having a light rail would not only be an economic powerhouse for areas near where stops are built and park and ride areas are made, but it would also bring the Cincinnati-Dayton areas closer together and another step closer to being known as a single MSA entity. It could even help Dayton's population loss struggle and maybe lessen the fall.

By the way, no matter what topography there is, if you're good at engineering you can figure out ways to make the topography either blend in, compliment, or preserved from destruction.