Baton Rouge Transportation

[Antrell Williams]

Nicholson Drive is the best corridor to put this on, no doubt. I hope they pick something attractive and permanent. With good planning and management this will boom. However, one problem I see when I look at the horizontal section pictures is the rail only being in one lane. Does this mean that they want to run one "car" at a time between I-10 overpass and LSU? I can see this being problematic.

No, they show two forms of transit with the bus and the rail itself. They are just visualizing two different forms of transit on one image since there have been talks of BRT as well as rail along Nicholson.

 

I don't see BRT being popular, we already don't have trust in our current bus system, and there is a significant negative stigma with riding a bus. I'm sure visitng football fans would rather "take the train" than "take the bus" to Tiger stadium.

[ehyfield]

This thing has GOT to have ROW too.

[cajun]

Allowing Interstates to be tolled would most likely lead to 10-12 being tolled through the city while the loop would remain free of tolls. Tolls are best when used as a means to control (discourage or promote) use on certain roads, not as a means to pay for them. Austin is considering a similar proposal right now, their new toll roads haven't met projected vehicle counts and may default on their bonds. However I-35 through downtown remains congested, tolling I-35 and making the current toll roads free, to alleviate congestion, is the current proposal floating around Austin to solve their traffic woes.

Tolling people who use the freeways as commuter corridors will likely apply as much pressure on employers to leave the city as it would commuters to return to the city.

It's controversial at best, and it would not go over well in a town with a horrible surface street grid.

I think it would be best to leave the existing freeways without tolls, but use them when necessary to establish new infrastructure, such as a loop or a west side highway to service those plants.

I really wish Louisiana would spend money upgrading it's existing highways and adding new highway infrastructure - especially in the Capitol region. I'd like to see more freeway links to other areas, like Jackson, Shreveport, Natchez, and Monroe/Little Rock. I think Antrell posted a map not long ago that almost read my mind on that.

Edited September 12, 2014 by cajun

[cajun]

This thing has GOT to have ROW too.

It will be a huge failure that will require a rebuild inside of a decade if they are unable to establish dual rail lines within the Nicholson corridor that are separated from street traffic.

Rail sharing lanes with cars are incredibly stupid and a colossal waste of money. You might as well run a bus if the train is going to get stuck in traffic or cause traffic backups at transit stops.

The Baton Rouge rail system should act like a street car around LSU and in downtown, but it should move faster and completely independent of cars and trucks on the Nicholson corridor in between them.

If it takes more than 15 minutes to get from Tiger Stadium to the parking decks downtown, it will be an empty, unused train. People don't celebrate public transit in the south and they don't care about carbon footprint when it's 90 degrees outside. Public transit actually has to provide value, convenience, and a very good alternative to the air conditioned automobile.

People in cars are going to hate a train that blocks traffic every couple of hundred yards, and they definitely aren't going to get out of those cars if the trains are going to be stuck in traffic jambs too.

Houston figured it out. It's not impossible. This can really work but not if the trains will share lanes with cars on Nicholson.

Edited September 12, 2014 by cajun

[Antrell Williams]

Tolling people who use the freeways as commuter corridors will likely apply as much pressure on employers to leave the city as it would commuters to return to the city.

It's controversial at best, and it would not go over well in a town with a horrible surface street grid.

I think it would be best to leave the existing freeways without tolls, but use them when necessary to establish new infrastructure, such as a loop or a west side highway to service those plants.

I really wish Louisiana would spend money upgrading it's existing highways and adding new highway infrastructure - especially in the Capitol region. I'd like to see more freeway links to other areas, like Jackson, Shreveport, Natchez, and Monroe/Little Rock. I think Antrell posted a map not long ago that almost read my mind on that.

So where would you propose tolls?

 

Yeah my I-51 proposal went from Houma or Gonzales to meet up with I-530 in Pine Bluff, AR hitting all the cities you mentioned.

 

I agree on a statewide level. I can see Lafayette becoming a nightmare in the next 15 years.

[Mr. Burnham]

No, they show two forms of transit with the bus and the rail itself. They are just visualizing two different forms of transit on one image since there have been talks of BRT as well as rail along Nicholson.

 

I don't see BRT being popular, we already don't have trust in our current bus system, and there is a significant negative stigma with riding a bus. I'm sure visitng football fans would rather "take the train" than "take the bus" to Tiger stadium.

Things are changing, earlier this week I had to go to the lake for a visit and I actually saw a bus with a lot of people...and get this...they were white. There were maybe five black people on board. 

 

I'm not trying to be racist, it was just a very unusual sight to see. The bus appeared to be one that served the SMD area. 

 

Thinking about this...would it be a good idea to only let certain buses stick to a specific area? An example would be  a fleet of buses only for the SMD, a fleet of buses only for downtown, garden district, and LSU, and then a fleet of buses for North BR, and then a fleet of buses that serve key locations for the whole city? I guess in some ways it could be segregation, but I feel that it would be the only way to get people to ride the buses. 

 

[authors note: fleet in this case means three to five buses. In total the number of buses needed for the type of plan above would be around twenty] 

[Mr. Burnham]

A step in the right direction:

CATS trolly could expand service to the Garden District: http://theadvocate.com/news/10466980-123/cats-trolley-could-bring-service

[itsjustme3]

CATS supporters are like women with battered wife syndrome. We all know how you're going to get hurt yet they keep hoping things will change.

Edited October 8, 2014 by itsjustme3

[Antrell Williams]

Where's the bus shelters? This is the south, people don't want to stand next to a pole in the ground or a beat up bench under the hot sun. CATS is much much better, but, still so so far behind.

[ehyfield]

It sounds like adding lines is more important than taking care of the lines they have now.

[greg225]

Hope Baton Rouge allow a private company to take over CATS and bring them in to the future.  I love to see more of rail style system and Bus Rapid Transit system.

[richyb83]

Hey Greg225...Welcome to the BR Forum! Looking forward seeing many more of your post

 

Sounds like a good plan...Solid 1st Post!

[Antrell Williams]

CATS is doing well for now. I'd rather see a regional transit authority to be established, so that areas such as Livingston, WBR, and Ascension can be served as well.

[Mr. Burnham]

CATS is doing well for now. I'd rather see a regional transit authority to be established, so that areas such as Livingston, WBR, and Ascension can be served as well.

I'm not too familiar with what CATS was like before I moved here, but if its getting better thats great. I think a regional transit authority would be great, but I would like to see it privatized. If no regional authority is created then I think that if CATS was privatized it would eventually grow into a regional authority. 

[Antrell Williams]

I'm not too familiar with what CATS was like before I moved here, but if its getting better thats great. I think a regional transit authority would be great, but I would like to see it privatized. If no regional authority is created then I think that if CATS was privatized it would eventually grow into a regional authority. 

Neither am I, actually. It was very small and only had a couple buses. I don't like the idea of privatization due to the incentive to make money versus provide the best possible transit. Transportation isn't out to make money, it's purpose is to move people and goods.

Cajun said there have been programs that were privatized and work well though.

[Mr. Burnham]

Neither am I, actually. It was very small and only had a couple buses. I don't like the idea of privatization due to the incentive to make money versus provide the best possible transit. Transportation isn't out to make money, it's purpose is to move people and goods.

Cajun said there have been programs that were privatized and work well though.

The thing is that privatization would cause for the service to get better. People will not use the buses if the service sucks which would cause the company to loose money which would make them improve the service to make money. If it is public then the system can suck but still get funds and nothing changes. Privatizing it would idealistically provide stronger incentive to improve the system.

At least that is my understanding of the privatization argument.

[ehyfield]

But....privatization means higher cost, because now it is for profit or as I like to call it "Priced for Progress". That could squeeze out the market it was there for to begin with.

[Mr. Burnham]

But....privatization means higher cost, because now it is for profit or as I like to call it "Priced for Progress". That could squeeze out the market it was there for to begin with.

That is true, but those higher costs would not be a fixed price. As the service is improved and marketing expanded so would ridership, that would mean the cost of using the service would go down. It would be high for a while, but it will by no means be high forever.

[ehyfield]

I hope so, but with inflation and salaries, I can't completely agree. Prices go up, they don't go down. But hey! gas prices are down.

[Antrell Williams]

That is true, but those higher costs would not be a fixed price. As the service is improved and marketing expanded so would ridership, that would mean the cost of using the service would go down. It would be high for a while, but it will by no means be high forever.

I don't have much confidence that prices would ever go down. Businesses are in it for the money, not to be fair.

[richyb83]

[Antrell Williams]

Let's see how this works out..

[Mr. Burnham]

Let's see how this works out..

I'll let you know

 

No I won't, it doesn't pass through my neck of the woods. I honestly don't know who the hell is going to use that because it does not go anywhere useful, they could have at least made stops closer to all the highschools there. #fail 

 

If they were smart they would have a Corporate and Acadian line, it would get a lot of usage and connect the whole area more. Not to mention the lack of lines in the LSU area or am I looking at the wrong map...

Edited January 7, 2015 by mr. bernham

[Antrell Williams]

This doesn't sound too bad, would be nice if it was free for 6 months or so as a trial run. The target market is probably a little older than high school, most students won't have the money to patronize these businesses on the route.

 

This isn't a bus system so that's why they aren't going that far out to Corporate. LSU has a bus contract with a private company, you may have seen the Tiger Trails buses around?

[Mr. Burnham]

This doesn't sound too bad, would be nice if it was free for 6 months or so as a trial run. The target market is probably a little older than high school, most students won't have the money to patronize these businesses on the route.

 

This isn't a bus system so that's why they aren't going that far out to Corporate. LSU has a bus contract with a private company, you may have seen the Tiger Trails buses around?

Nope, no Tiger Trails, and CATS rarely if ever stops by the bus stops in my area. 

 

I did see the trolly the other day while leaving SJA and it would have been so easy for them to bring it by Richland, Longwood, Broussard, and even Claycut.