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Heavy rail might be more efficient but looking at the maps which will have the most coverage?
Honestly while the maps are all impressive I really do not know Denver or Portland weel enough to understand how these routes will fit.
On ridership levels which is likely the least arbitrary I would suspect the heavy rail options will out-perform the light rail options even if they cast a wider web.
The challenge with all PT is that where you live and where the destination/s are what makes a system good or bad to each individual. I know personally there are things I almsot always use the subway for and others I do not.
But these plans all seem very good and ambitious and will likely benefit all the areas. Now whether they all actually get built is usually another story. it seems for LA the are very vigilant to get these built and in a fairly aggressive timetable
Honestly while the maps are all impressive I really do not know Denver or Portland weel enough to understand how these routes will fit.
On ridership levels which is likely the least arbitrary I would suspect the heavy rail options will out-perform the light rail options even if they cast a wider web.
The challenge with all PT is that where you live and where the destination/s are what makes a system good or bad to each individual. I know personally there are things I almsot always use the subway for and others I do not.
But these plans all seem very good and ambitious and will likely benefit all the areas. Now whether they all actually get built is usually another story. it seems for LA the are very vigilant to get these built and in a fairly aggressive timetable
I was thinking the same thing. Most cities have ambitious plans for their future public transportation but I've lived long enough to know future plans and future reality are often two very different things.
LA's are already in the works. Phase 1 of the Expo Line to Culver City will be complete next year. Phase II in production will be completed to Santa Monica.
The money has already been appropriated for it.
The next step will be the Van Nuys light rail (or bus) but most people think it will be light rail into Westwood/Century City.
Heavy rail might be more efficient but looking at the maps which will have the most coverage?
If you are talking about coverage as in areas of the city accessible by rail only I would say MARTA. Portland looks like it is going in the right direction.
LA, Denver and DART are in the same boat, running before they learn to walk. I mean, they cover huge land areas, but the actual coverage is far apart, so the systems are heavily bus dependent. You have heard me say this before, but I am all for extensive coverage in the central city and if anything, commuter rail to the burbs.
Anyway, this is my favorite Rail system from the ones that I have used:
I've ridden light rail in LA and Dallas and also MARTA in Atlanta so I'm a little familiar. IMO with MARTA being heavy rail it's a little unfair to have them on this list. The same goes for LA's heavy rail portion. Just considering light rail and the cities on this list I'd say LA will win for sheer size and ridership numbers, but grading on a curve to account for the different populations, I'd go with Portland. Portland's light rail system is more important to it's metro than ours is in LA. I'd like to rate Denver higher but it's current ridership is so uninspiring that I can't.
For the current coverage aspect, MARTA's central city coverage is pretty hard to beat. It has direct heavy rail access to:
- Downtown
- Midtown
- Buckhead
- Perimeter (the biggest office district in the city)
- Three major shopping malls (Lenox, Phipps, Perimeter)
- Three pro-sports teams (Falcons, Hawks, Thrashers)
- Two major research universities (Georgia State, Georgia Tech)
- Some of the best HBCUs in the country
- The airport, of course, with a station inside of the main concourse
- Dozens of museums and parks
Most stuff of tourist and business interest is accessible by the system--it blows my mind that people pay $30 for a cab downtown from the airport when the subway goes there directly every 7 minutes for $2.00 in the same amount of time.
The issue with MARTA and the reason locals often scoff at it is that Atlanta is extremely sprawled out and heavy rail is very expensive to extend to the burbs, so most of the city's population doesn't have a particularly easy time using it.
Also, MARTA itself doesn't have an extremely bright future, but transit in Atlanta on the whole is a bit better off.
LA's are already in the works. Phase 1 of the Expo Line to Culver City will be complete next year. Phase II in production will be completed to Santa Monica.
The money has already been appropriated for it.
The next step will be the Van Nuys light rail (or bus) but most people think it will be light rail into Westwood/Century City.
LA's rail projects to be completed this decade more or less in order:
Expo I
Expo II
Gold Line Foothill
Crenshaw
Purple Line MOS-1
Downtown connector
Anything beyond that would take 30/10 being approved by congress. All of the rest would be completed between 2020 and 2038.
L.A.s train to the Sea seems like one of the best ideas. It also has a lot of backing and funding but some pretty serious opposition as well atleast in a few neighborhoods. All in all it's going to take a pretty good amount of time to get back to where it was in the 1950's. (There were trolley cars connecting Santa Monica to Downtown L.A. back then). Well actually it will be better than then as the light rail will be higher speed than the old trolleys and have subway connections as well.
Although some of the plan maps seem to have pretty good coverage I think Atlanta has pretty strong ridership with it's heavy rail for a number of reason's and will continue to strenghten this with future plans largely because of
1. Much of Atlanta's development has been in and around the train stations. For example Lindbergh Center, Centennial Park Development, The Lennox Square area, Ga State Development, etc.
2. Atlanta's rail system has been in place longer (since 1979) so riders are more familiar and comfortable with or used to using it.
3. A very large number of Atlanta's greatest attractions and important places of commerce are right at or within easy walking distance of train stations.
Hartsfield Int. Airport, CNN Center, Underground Atlanta, Centennial Park, Ga Aquarium, World of Coke, Peachtree Center, Ga World Congress Center, Ga Dome, Phillips Arena, Atlanta University Center, High Museum of Art, Woodruff Arts Center, Civic Center, Ga State, A major Medical Center, Lennox Mall, Phipps Plaza, Perimeter Mall, are just some.
In addition, Georgia Tech, Atlantic Station and Turner Field although somewhat long walks from a station provide free shuttles to train stations.
During major events Marta is often jammed. As well as during some rush hours.
If you are talking about coverage as in areas of the city accessible by rail only I would say MARTA. Portland looks like it is going in the right direction.
LA, Denver and DART are in the same boat, running before they learn to walk. I mean, they cover huge land areas, but the actual coverage is far apart, so the systems are heavily bus dependent. You have heard me say this before, but I am all for extensive coverage in the central city and if anything, commuter rail to the burbs.
Anyway, this is my favorite Rail system from the ones that I have used:
I see what you are getting at H-Town however just as with anything of this magnitude it's going to take time and with time lines that once seemed far apart may be joined together by other lines to fully integrate the system. Just look at NYC they are still building extensions and their system is one of the best, you have to start somewhere and when the demand is high enough more lines will be built to better integrate the system and to expand it. The rail plans that you see are not set in stone things may change for the better or for the worse but there is always room for improvement. BTW the paris system looks amazing WOW!
I ride DART everyday(don't drive) and wish they would focus more on the buses instead of all the emphasis on rail. The rail is mainly for those who have cars, but don't wish/want to drive them to their place of work(usually Downtown) and the bus riders are usually the more transit dependent. The bus system in Dallas is pretty whacky sometimes when trying to get somewhere. They(buses) could also use a lil TLC as some of them are downright unsanitary!
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