Star Metro IS A JOKE (Tallahassee, Panama City: hotel, utilities, quality of life)

[triumphantmale]

Who's idea was it to come up with a system where all buses meet up at one stop. that makes time so slow. They are always too early or real late. Seems that everything run by the City of Tallahassee is horrible from the utilities to the public transportation..I think the terrain of tallahasse is fine, the atmosphere is ok but it could be improved drastically if the public services was up to par.

[HeartofFlorida]

It was actually the best alternative given Tallahassee's spoke and wheel layout and population. Anything else would have yielded a much lower return versus operational costs.

No comment on everything else (if you know what I mean) .

[ferret111]

Since Tallahassee has practically no grid outside of a half-mile radius centered on Downtown, they're very limited as to how they set up the bus lines. I've never had a problem with the system and one benefit of the downtown hub is that you'll never miss your connecting bus. StarMetro has a Nova 2010 plan which will eliminate most of the activity at the bus terminal, but the plan hasn't really been put into place. At all, I think.

[Imalith]

Originally Posted by ferret111

Since Tallahassee has practically no grid outside of a half-mile radius centered on Downtown, they're very limited as to how they set up the bus lines. I've never had a problem with the system and one benefit of the downtown hub is that you'll never miss your connecting bus. StarMetro has a Nova 2010 plan which will eliminate most of the activity at the bus terminal, but the plan hasn't really been put into place. At all, I think.

Concentrating on the Gaines Street renovations currently.

[ferret111]

Originally Posted by Imalith

Concentrating on the Gaines Street renovations currently.

Isn't that pretty much knocking it down to two lanes? I'm glad it will complement knocking down Tennessee to four.

[ApalacheeCD]

My complaint with the bus system is that it ignores obvious lines of high use on Weekends and Holidays, namely the shopping centers on East Tallahassee and Fallchase. Both the A and the E buses need to run on Sundays and later into the night on all evenings. Also, there needs to be a bus that goes all the way to Apalachee and Chairs road and also Mahan and I-10. If you build it, then they come.

[ApalacheeCD]

Note to HeartofFlorida:

And that is the rub. Transit Systems don't make a profit and usually lose money; rather, the whole idea is to improve quality of life and move people. Potential employers and retailers will move here when they can see a grid to benefit workers and customers. Revenue is then gained from the taxes that both will bring in, on the back end. But it takes vision and a willingness to invest in yourself in order to see that, which our leaders lack.

The problem is that Tallahassee is a Capital City that doesn't want to be a capital. It is so afraid of South Florida-styled sprawl, that it is holding onto this South Georgia / South Alabama / South Mississippi way of doing things. Everything is geared toward anti-growth. No building can be taller than the Capitol building, as if the State wants to eternally give "The Finger" or "The Shaft" to anyone driving up Apalachee. Years ago, Hilton wanted to build a 25 story hotel and was rebuffed because it would overshadow the capitol. To continue, Wild Adventures theme park was originally offered to Tallahassee. All they wanted was some (still) unused land in South Tallahassee. The result? Valdosta got Wild Adventures.

To continue, I-10 was supposed to swing further South between Madison and Monticello, and would have been what we now call Apalachee Parkway. The highway would have threaded between FSU and FAMU. Instead, to protect some stupid trees, we now have an Interstate ten miles north of downtown, welcome visitors via that ugly, crowded, sidewalk-less gateway called North Monroe Street. Way to go, Capital City!

The last and most embarrassing thing is the way in which Panama City was awarded the new International Airport because they submitted a higher bid. But then again, we shouldn't be surprised: Any Capital City that can't even hold onto its own area code (904, which was before 850), doesn't deserve to be recognized by the rest of the world!