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Everybody seems to enjoy beating up on the Santa Fe extension on the rail runner. Why? Is there any basis to believe it won't get a good ridership?
After having to drive around Santa Fe yet again today and dealing with the morons who populate its streets, I'll jump at any chance to take the RR rather than driving, and I don't think I'm the only one. Santa Feans also descend on Albuquerque for shopping, events, and airport. Keeping them off our streets would have a very noticeable effect on traffic.
Everybody seems to enjoy beating up on the Santa Fe extension on the rail runner. Why? Is there any basis to believe it won't get a good ridership?
After having to drive around Santa Fe yet again today and dealing with the morons who populate its streets, I'll jump at any chance to take the RR rather than driving, and I don't think I'm the only one. Santa Feans also descend on Albuquerque for shopping, events, and airport. Keeping them off our streets would have a very noticeable effect on traffic.
I certainly was not - just didn't address it here because it had nothing to do with my question. I wish I never never had to drive. Hate it. We need more trains to get everywhere we go. My eyesight sucks and I have no choice except to drive or stay home. I wish I could afford to live close to where I work but ironically where you can take buses is usually expensive to live.
I believe that getting more cars off the road needs to be done for the environment no matter what the cost. We're killing the earth and eventually ourselves with pollution. I think it is fantastic that NM is creating the Rail Runner and my friends that live there think so too. Don't lump us all into the "everyone."
Yeah. It's a huge expense for what might turn out to be a thinly used extension of the rail.
I share your enthusiasm for using it rather than make the drive to Santa Fe. You left out the morons who are on the road from Albuquerque *to* Santa Fe (on I-25).
However, many people are of the opinion that if you are spending money on mass transit, it is good no matter what. The RR is not a proven success in the city yet.
> I believe that getting more cars off the road needs to be done for the environment no matter what the cost.
There ya go. A million dollars a mile? Ten million? "No matter what the cost?" Yeah. Go for it. $10,000 a ride? You betcha!
Building RR out to Santa Fe is a lot like some of the loop roads and such that you regularly rail against in this forum. People think that spending money on a road, any road, is a good idea - no matter how inefficient the money is being spent.
If the citizens of New Mexico would support a tax to pay for the RR (I would), then I'd be for building it to Santa Fe. However, it is already a fact that this extension has depleted highway funds and now needed road improvements are being put on hold because of it.
I agree than mass transit funding has an optimum and returns diminish after that point, and that some want it pushed beyond its optimum. I do not believe that to be the case here.
I think the RR extension has little in common with some of the loop roads I've heard proposed. I'd guess there are about 300,000 people within a three-mile radius of a RR station. For the proposed belt roads, I'd imagine that number would be under 50,000 and would stay that way for the next few decades. I also think there is an order of magnitude difference in the construction cost per mile (with the RR being 1/10 the per-mile cost of freeway).
I don't think the fiscal connection between rail runner funds and highway funds is as clear cut as people make it out to be. With the way federal money works, it may not be a 1:1 ratio. The rise in construction material costs is mainly to blame; surely the huge surpluses this state gets from oil and natural gas could cover the shortfall if the legislature was so concerned.
Widening I-25, I-10 and US491 are worthwhile projects, but I feel like the rail runner extension will accomplish a similar goal to I-25's widening. Much of its congestion (and probably a disproportionate number of traffic-stopping accidents) come from Santa Fe commuters. I haven't been out between Tularosa and Vaughn lately, or out near Jal, but I think if improvements have to wait a few more years in those places, it won't throw this state into chaos.
Widening I-25, I-10 and US491 are worthwhile projects, but I feel like the rail runner extension will accomplish a similar goal to I-25's widening. Much of its congestion (and probably a disproportionate number of traffic-stopping accidents) come from Santa Fe commuters. I haven't been out between Tularosa and Vaughn lately, or out near Jal, but I think if improvements have to wait a few more years in those places, it won't throw this state into chaos.
I agree that it will help with the congestion, however I think I-25 still needs expanded. 3 Lane up to Santa Fe, 4 From Alameda to Gibson, 3 Sunport to Los Lunas. I-40, in my opinion should be expanded to 5 lanes in certain areas. Just my opinion.
I'm guessing that there is no one on the forum who can share their experience, but you can go here to find out when the shuttle runs:
New Mexico Department of Transportation - New Mexico Park and Ride (http://nmshtd.state.nm.us/main.asp?secid=14635 - broken link)
Then, you can find out what it's like simply by buying a ticket and trying it out at the time(s) you are curious about. Bring a book or some magazines and enjoy the ride.
I've often found that is the best way to learn about such things.
You might get some one responding who is all mad that they can't afford the commute any longer in their single-occupant vehicle and doesn't give the ride a fair shake.
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Commuting Between Albuquerque And Santa Fe Via Bus?
