The Transportation and Mass Transit Megathread

[ATLBrain]

I saw a much more recent study from 2006(?), but I can't place it at the moment. It consisted of about a half-dozen routes through downtown that run north-south and east-west and incorporate the new bus depot. I remember the Nolensville/4th Ave leg would be done first through downtown and link up with 8th on the north side. The routes I saw are to be BRT would be forerunners to LRT routes. I know I'm not imagining this, so does anyone have a link to that report? I do recall the map with that study did not have the route you posted above. I was surprised that it did not have an emphasis on the Church/Broadway corridors.

[MidTenn1]

This was apparently from a study done in 1999 to put a light rail system in Nashville. Does anyone know any details?

I attended a presentation regarding that a few years ago. The western terminus would be in the White Bridge Road area where a proposed commuter rail from the west (Kingston Springs/Bellevue) would drop passengers off. The vehicles would roll on tracks, much like a trolley, down the middle of the street (ala Madison Street in Memphis) employing technology to change traffic lights to green to maintain a continuous movement. I thought he said passengers would board from platforms in the middle of the road.

It was to leave West End at 16th and go down Demonbreum Street. I wasn't aware of a line through downtown and across the river. The streets are way too narrow I would think for a downtown route.

Regardless of the timing of the commuter rail, this line needs to go in.The West End/Mid Town area is booming with restaurants, hotels and office buildings and a line like this would be a boon to tourism. Especially with the new Convention Center going in. Forget ball parks, etc. Build this line!!

[Wild Style]

Phofks,

you think maybe they could do elevated commuter rail through the downtown? That sounds a bit more feasible.

[Hankster]

I saw a much more recent study from 2006(?), but I can't place it at the moment. It consisted of about a half-dozen routes through downtown that run north-south and east-west and incorporate the new bus depot. I remember the Nolensville/4th Ave leg would be done first through downtown and link up with 8th on the north side. The routes I saw are to be BRT would be forerunners to LRT routes. I know I'm not imagining this, so does anyone have a link to that report? I do recall the map with that study did not have the route you posted above. I was surprised that it did not have an emphasis on the Church/Broadway corridors.

I believe this is the study you are referring to:

It's from the Nashville Civic Design Center

Website

Blue Network:

Represents the primary routes for rapid transit service, which requires a dedicated lane on those streets so that the transit vehicle

[ATLBrain]

That's it. Thanks.

[Nashville_maestro]

Wow! That's a pretty impressive plan!

I know that all of those red routes are currently privately owned with the exception of the Lebanon/knoxville line which is currently being used by the RTA. Does the MTA have plans to purchase these rails? Broadway -specifically union station- would be a fantastic location to merge the lines sense it could easily serve midtown as well as downtown. Plus it would boost union station hotel's buisness by a significant margin I would think.

Establishing a BRT would be very wise before even considering a light rail as light rail is usually suppose to be used in conjunction with busses to really be effective. The only cities that come to mind that don't really fall into that category are Boston (built around its rail system) and New York (uses heavy rail and a hefty taxi service to suplimemt). Chicago and LA even require busses. (LA is the champion of sprawl though)

I would think that an elevated track (a la chicago) would almost be a must for certain parts of downtown -namely church, union, & 2nd. It would simply be too much of an undertaking to widen these roads by even a lane. I would think it would be much shorter and less expensive to just slap an elevated track there.

[Wild Style]

^^

Elevated or submerged is what I think is the best way to go in many areas.

Edited March 1, 2008 by Wild Style

[MidTenn1]

^^

Elevated or submerged is what I think is the best way to go in many areas.

Because downtown is built on an acropolis, the best functional solution to providing some sort of rail transit would be to go underground. Otherwise, I think you would have to accomdate some short, steep grades to enter the business district in addition to finding room for the rails.

It would cost more to go subway, but at least I think it would be done right.

[Wild Style]

Because downtown is built on an acropolis, the best functional solution to providing some sort of rail transit would be to go underground. Otherwise, I think you would have to accomdate some short, steep grades to enter the business district in addition to finding room for the rails.

It would cost more to go subway, but at least I think it would be done right.

Not to get all political but with Barack and Hillary both talking about pumping all this money into U.S. infrastructure, maybe, just maybe money can be thrown to these metro areas to do mass transit properly (yeah I know, its a pipe dream)

This isn't necessarily about Nashville, but it talks about America's mass transit issues from 1979. Great read link

Edited March 2, 2008 by Wild Style

[smeagolsfree]

I think the prospect of more rail coming to Nashville going to more of a sure thing after reading this article on bus ridership. Up almost 3 million riders in a six year period is nothing to ignore. (That is after the projections for 2008). If they had more routes, ridership would be up even more. The price of gas is having a huge impact and the need to speed up rail in Nashville is now needed more than ever. I think they could have a lot more riders if they increased bus service to the outlying counties of Williamson, Cheatham, Wilson, and Sumner at least. Unfortunately they will study the rail issue for another ten years at the very least and still not have accomplished much.

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar...S0202/803120438

http://www.tennessean.com/assets/gif/DN102737312.GIF

[timmay143]

I see this as good news and only hope they don't ignore the need for more public and mass transportation.

[gannman]

Riders Increase

According to the Wilson Post MCS ridership is up 25 percent from this same time last year. In January 2007 ridership was at 9,054 compared to 12,714 for January 2008. In February 2007 there were 9,081 riders and 12,457 in February 2008. Does anyone know what the goal ridership was?

[timmay143]

This is probably a good move and takes one more vehicle off the road adn may encourage more ridership of the STAR. I know they are trying to cut as much cost as they can. It's good to see they are getting close to the 12,000 riders a month they wanted.

I just wish they had service up to Ashland City. I would ride the bus into town instead of drive. I cant even call a bloody taxi W/O it costing 40 bucks, so I drive. I will have to say that since gas prices have gone up I have cut my trips into Nashville to conduct business to about one a week.

I think a park and ride service would be a good idea up in this area soon. There is quite a bit of traffic in the mornings headed into Nashville.

Here it is. 12,000 a month. This is good news.

Side note: I like the signs on 40 showing the train station is nearby. I saw them while going to and from knoxville earlier this week. I thought they were a good idea because it constantly reminds people of the commuter train. Not sure how long they have been there. It has been a few years since I made it that way.

[Hankster]

Here it is. 12,000 a month. This is good news.

Side note: I like the signs on 40 showing the train station is nearby. I saw them while going to and from knoxville earlier this week. I thought they were a good idea because it constantly reminds people of the commuter train. Not sure how long they have been there. It has been a few years since I made it that way.

Exceeding their goal is very positive news. I certainly hope this adds impetus to the adding of the next line to the system.

[gannman]

Here it is. 12,000 a month. This is good news.

Side note: I like the signs on 40 showing the train station is nearby. I saw them while going to and from knoxville earlier this week. I thought they were a good idea because it constantly reminds people of the commuter train. Not sure how long they have been there. It has been a few years since I made it that way.

The signs have been there since the opening of the line. They also have them around town in Lebanon showing you how to get to the rail station. I'm sure they are in the other cities as well.

[grapa]

We rode the 'Polar Express' with our grandchildren at Christmas. I highly recommend this even as a relaxing experience for anyone. Take an afternoon, downtown Lebanon is within walking distance of the depot and offer a variety of shopping. The Chamber office is on the square and friendly to strangers.

I do have a question about the transportation service available at the other end of the line. I highly support a rail system through MT into Nashville. Is there in place adequate transportation once unboarding to all of the areas away from downtown. Are most current riders employed downtown. I am not sure I would happily ride a bus every work day.

[timmay143]

Uh oh...looks like someone spent a little to much money.

Dean asks for Metro representative to help oversee commuter rail finances

Shortfall won't sideline the Music City Star

Edited June 15, 2008 by timmay143

[Rural King]

I read in a couple of places that the Music Star overbooked for a 4th of July trip into the city for the fireworks show. Reports said the train left lots of folks at the stations along the route. Anyone know if this is true or know anything about the story?

[timmay143]

Yeah, this happened. They said the 750 capacity train loaded 1100 people at the first stop and passed the other stops full of people.

Here are a couple of articles:

Packed 'Fireworks Express' leaves hundreds behind

"Fireworks Express" ticket refunds available by mail

I know this made lots of people very upset, which is understandable. I don't understand why they just couldn't send the train back? I hope people will forgive and give the train a second chance if there comes a time.

Edited July 7, 2008 by timmay143

[tozmervo]

It was the "we have no way to know how many tickets were sold" that really irks me. How on earth did they ever think it was a good idea to have blind ticket sales like that?

/tennessee native-lurker from the charlotte boards

[samsonh]

Well it seems this is quickly becoming a money pit. After next year where will the funding come from? I guess the counties and cities will subsidize it at the expense of other programs. I'd say so far this has been a disaster, as I predicted. They cannot increase ridership even with record high oil prices. That should say something.

[Skyscrapergeek]

It was the "we have no way to know how many tickets were sold" that really irks me. How on earth did they ever think it was a good idea to have blind ticket sales like that?

/tennessee native-lurker from the charlotte boards

I know, crazy isn't it? That's what happens when you make business decisions based on assumptions. Scary to say the least.

[Skyscrapergeek]

I don't understand why they just couldn't send the train back?

It's a good thing they didn't. Can you imagine three or four times the capacity trying to board the train to go home after the show was over? AND from what I understand, it pored after the fireworks. Actually, now that I think of it, it could have been much worse.

[GaTechGuy]

Well it seems this is quickly becoming a money pit. After next year where will the funding come from? I guess the counties and cities will subsidize it at the expense of other programs. I'd say so far this has been a disaster, as I predicted. They cannot increase ridership even with record high oil prices. That should say something.

I believe the article said that ridership has been increasing. Clearly people have a knowledge of the train, or this problem of over selling would never have occured. The problem seems to be the blind ticket sales, which I'm sure they'll quickly fix after this mess. That should have been a glaring problem from the start.

Just about every mass transit system loses money and requires subsides from local/state/federal government to run. The way I see it, that's no different from the government paying to build and maintain roads, instead of having toll roads everywhere. It's all a matter of prospective. Properly run mass transit is much more fuel efficient, timely and better for the environment. You simply have to have the right critical mass for it to work.

Edited July 8, 2008 by GaTechGuy

[jice]

It's a good thing they didn't. Can you imagine three or four times the capacity trying to board the train to go home after the show was over?

Is there only 1 train? I thought there must have been more than that..

I know in STL after a Cards game.. riding their rail system is always packed.. and people just simply wait for the next train to come - which may be 30 minutes. But yeah, waiting in the rain would have sucked!