The "amazing" Euclid Avenue Healthline in Cleveland, is now everybody's favorite BRT. It was a bargain compared to the 25 million JTA plans to blow on Philips Highway. Cleveland payed $200 million for 7 miles of "the finest BRT in the country," even though they have a rail system, both light and heavy called The Rapid which many say could have been extended along this corridor for half of that cost. Remember though that CUTR and other highway promoting transportation think tanks have told us that BRT can carry more then RAIL and FASTER too, they say, "BRT is just like rail only cheaper!" So JTA is plunking down our hard earned bucks to get in on this bargain. Quote
healthline-bus.jpgView full sizeJohn Kuntz, Plain Dealer fileThe new Healthline bus was named the Sierra Club's Cleveland Auto Show Vehicle of the Year in 2009.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- RTA's HealthLine -- a bus/rapid transit touted as a faster, more efficient way to travel Euclid Avenue -- is moving at about the same slow pace as the bus it replaced.
Cleveland is still adjusting traffic lights on Euclid Avenue from Public Square to the Stokes/Windermere rapid station in East Cleveland to shorten the bus trips, nearly two years after the $200 million Euclid Corridor project was completed.
A westbound bus ride during weekday mornings and evening rush hours along the 7.1-mile corridor averaged 44 minutes instead of the 33 minutes it is supposed to take, according to the latest data provided by the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority for the first three months of this year.
The 44 minutes was just three minutes faster than the No. 6 bus that the HealthLine replaced.
An eastbound trip during the same time period averaged 36 minutes.
Buses may be moving slower because the city, in trying to adjust the traffic lights, disconnected a component in the signals that allows a bus to continue in its dedicated lane through an intersection, even though the light has turned red for other vehicles.
So the articulated buses are currently traveling at the same pace as traffic.
"I am very disappointed with the performance of the Euclid Corridor," said Brad Chase, chairman of RTA's Citizens Advisory Board, which pressured RTA to release the run times. "It is much nicer and ridership is up, but timing-wise it has never really made it."
Chase, who lives in downtown Cleveland and works in University Circle, has taken the HealthLine since it opened on Oct. 27, 2008. But he sometimes chooses the rapid.
"I know that [the rapid] is not going to stop at traffic lights," he said. "This [the HealthLine] is supposed to operate like a train but on wheels and it is just not there. It can be. We have the equipment but need to program it properly."
SOURCE:
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/07/healthline_buses_moving_slower.html
OCKLAWAHA
When will people learn that a bus can not operate like a train on wheels? I think the misconception of BRT actually is may be its worst downfall. People should stop attempting to sell it as an alternative to any form of rail and call it what it really is......reliable bus service.
too the contrary there are those that work inside JTA that believe BRT is NOT rail on wheels! This is a blatant falsehood that is sold by FTA!
...And now a word from our friends up in Massachusetts. This is where the big-dig brought about the SILVER LINE, premiere BRT of New England. Remember Jacksonville citizen, JTA plans to bring this to you - like it or not - because THEY know better then WE. The way the Authority is set up we have VERY LITTLE influence over them due in part to being a State Agency, they can pull rank or hide behind Tallahassee and the FTA. JTA also plans to blow $12 million dollars on just the Philips Highway route which not unlike Boston's situation is RIGHT ALONGSIDE the railroad. Today for a dollar, one can ride from the Avenue's Mall to downtown, and tomorrow, for $12 million dollars, one can ride from the Avenue's Mall to downtown. Make's sense doesn't it?QuoteTHE SILVER LINE - OR SILVER LIE
The highways that are built to sustain our sprawling suburbs add to our pollution and energy problems, and increase our dependence on an auto-centric way of life which is unhealthy, anti-social, and unsustainable. The Sierra Club encourages public transit and pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly neighborhoods.
Silver Line - or Silver Lie?
The Silver Line is the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's (MBTA's) so-called Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line, running in two, unconnected sections, from Dudley Square in Roxbury to downtown Boston, Massachusetts and from South Station to several points in South Boston and to Logan Airport in East Boston. The Silver Line is planned to be built in three phases; only phase I and part of phase II have been completed. Phase III, a connection between the two sections, is planned for some time after 2013. Silver Line buses are wheelchair ramp equipped using a kneeling bus and a flip-out ramp. (courtesy of Wikipedia)
But no matter what color you paint a bus, it still gets stuck in traffic. Over 15 years ago, the MBTA â€" after tearing down the elevated Orange Line â€" promised equal or better service. For 15 years, that service was a dirty diesel bus that contributed to residents' suffering asthma rates six times higher than the state average. Now the MBTA has unveiled its equal or better plans: building an elaborate tunnel system underneath downtown Boston so buses can turn around. Otherwise known as the "Silver Line Phase III," this plan will cost millions more than using existing tunnels and restoring light rail service on Washington Street. Even MBTA studies showed using the existing tunnel for Green Line-type service is only a matter of new lights and tracks, a substantial savings.
What's wrong with the Silver Line?
* A rail tunnel already exists that can serve Washington Street and the Roxbury community, tying them directly into the Green Line to Downtown and the rest of the MBTA’s subway system.
* Light rail will cost hundreds of millions of dollars less to implement than a new bus system.
* A new bus tunnel will require tearing up the newly refurbished YMCA, large swaths of Chinatown, the Theater District, and the Boston Common.
* A new bus tunnel will require tearing up large swaths of Chinatown, the Theater District, Bay Village, and the Boston Common. Construction of a portal will entail massive disruption to the abutting neighborhood, whatever location is finally chosen for it. Possible locations include in front of the fire house on Columbus Avenue at Berkeley Street, beside the Tufts New England Medical Center, and in front of the Mass Pike Towers apartment complexâ€"possibly requiring the demolition of several residential buildings. Most of the tunnel will be constructed through filled land, endangering groundwater levels and the stability of the many nineteenth century buildings along its route. Whatever the portal location is finally chosen, the buses will be emerging from the tunnel into a congested urban environment, turning on their diesel engines immediately adjacent to thousands of neighborhood residents and hospital patients.
In times of fiscal crisis, the MBTA should look at ways to do more for less. Since the MBTA already stated that rail service would increase ridership by 2 to 2.5 times that of a bus and cost $800 million less, we should make the switch to light rail.
More information
* MBTA's Silver Line - Taxpayers Get Less for More, Comprehensive Report on the Silver Line
* Chinatown is Not a Dumpster, South End News 10/26/2006
* Light Rail Makes More Sense for Washington St. Corridor, An Op-Ed from the Sierra Club and the Washington St Corridor Coalition.
* MBTA's Silver Line Website
* Silver Line Alignment Illustration
* Sierra Club Position on the Silver Line
* Sierra Club Comments on SL Phase III Project Change
Get Involved!
SOURCE: THE SIERRA CLUB with the BOSTON GLOBE
http://www.sierraclubmass.org/issues/conservation/silverline/sl2.html
Quote
The Kane County Chronicle reports the suburban-Chicago county is looking at the Silver Line as a way to improve bus service along a crowded corridor. Officials there are looking forward to dedicated bus lanes and manipulating traffic signals to speed buses.
Wait, what did you say?
* The T
* Silver Line
QuoteComments
Transit managers obviously don't use transit
By Arborway - 12/26/08 - 10:09 pm
#1
She said the main attractions for BRT are the concept’s relative flexibility and its relatively low cost.
“With BRT, you can adjust the system to whatever your needs are,†Stewart said. “And it reduces the amount of money you need to spend to still get the same kind of high quality.â€
“There is a lot of flexibility with BRT,†she said. “It’s a tool-kit approach.
“It can be as much or as little as you want or need it to be.â€
BRT has become such a buzzword in the past few years because the FTA has favored it over LRT, and the standards for what constitutes BRT are vague at best. You can pretty much apply the label to any transit project you want. From dedicated busway with elaborate stations, to a shiny bus driving through mixed traffic, stopping at simple metal poles marked "Bus Stop".
Transit planners love this because they can create a "transit line" that is portrayed as being equal to that of light or heavy rail with minimal initial investment (it usually costs more to run a bus route than a light rail line). Minimal investment bringing minimal results. Replace a 40’ bus with a repainted 40’ or 60’ bus (depending on the whims of the MBTA that day), paint “Bus Lane†on a few hundred feet of street and you’ve got Silver Line Phase I. Compared to light rail it costs more to operate, holds fewer passengers, requires more frequent vehicle replacement and generally offers lower ride quality.
Though I guess if you are going to replicate failure, at least replicate the least spectacular failure of the bunch. The Silver Bus Line on Washington doesn't really qualify as "rapid transit" by any stretch of the imagination, and the T doesn't even guarantee riders a full-sized bus, but it avoids some of the pitfalls of the shinier Waterfront line, and the subsidy is only $0.48 a rider, as opposed to $9.16 on Phase II. The top speed is higher too, with the Waterfront branch hitting an average of only 12 MPH in the $618 million dollar busway.
Sadly the service quality ratings for Phase I are dropping.
SOURCE: THE UNIVERSAL HUB
http://www.universalhub.com/node/22394
OCKLAWAHA
The other day I watched JTA's Making Moves. They obviously know that the citizens of the First Coast do not think BRT is as good as rail, however they say that BRT will compliment the future commuter rail, not compete with it. Any idea what they mean by "compliment" it?
That's something only JTA could answer. However, I will say if it is being designed to complement rail, why not build the more important rail-based spine first? Condiments like ketchup and mayo are great but they lose their appeal when you don't have the fries or burger first.
Quote from: thelakelander on September 26, 2010, 03:43:22 PM
That's something only JTA could answer. However, I will say if it is being designed to complement rail, why not build the more important rail-based spine first? Condiments like ketchup and mayo are great but they lose their appeal when you don't have the fries or burger first.
Makes more since, huh? I'd love to give JTA benefit of the doubt, in hopes that there plan works, but in times like now where money is tight, we cannot "afford" to give JTA benefit of the doubt. But you know how JTA is, despite the needs and wants of the customer, there going to do what they want first, so lets just hope it works out. Look at it like the JRTC project, we ALL tell them the design/layout is terrible and it promotes sprawl (6 blocks for a transportation center, C'mon now), not to mention the fact it looks like a school in the suburbs, but they have no desire to listen to the customers concern, and 9 times out of 10, that ugly design/layout is the one they are going to use when building the JRTC.
arb........they might change their tune, if the bovines had to pay for it out of THEIR pockets! This is a continious problem with JTA......pie in the sky plans ona water budget! They don't have to pay for it, just you. me and the rest of the taxpayers!
Yeah haha. If they had to pay for commuter rail or BRT, commuter rail would be first because its totally cheaper and obviously would attract more people than BRT (more customers = more money). I just think they want the funding from the government and us for the BRT because it cost more, so less money will be spent by JTA when they go to do the commuter rail. I'd love to sit and have a chat with Micheal Blaylock, and see what his plan is for OUR future transit needs, then maybe I would understand why JTA is choosing BRT first, instead of the commuter rail.
I can not explain just why JTA is either stupid or just blind to factual information! They appear to operate on another plane or demension because it darn sure ain't this one! If one is wrong, then own up to it and change your plans............don't play like the Titanic and mush on over hill and dale! As to future plans, not real sure that they have any, other than lots more concrete coming...... on that you can make book!
Your right, I could write a book, no one would buy it though. Just like JTA's BRT plans, no one is buying it (Get it haha, I'm lame). But nothing we can do to change their minds, so lets carry on and hope for the best in the long run.
Obviously the Mayor of Winnipeg has NOT read the glowing reports out of Florida, about the stellar success of BRT. The NATIONAL BRT Institute is a part of the Center for Urban Transportation Research (AKA: CUTR) at University of South Florida. Here is where it gets fun, CUTR is funded at USF largely by the STATE OF FLORIDA which then uses their theories to implement Mass Transit throughout the state. This might be okay except at the other end of this same pipeline is JTA, ALSO A STATE OF FLORIDA AGENCY. So if you wonder why the little state with the huge population continues to completely F*** up every effort at Transportation excellence go to the root. We certainly have an uphill battle.
Here is a fun sidebar for the highway crowd to chew on and digest...
This argument inaccurately compares the capacity of highways and rail transit to move passengers. A look at any transportation engineering manual will tell otherwise. According to the Highway Capacity Manual, highway operations are described as Level of Service (LOS), ranging from LOS A to LOS F. Peak highway capacity is typically regarded as LOS E (2,000 passenger cars per hour per lane). If you multiply that number by the Average Vehicle Occupancy (AVO) which averages 1.25 persons, you get 2,500 persons per lane per hour on a highway. For transit, a typical 6 car train can carry 750 passengers. Running at 20 trains per hour, per direction, that equates to 30,000 passengers. It would take a twelve lane freeway going in one direction to equate the same amount of capacity of one light rail line.QuoteWinnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Katz keen to move on LRT
Mayor asks staff to devise plan
By: Bartley Kives
Posted: 17/04/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 6
Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz has upped the ante in his dispute on rapid transit with the province by formally asking city staff to come up with a business case to develop a light-rail system.
The city is in the midst of building the first phase of the Southwest Rapid Transit Corridor, a $137-million busway that will connect Queen Elizabeth Way near The Forks to Jubilee Avenue at Pembina Highway. All three levels of government are contributing to the 3.6-kilometre busway, which is slated to be finished in 2011.
But Katz does not want to proceed with the second phase of the busway, a six-kilometre extension to Bison Drive near the University of Manitoba. The province has offered at least $63 million toward the $220-million project, but the mayor wants to spend the funds on road and bridge projects instead.
Earlier this year, Katz called on Premier Greg Selinger to fly with him to Ottawa to lobby the Harper government to fund an LRT system. But the province has been cool to the idea.
Now, Katz wants city staff to compare the costs and benefits of building light-rail transit against those of bus rapid transit -- and recommend prospective light-rail routes, technologies and funding options, including a strategy for obtaining money from the provincial and federal governments.
"If you're building a city for the future and you want to motivate people to come to the city and keep the people that are here, light rail is the way to accomplish this," Katz said Friday.
The mayor said it's a myth light rail transit costs six times more than busways. One kilometre of bus rapid transit costs approximately $38 million, he said, claiming light-rail transit at street level costs about $50 million per kilometre while elevated light-rail transit costs about $70 million per kilometre.
Katz plans to take his light-rail plan to executive policy committee on Wednesday and ask city staff to produce a report within 90 days, at a maximum cost of $100,000. That report would be given to council in July, in the midst of his re-election campaign.
SELECT COMMENTS: (Some deleted dealt with local politics and were not transit based)
Posted by: bazookajoe
April 17, 2010 at 4:01 PM
As a relatively new Winnipeg resident who moved here 2 years ago from Edmonton, one of the things I miss greatly is the lack of LRT in this system. Anybody who prefers BRT over LRT has not spent any substantial time in a city where LRT is an option. LRT regularly has 3-6x the ridership for similar routes and it's for a good reason.
I completely agree with Katz; lets not waste our money on a BRT that people will want upgraded into a LRT years down the road. Just build the LRT first.
Posted by: watchingout
April 17, 2010 at 12:20 PM
This is one issue (maybe the only one) where Katz is thinking ahead of everyone else. LRT is greatly superior to BRT in the longterm, and would be a real boon to the city. I look forward to seeing the plans, and hope it's serious and well thought out.
SOURCE: Winnipeg Free Press
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/katz-keen-to-move-on-lrt-91180484.html
OCKLAWAHA
Quote from: arb on September 26, 2010, 09:29:15 PM
Your right, I could write a book, no one would buy it though. Just like JTA's BRT plans, no one is buying it (Get it haha, I'm lame). But nothing we can do to change their minds, so lets carry on and hope for the best in the long run.
Never assume that there is nothing you can do to initiate change. We can do a lot by being vocal. Being vocal is what got JTA to end their idea of turning Adams Street into a bus mall, BRT from being a $1 billion dedicated busway plan, and pay for streetcar and commuter rail studies using the S-Line as a part of the north corridor. Where there is a will, there is a way.
I agree lake! If we the people, continue to irritate and flabregate and bamboozle with accurate concise figures that those bovines at JTA can not refute........I mean what the heck "BRT is cheaper than rail" right? Something is wrong with this picture and until the lights go on or they are convinced about the validity of LRT.....I for one will not let up one bit!