Dave Barry’s column welcoming people to the Superbowl in Miami has some interesting comments on Miami’s rail transit system.
Miami’s rail system “does not go to many other places that many Miami residents would like to go, which is why most of them do not use it,” says Barry. “To them, the Metrorail train is a mysterious object that occasionally whizzes past over their heads, unrelated to their lives, kind of like a comet.”
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Barry does not mention the commuter rail for good reason: it is so insignificant that he may not even know about it. More than 80 percent of transit trips in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale area are by bus. Eleven percent are on the elevated line, 6 percent on the people mover, and less than 2 percent are on the commuter-rail line. Of course, 99 percent of motorized travel in the area is by automobile, so even the bus is irrelevant to most Miami residents.
Despite the confusion over terms, Barry’s basic insight is valid: few people regularly use rail transit. Other than in New York, people in most rail urban areas, including my hometown of Portland, regard rail transit — when they think about it at all — as something totally unrelated to their lives.
The AntiPlanner: …people in … Portland, regard rail transit … as something totally unrelated to their lives.
jk: Sadly rail transit is VERY related to Portlander’s daily lives:
It is mostly responsible for the horrid traffic congestion that Portland suffers today. For instance the westside light rail line removes about
1/4 of one lane worth of traffic off of US26, the freeway that it parallels. Its 18 miles cost $1BILLION. That length of US 26 could have added a lane at a cost of $5-10 million per lane mile or $180 -360 million. 1/3 the cost for 4x the benefit! (BTW, the cost would be closer to $180 mil because the right of way exists as flat land next to the current US26.)
LIGHT RAIL COSTS TOO MUCH, DOES TOO LITTLE .
The wasting of money on toy trains is a major reason Portland has horrid congestion problems.
With the completion of our latest toy train tracks, Portland will have wasted over 2 BILLION, enough to double deck over 67 lane miles of freeway. That probably would have prevented our congestion problem.
Thanks
JK
From another blog:
JK: If we don’t consider cost, the best transportation would be on demand helicopter. Just pick up the phone and 5 min later you are picked up in front of your condo (or on the roof) and whisked to you destination at 50mph.
* Gets cars off the roads
* Supports bicyclers by leaving the asphalt to the bikes.
* Supports peds by returning the streets to peds and bikes.
* Frees up freeways for trucks.
* Saves time over any other mode.
* Lets us stop building those awful roads and still have excellent mobility
* This is Portland’s opportunity to become a world leader in the transportation of the future!
* Portland can become a world leader in manufacturing heliocopters.
This is truly the perfect solution for the region’s transportation problems. Come on guys – get behind this one – it is a winner on all evaluation criteria.
Thanks
JK
Other than in New York, people in most rail urban areas, including my hometown of Portland, regard rail transit  when they think about it at all  as something totally unrelated to their lives.
You must live a sad, sheltered life. I could feel sorry for you if I chose to, but you’ve made a choice.
This evening, I rode light rail to downtown for a zoning seminar. The seats were full in the car until about 2/3 of the way up the line. This past Saturday, the famdamily rode rail to the Home & Garden Show and the cars were SRO, and the parking garage fullness required us to go to the second level to park, and we were at the end of the line. ~Two weeks ago, the famdamily went to a Mammoth game and SRO, with everyone getting off at Pepsi Center (I mean, what f’n moron wants to drive to pay parking downtown?) Whenever I go downtown, very commonly half the cars empty 1/2-2/3 way at University. Downtowners in Denver and Seattle drivers (my most recent cities with transit), being rational and not stupid, often eschew congestion and parking fees to ride transit to avoid headaches, morons driving with phones in their ears, and parking fees.
That is, they exercise their freedom of choice in their mode of transit. They refuse to be slaves to SOV transit, unable to make a choice.
Yeah. So I guess it’s unrelated to all these people’s lives.
DS
DS is right that rail is a good, rational choice for some. However, I have yet to be convinced that any transportation choice should be subsidized in planning, construction, or implementation. I have no right to use government force to help myself to someone else’s resources without their consent, and until rail can be built and run without government involvement, theft will always be involved.
I have no right to use government force to help myself to someone else’s resources without their consent, and until rail can be built and run without government involvement, theft will always be involved.
You may, davek, want to help some of these folk think thru the idea that tearing down buildings or taking portions of private parcels to build wider roads is a good idea, as gov’t force will be required.
DS