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The almost exclusive use of the automobile for all commuting down here in the raleigh area may I say may be a big problem in the near future. look the price of gasoline is not ever going to be cheap again. we are now pushing 3+ a gallon and heading to 4 dollars a gallon. There are two amtrak trains that go north and south everyday. But there is no public transportation anyplace really in wake county!
Better find a way to build that rapid transit train service which was stopped last year!
if gasoline gets scarce, I would hate to have moved to a place that has no alternatives.
Public transportation would be nice. But it is going to be difficult as the Triangle area really doesn't have a center to it. Is it Raleigh, the state capital? Durham? RTP? Each of these areas, and others, draw commuters who travel to work. As people have moved to affordable areas convenient to their work locations, this has led to a low population density. And a high population density is a virtual prerequisite to building an affordable mass transportation system.
I've had friends who have tried to use the TTA system to get from Raleigh to work in RTP. Most have given up - what was previously a 20 minute commute became a 45-minute to 1hr commute which involved multiple bus transfers. The only ones I know who stick with it do a combo bike-and-bus transfer, riding their bike to the bus stop, catching a TTA bus to RTP, and then biking to their place of work.
A better bet seems to be carpooling, but this can be hard if the people who share the ride don't work near enough to each other or have non-standard hours. And as most of us in the tech industry know, non-standard hours are the norm.
Maybe a rail to the RTP and RDU area from like Wakefield/WakeForest area and another arm from Downtown to the park/airport area. Then another that takes you from RTP/RDU south to Apex. Sure would be nice.
The Triangle is far too spread out to find a suitable mass transit solution viable. A rail would simply not get people from where they live to where they need to be because there are neither significant concentrated housing pockets nor concentrated business pockets. Heck, if I am not mistaken the RTP even has specific rules on how much of each campus must be greenspace in order to create more space between. Rails won't be running out to Fuquay, Knightdale, Wake Forest, Holly Springs, Sanford, etc. As pointed out above, it takes longer to drive to a station, park, wait for your bus/train, get to your destination, and find transport to your place of business than it does to sit in traffic. Throw on the fact that not having your car at work mean getting pretty much no errands done and a very limited eat-ing out range and I see no reason for the city, as it exists today, to even think about an option. I work for the DOT and just in my group we have employees that live an hour away in every possible direction. There is now way to address that with a feasible option.
The Triangle is far too spread out to find a suitable mass transit solution viable. A rail would simply not get people from where they live to where they need to be because there are neither significant concentrated housing pockets nor concentrated business pockets. Heck, if I am not mistaken the RTP even has specific rules on how much of each campus must be greenspace in order to create more space between. Rails won't be running out to Fuquay, Knightdale, Wake Forest, Holly Springs, Sanford, etc. As pointed out above, it takes longer to drive to a station, park, wait for your bus/train, get to your destination, and find transport to your place of business than it does to sit in traffic. Throw on the fact that not having your car at work mean getting pretty much no errands done and a very limited eat-ing out range and I see no reason for the city, as it exists today, to even think about an option. I work for the DOT and just in my group we have employees that live an hour away in every possible direction. There is now way to address that with a feasible option.
Public transportation would be nice. But it is going to be difficult as the Triangle area really doesn't have a center to it. Is it Raleigh, the state capital? Durham? RTP? Each of these areas, and others, draw commuters who travel to work. As people have moved to affordable areas convenient to their work locations, this has led to a low population density. And a high population density is a virtual prerequisite to building an affordable mass transportation system.
I've had friends who have tried to use the TTA system to get from Raleigh to work in RTP. Most have given up - what was previously a 20 minute commute became a 45-minute to 1hr commute which involved multiple bus transfers. The only ones I know who stick with it do a combo bike-and-bus transfer, riding their bike to the bus stop, catching a TTA bus to RTP, and then biking to their place of work.
A better bet seems to be carpooling, but this can be hard if the people who share the ride don't work near enough to each other or have non-standard hours. And as most of us in the tech industry know, non-standard hours are the norm.
You've got it wrong. Lack of public transportation leads to urban sprawl. People will gradually come to use parking lots to access public transportation
and businesses and employment will locate near these stations. It takes some time, obviously.
For one thing, commute times only get worse. As people see they can access entertainment and get to work at times when they usually wouldn't want to be on the roads, downtowns will get more populated with commuters and suburban parking lots will fill up as you see you can get to that BBall game in Chapel Hill etc. even when the roads are jammed.
It's kind of silly to expect people to gather around and be ready to fully utilize transit stations that don't even exist yet, but that's what's required by the "planners" in today's political world.
Trouble is, planning requires a little bit of that "vision thing", so maybe some visionaries will step in before you have a hell like Tampa on your hands.
Don't you see? Because it won't be perfect immediately, it isn't worth trying.
Forget about the fact that millions of people drive to lots, eat Downtown, near work or near events, thereby creating business for more restaurants etc. and more life in the urban areas.
People even do a little shopping and carry bags on to the train without a car! Hard to believe, I know.
Too bad it's impossible. One more strip mall highway will solve the problem, or 2 or three.
The more you build, the farther out you have to move to live someplace quiet. The farther you have to drive, the more cars clog the road. Oh well.
I agree with Urbywan and Tampa Red. When are you guys joing to the Special Transit Advisory Commission? Lots of people feel the same way you do, but have been left in the dark and have no idea what the status of the light-rail project is. last I heard it was DEAD in the water . If anybody has an update, I would love to hear it.
This is what is currently on the website: http://www.ridetta.org/Regional_Rail/Overview/3-07LatestTransitNeeds.htm (broken link)
Next Steps
Updated: April 25, 2007
In August 2006, TTA announced that it would not file a “New Starts” report on the Regional Rail Transit Project with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for Federal FY 2008.
TTA, the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization (DCHC), Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO), Triangle J Council of Governments (TJCOG), NC Department of Transportation and Regional Transportation Alliance will work with the community as we rethink transit in the Triangle.
The Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization (DCHC MPO) and the N.C. Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) have concluded that providing well-planned and timely major regional transit investments is a very important part of maintaining the Triangle region’s current levels of transportation mobility, high quality of life and economic prosperity. Therefore, the MPOs have agreed to pursue the joint development of a Regional Transit Vision Plan for a regional transit system to serve as the foundation for making comprehensive, cooperative, and well-coordinated decisions on future major transit investments. The development of this plan should include a robust public outreach/community engagement effort and a process for establishing priorities for regional transit investments."
So what has been going on since August 2006?
I agree with Urbywan and Tampa Red. When are you guys joing to the Special Transit Advisory Commission? Lots of people feel the same way you do, but have been left in the dark and have no idea what the status of the light-rail project is. last I heard it was DEAD in the water . If anybody has an update, I would love to hear it.
This is what is currently on the website: http://www.ridetta.org/Regional_Rail/Overview/3-07LatestTransitNeeds.htm (broken link)
Next Steps
Updated: April 25, 2007
In August 2006, TTA announced that it would not file a “New Starts” report on the Regional Rail Transit Project with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for Federal FY 2008.
TTA, the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization (DCHC), Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO), Triangle J Council of Governments (TJCOG), NC Department of Transportation and Regional Transportation Alliance will work with the community as we rethink transit in the Triangle.
The Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization (DCHC MPO) and the N.C. Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) have concluded that providing well-planned and timely major regional transit investments is a very important part of maintaining the Triangle region’s current levels of transportation mobility, high quality of life and economic prosperity. Therefore, the MPOs have agreed to pursue the joint development of a Regional Transit Vision Plan for a regional transit system to serve as the foundation for making comprehensive, cooperative, and well-coordinated decisions on future major transit investments. The development of this plan should include a robust public outreach/community engagement effort and a process for establishing priorities for regional transit investments."
So what has been going on since August 2006?
Just came from that site Northraleigh guy. Those links don't work right sometimes.
Looks like a limited plan using existing facilities to start.
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Preaching to the Choir
. If anybody has an update, I would love to hear it.
