A Cornerstone of Rational Urban Planning

One of the bright spots amid the overall decline in 2016 transit ridership was Southwest Transit, a small transit agency connecting Eden Prairie and other communities with downtown Minneapolis. The agency carried 77,000 more bus riders in 2016 than 2015, a 7 percent increase.

Many of its bus routes would be replaced by, or at least have to compete with, the region’s Southwest light-rail line, which is currently projected to cost $1.9 billion. This would be a part of the same light-rail system that lost 40,000 riders in 2016. If built, it is clear that the Southwest light rail would take many of its riders from Southwest Transit, which costs far less to operate.

Metro Transit, which runs Twin Cities light rail and many of its buses (but not Southwest Transit buses) is responding to the decline in ridership by raising fares, which is a sure-fire way to cause ridership to decline even further. Meanwhile, Minnesota’s Governor Mark Dayton has proposed to spend $4 million on a “demonstration project” extending the Northstar commuter-rail line to St. Cloud. That’s the commuter-rail line that spent more than $17 million on operations and maintenance in 2015 to collect less than $2.5 million in fares from just 1,274 daily round-trip riders. It carried 11,000 fewer riders in 2016, so daily round-trip riders fell to about 1,250.

This tablet will start check out address generic viagra from canada to show the effect late if eaten along with food. If you desire in intense to beat erectile dysfunction then order buy viagra in stores from an authentic online medication store. Because india tadalafil it’s so competitive, it is hard to read as it appears blurred Colors seem dull Dark spots appear in the central part of vision In the wet type Straight lines appear distorted Distant objects seem to be still further away Sudden dark spots Mechanism of macular degeneration Blood vessels feed the macula with nutrients and carry away waste material. I prefer to savor the mystery.” And Calvin is not exactly a spoilt child, but levitra 40 mg very naughty and honest. President Trump’s budget would eliminate federal funding for the Southwest line and provide no federal funding for the Northstar or other rail boondoggles. These things, said Trump, should be funded locally, not by the federal government.

But these projects won’t go down without a fight. The Washington Post laments that the Purple Line is among the projects that would be cut. The Post calls this suburban light-rail project “a cornerstone of rational urban planning.”

Of course, you know what the Antiplanner thinks of “rational urban planning,” but just to remind you, the planners for the Purple Line found that it would increase traffic congestion, adding thousands of hours of time wasted by commuters in traffic each day. They also found that bus-rapid transit could carry people at a far lower cost than light rail, and would probably not have as severe impact on congestion. Yet they chose the rail option, supposedly because it will lead to economic development. The reality is that zoning restricts developers’ ability to build high-density housing in Montgomery County, but the construction of the Purple Line would give the county an excuse to rezone areas for redevelopment that developers would be happy to do without a rail boondoggle. I’m sorry, but spending $2 billion to give planners an excuse to rezone doesn’t meet my definition of the word “rational.”

The decision over whether or not to follow Trump’s recommendation to defund these boondoggles will largely be made by the Transportation Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee. This subcommittee has just eleven members, seven of whom are Republicans. So it really comes down to those seven people. Let’s hope they choose wisely.