Phoenix's light rail ridership reaches new records...

[thelakelander]

I guess rail can work in sunbelt sprawlers:

Light-rail ridership set a new record in October, the second month in a row Metro has reached higher levels. Metro tracked 1,258,711 boardings last month, an 8 percent increase over one year ago.

The record was set during a month of 55 special events within a half-mile of the line, with an estimated attendance of 603,500. October had a large number of conventions, the Arizona Diamondbacks reaching the playoffs and Arizona State University football games.

Metro averaged 45,867 daily weekday riders. The system also set a record for Saturday, with 36,725 daily riders.

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/local/article_77776dea-066b-11e1-985e-001cc4c03286.html#.TspeNGNNXBY

[JeffreyS]

"Sprawlers" who invest in themselves not those that pass Mobility Fee Moratoriums to invest in insider GOB developer's vacation fund instead.

[Ocklawaha]

I'm sure this is an error, after all, local Jacksonville geniuses 'KNOW' that just because its rail doesn't mean any more passengers will ride it then our bus system.

Yeah, well.

OCKLAWAHA

[Lunican]

Congress approves $35.5 million for Mesa light rail extension

At the same time Congress deadlocked on a deficit deal, Washington managed to approve millions to begin a 3.1-mile Metro light rail extension into downtown Mesa.

The $35.5 million allows Metro to begin the first stage of the project in late spring or early summer.
Transit officials had long been concerned the funding could dry up even with the Obama administration including the project in the federal budget. But Congress eventually signed off, and Obama signed the bill this week.

The amount awarded was about 5 percent less than requested, but that's still enough to get started, said John Farry, Metro's government relations director.

Full Article:
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/local/article_44bfd854-161c-11e1-a145-001cc4c002e0.html

[thelakelander]

The project is a high priority for the Federal Transit Administration, said Mike James, Mesa's transit administrator. The agency wants to use Mesa as an example of how transit can bring economic development through what it calls a New Starts transit program.

So it's not all about moving people from point A to B with minimal effort....

[Ocklawaha]

I sure wish we had a piece of that development pie. Frankly parts of our initial 'commuter rail' dream would be better off as a light-rail system (we've imagined many stops WAY TO CLOSE TOGETHER for a conventional train). Sadly our misleaders think eliminating the very mechanism to fund either type of mass transit will get more development.

We have a transit system today that has a low ridership percentage to our total population. The reasons are myriad, but lack of seamless connectivity or fluidity are two of the larger faults. 

OCKLAWAHA

[thelakelander]

^I assume you're talking about the North commuter rail line.  From my understanding, its envisioned as more of a hybrid between traditional commuter rail and LRT.  Oprational/station spacing characteristics such as Oceanside's Sprinter and Philly's SEPTA come to mind. Nevertheless, all the proposed stations between DT and the Trout River probably won't be built. Depending on the technology chosen, its also too early to lock in a set route 100%.

[Ocklawaha]

Correct Lakelander. The north route/routes as well as the immediate west side routes are vastly more logical as Light Rail. I would think the idea of the city/state purchasing all of the railroad lines in the plan and leasing the operations back to the freight railroads is the smartest way to go.

Light Rail just like its grandfather, the classic interurban typically follow existing railroad rights-of-ways even though there may be no physical sharing of track. Light Rail can handle a joint freight-passenger operation provided the safety rules set by the Federal Railroad Administration are followed.

Once the cut-off from the JaxPort trackage to the CSX mainline off US-1 is completed the freight usage on everything south of the JaxPort rail connection would be very light, light enough to operate LRT or Streetcar by day and freight by night.

One concern that we should investigate is why CSX wants to rebuild the Gross cut-off between Gross and Callahan rather then following the local high voltage transmission line right-of-way across north Jacksonville. Following the local transmission right-of-way would do two major things for the city:

It could move truck traffic currently crisscrossing I-95/I-10 between the port and the CSX/NS intermodal yards as well as the Cecil Commerce Center.

It would also keep dozens of jobs in Jacksonville (Moncrief/Simpson yards) rather then exporting those jobs to Waycross. The Gross cut-off traffic would logically be handled in Georgia, further reducing the size and importance of our west side railroad yards.

OCKLAWAHA

[tufsu1]

The project is a high priority for the Federal Transit Administration, said Mike James, Mesa's transit administrator. The agency wants to use Mesa as an example of how transit can bring economic development through what it calls a New Starts transit program.

So it's not all about moving people from point A to B with minimal effort....

not anymore...change in Administration led to a change in FTA criteria

[thelakelander]

One concern that we should investigate is why CSX wants to rebuild the Gross cut-off between Gross and Callahan rather then following the local high voltage transmission line right-of-way across north Jacksonville. Following the local transmission right-of-way would do two major things for the city:

I don't think its anything sinister.  Doesn't CSX already own the abandoned railroad ROW they want to add track back on?  On the other hand, the transmission line ROW isn't JEA owned ROW.  The majority of it is an utility easement over hundreds of individually owned private properties.  Quite frankly, we'd be better off purchasing all track to the ports and operating them as a municipal owned railroad giving the port direct access to all rail carriers in Jax.

[fsujax]

Great articles. It is great to see these systems being successful. If only we would have made these decisions 10 years ago or so to build LRT and not listen to the "we are not dense enough" crowd. We could be on these lists. As it stands I guess we will be lucky to get commuter rail up and running.

[exnewsman]

The project is a high priority for the Federal Transit Administration, said Mike James, Mesa's transit administrator. The agency wants to use Mesa as an example of how transit can bring economic development through what it calls a New Starts transit program.

So it's not all about moving people from point A to B with minimal effort....

That's exactly what the feds said about the Skyway project when they were pitching that to Jacksonville back in the 1970s.

[thelakelander]

^If we would not have screwed it up, I think the skyway project would have turned out just fine.  When looking back at the history, it just seems like we did everything we could to not make it work.  Btw, by screw up I mean:

1. Not building the original proposed alignment connecting Shands to the courthouse on Bay Street.

2. Not expanding it to the stadium as originally planned.

3. Not properly integrating it with the rest of the bus system.

4. Not integrating downtown land use policies/municipal project planning with this mass transit investment.

5. Not directly tying it in with significant locations of employment with parking issues (ex. Shands, Baptist, etc.).

[Tacachale]

^I don't know about "fine", but it absolutely would have been better. And if it hadn't turned out like it has, we would have much less public resentment and skepticism about public transit in Jacksonville. That's the real tragedy of the Skyway.

[fsujax]

and the flight of businesses out of Downtown, certainly did not help ridership. Many of the Skyway park and ride lots that were once full are now empty!