BRT Can Bring New Development - Just Ask Cleveland

[exnewsman]

Bus rapid transit system could be the boost region needs, experts say
Detroit Free Press, 2012-02-25

By Matt Helms, Detroit Free Press

Feb. 25--It won't be easy or cheap, but creating a new bus rapid transit system could help metro Detroit restore reliability to public transportation, attract new riders and spur economic redevelopment, national experts said at a forum Friday.

Gov. Rick Snyder's office and other regional leaders hosted the meeting at the Ford Education Center at the Detroit Zoo to encourage support for a bus rapid transit, or BRT, network on 110 miles of major roads in southeast Michigan, operated and managed by a new regional agency with representatives from Detroit and its suburbs.

Supporters say the idea is a strong, regional agency that would force coordination and efficiency on overlapping city and suburban bus providers, and create the basics of a greatly improved public transportation system connecting Detroit to key suburbs, Metro Airport and Ann Arbor.

"I believe we have the political capital and will to do this," said Scott Anderson, a transit consultant and project manager who helped put together an earlier version of what is now metro Detroit's BRT proposal.

It would provide a new form of rapid transit the region has never had, but supporters say one of the biggest benefits of the proposal is the promise of greater cooperation among existing bus providers. The regional agency would have broad power to manage and coordinate routes among Detroit's and the suburban SMART bus systems, and could withhold federal funding from those that don't oblige.

Representatives from transportation agencies in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Cleveland told how the speedy, modern rapid transit buses helped improve service, boost ridership and attract redevelopment in their cities. Cleveland -- a Rust Belt city like Detroit that many had written off -- has seen $4.3 billion in economic expansion along its main thoroughfare, Euclid Avenue, equivalent to Woodward in Detroit.

Cleveland also considered a rail line for Euclid -- as Detroit did on Woodward before Snyder and Detroit Mayor Dave Bing rejected it late last year as too costly -- but chose instead a $200-million BRT line. BRT costs far less than the rail line, at an estimated $800 million, and added more than 2 miles to the route.

The result: Ridership grew more than 50% over earlier numbers on traditional buses after the service kicked off in 2008, operating more regularly and trimming the route's travel time to 32 minutes from 45.

"If our attitude was rail or nothing, it would have been nothing," Greater Cleveland Regional Transportation Authority general manager Joe Calabrese said at the forum.

But Calabrese and others acknowledged that building a successful BRT system in metro Detroit won't be simple. A proposal backed by Snyder, Bing, the region's county executives and others could cost $500 million or more and would require voters in southeast Michigan to approve a tax increase -- perhaps a $40-$60 annual increase in vehicle registration fees -- to pay to build and operate the system.

Sean Libberton, director of the office of capital initiatives for the Federal Transit Administration, said federal funding can help build the BRT system, but metro Detroit would have to win a competitive grant that generally has required local regions to pay half the construction costs.

The proposal would create BRT lines connecting downtown Detroit to Mt. Clemens along Gratiot; to Birmingham or Pontiac via Woodward; to Dearborn, Metro Airport and Ann Arbor along Michigan Avenue and I-94, and through Oakland and Macomb counties along M-59.

[thelakelander]

^After visiting Cleveland and the Euclid Corridor right after it was completed, I'd say there's a lot of malarkey in this article.  However, much of it I've heard before over the years.  Here's why I say its malarkey.

1. The Euclid corridor was already anchored by Cleveland Clinic, University Hospital, Case Western Reserve University, Little Italy, and an impressive museum district.  All of these places were already in full expansion mode and their expansions had little to do with mass transit, especially BRT.  This would be similar to deciding to run a bus or LRT down Town Center Parkway and claiming Whisky River, SJTC, and UNF are transit oriented developments.  Bull at best.

2.  Cleveland already has a heavy rail system that connects the area (mentioned above) to downtown.  The Euclid corridor, now known as the Health Line, is simply a complement to the existing rail system.

3. I'd argue that the benefit of the Health Line was the conversion of Euclid into a context sensitive/complete streets makeover.  In addition to BRT, its got better street lighting, sidewalks, bicycle lanes, new utility lines, landscaping, wi-fi, etc.  It really is an impressive makeover.  However, its much more than a dedicated busway.  That's 100% different from what Detroit and Jacksonville are proposing and why it cost a whopping $200 million.

4. Detroit is a community that badly needs economic reinvestment.  The BRT alternative being pushed by some there is not going to bring the type of economic revitalization that their LRT proposal will.  This isn't a slight on BRT, it's simply the true.  I believe BRT proponents do the system and mass transit, in general, a great disservice when they promote it as something it isn't.  Because when it fails to deliver the propaganda used to sell it, all mass transit takes a credibility hit.

[thelakelander]

Here are a few images of Cleveland's Health Line BRT from my trip there:



Here, the BRT shares the lanes with cars.  However, a massive streetscape was done, making the corridor visually appealing.  In this image, Case Western Reserve University is on the left and Wade Park is on the right.  Wade Park is home to several top quality cultural institutions such as the Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and the Cleveland Institute of Music.



This image was taken at the intersection of Mayfield Road and Euclid Avenue.  The building under construction (at the time) is the University Hospital's Seidman Cancer Center.  This project is included in the $4.3 billion economic development number BRT advocates claim the transit project stimulated.  Something tells me that cancer center would have been built at the hospital regardless of  BRT or rail.  By the way, this area is known as University Circle and its where the new BRT line meets the red line (heavy rail).



Cleveland already has a heavy rail line (red) and two light rail lines (green & blue).  Below is a picture of the blue line.





^ A BRT station in front of the Cleveland Clinic.  The BRT system was renamed the Health Line after the hospitals around University Circle purchased naming rights.  Another shot of Cleveland Clinic at Euclid & 89th below.





Instead of widening the road for bus lanes, they took two through lanes out and dedicated them for buses.  On street parking was removed for wide bicycle lanes and sidewalks.  The Health Line is basically a straight shot between downtown Cleveland (background) and the University Circle medical/education/cultural cluster.  In short, two strong and already vibrant pedestrian scaled urban centers.  Detroit's Woodward doesn't offer the same contextual pedestrian scale opportunity.



Euclid's makeover in downtown Cleveland's Theater District.



Euclid in the heart of downtown Cleveland.

As you can see in the images, the Health Line BRT corridor is pretty impressive.  However, it's clearly a complete streets makeover combined with a pre-existing pedestrian scale environment with anchors who were already expanding regardless of transit.

[wsansewjs]

Dang thelakelander,

You totally debunked the article to smithereens! BRT is never always a good idea for Jacksonville.

It is like giving a whole bottle of liquor to a long-time alcoholic. Same old same shit with same old result.

-Josh