(10-14-2010 02:11 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  Course, you could just build a 10 million dollar solid gold parking ramp staffed by hookers, but that don't gettem votes.

I wouldn't be so sure...

I thought MARTA rail was a pretty big failure, but I'm beginning to see that it being semi-responsible for its own cost of operation makes it one of the best. It goes where there people want to be (save Turner Field), and goes there rather unobtrusively.

(10-14-2010 05:33 AM)THE NC Herd Fan Wrote:  In Charlotte the Mayor is pushing to build a streetcar line (essentially a bus on rails) from downtown to the eastside ending at the Eastland Mall. Only problem is the Eastland Mall closed six months ago. Now there's talk of converting the Mall into a diverse shopping center (liberal speak for a Latin American Flea Market). Cost of the streetcar line.... between $500million and $1billion.

EAstland closed? I remember ice skating there.

Efficient urban transport starts and ends at the bus. The bus is cheap. The bus goes anywhere. Need more capacity? Buy more buses.

In hyper densely populated areas it starts to become viable to have subway, but very few places in the world reach that level.

Rail is only competitive in small niche markets for transport (Channel Tunnel, places where major metros are all huddled in fairly close).

(10-15-2010 08:44 AM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  Efficient urban transport starts and ends at the bus. The bus is cheap. The bus goes anywhere. Need more capacity? Buy more buses.

No kidding. See this picture?



That's an articulated bus powered by natural gas. You'd think it is the ultimate liberal wet-dream, the ultimate expression of all that they strive for - but no, they gotta have a street car line!

(10-15-2010 08:44 AM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  Efficient urban transport starts and ends at the bus. The bus is cheap. The bus goes anywhere. Need more capacity? Buy more buses.

Just as importantly, if you need less capacity you can get smaller buses. Places like my hometown don't need full-sized buses. But they can keep the same routes and schedules using smaller vehicles as they serve shrinking communities.

And perhaps moore importantly, you can change routes to accomodate changing demographics and geography.

(10-14-2010 04:30 PM)Raider_ATO Wrote:  I thought MARTA rail was a pretty big failure, but I'm beginning to see that it being semi-responsible for its own cost of operation makes it one of the best. It goes where there people want to be (save Turner Field), and goes there rather unobtrusively.

I'll ride MARTA downtown if I'm going to the Federal Courthouse simply because parking around there is a SOB.

(10-15-2010 10:18 AM)WMD Owl Wrote:  I'll ride MARTA downtown if I'm going to the Federal Courthouse simply because parking around there is a SOB.

Godd-damnn hippie.