The Transportation and Mass Transit Megathread

[Sean blackdog]

From Facebook SKY5 this morning. 

[BnaBreaker]

My heart skipped a beat because at first I thought it was rail... but I quickly came back down to earth.  le sigh... 

[LA_TN]

I think everyone is forgetting the number 1 improvement being made to I-440, and that is safety. Adding the center divider wall will prevent future head on collisions that have claimed many lives through the years

[jmtunafish]

9 hours ago, BnaBreaker said:

My heart skipped a beat because at first I thought it was rail... but I quickly came back down to earth.  le sigh... 

Me too.

[markhollin]

Viable Viaducts?  City's bridges spanning interstate, railroad tracks need updates.

Feature in latest Nashville Post Magazine:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/nashville-post-magazine/article/21087787/viable-viaducts

[grilled_cheese]

The induced demand caused by the widening of 65 in Williamson County will be a zillion times worse than 440. 

 

But it's nice to see a Californian telling is what we should do.

[Nash_12South]

There was an interesting segment on CBS Sunday Morning on scooters.  My impression was that it was largely pro scooters downplaying opposition as behind the times. There was little discussion on injuries or the inability to follow rules.

Edited September 29, 2019 by Nash_12South

[PaulChinetti]

In my mind injuries/not following rules is the same as cars. It’s up to the driver And has to be enforced. 

The rules and infrastructure being not very easy to understand/follow is also a big problem. 

[12Mouth]

1 hour ago, PaulChinetti said:

In my mind injuries/not following rules is the same as cars. It’s up to the driver And has to be enforced. 

The rules and infrastructure being not very easy to understand/follow is also a big problem. 

I agree, but I’ll say this as someone who rode one for the first time recently. Infrastructure issues aside, it really feels like they could be engineered to be much safer. People riding on the sidewalk is annoying, as are the sidewalks being blocked, but I put much of that on the government for lack of infrastructure and enforcement.

But the vast majority of overall injuries are just people wiping out, and I think these could be drastically reduced with better design. I understand that new versions are coming, and I imagine that a combination of adding a third wheel, wider wheel base, and slower acceleration could eliminate well over 50% of injuries. 

[PaulChinetti]

Oh I agree but if you keep adding features eventually they aren’t as convenient.
 

I’m a big ole liberal but scooters as they are, are fine. We don’t need more rules, we need more work/help from the city. 

[Sean blackdog]

Major changes made to WeGo Public Transit system
https://www.newschannel5.com/news/free-buses-cut-as-part-of-wego-public-transit-system-restructuring

[BnaBreaker]

14 minutes ago, Sean blackdog said:

Major changes made to WeGo Public Transit system
https://www.newschannel5.com/news/free-buses-cut-as-part-of-wego-public-transit-system-restructuring

Oh great... yes, let's make one of the least user friendly transit systems among those serving large US cities even less user friendly.  I mean, I get that a budget is a budget, but this is NOT the direction we need to be going in. 

[smeagolsfree]

8 hours ago, Sean blackdog said:

Major changes made to WeGo Public Transit system
https://www.newschannel5.com/news/free-buses-cut-as-part-of-wego-public-transit-system-restructuring

Thanks David Briley!

[Nashvillain]

8 hours ago, Sean blackdog said:

Major changes made to WeGo Public Transit system
https://www.newschannel5.com/news/free-buses-cut-as-part-of-wego-public-transit-system-restructuring

According to WeGo, the $8.7 million shortfall is a result of a reduction in State-directed funding via TDOT and three consecutive years of zero growth in Metro subsidy for transit. (that would both predate and include Briley). 

A couple other notes, "Metro funding makes up approximately 58% of our total operating budget....Nashville remains one of only three cities among the top 40 in population without a dedicated and reliable transit funding source...."

Lastly, 2018 Ridership total: 9.34 million up from 9.19 million the previous year. 

[12Mouth]

25 minutes ago, Nashvillain said:

A couple other notes, "Metro funding makes up approximately 58% of our total operating budget....Nashville remains one of only three cities among the top 40 in population without a dedicated and reliable transit funding source...."

This. If we put forward a stop gap transit plan that just took the tourist taxes from the last referendum (hotel, rental car, etc) and used them to provide dedicated transit funding, increased bus service, and sidewalks, it would easily pass.

9 hours ago, PaulChinetti said:

Oh I agree but if you keep adding features eventually they aren’t as convenient.

Can you explain? I’m just talking about the fact that the technology is young and will get much safer over time, which should significantly reduce the scooter injury rate. Not talking about the government forcing it or anything.

[PaulChinetti]

1 hour ago, 12Mouth said:

Can you explain? I’m just talking about the fact that the technology is young and will get much safer over time, which should significantly reduce the scooter injury rate. Not talking about the government forcing it or anything.

"I imagine that a combination of adding a third wheel, wider wheel base, and slower acceleration could eliminate well over 50% of injuries. "

I was referring to this, if you add another wheel, a wider base and make it slower. Then they aren't scooters anymore and lose some of their (micro) mobility. If people are complaining about scooters taking up too much room on sidewalks and being in the way in general. Imagine if they were even larger. Not to mention if they were larger people would drive them in car lanes even more (because they wouldn't fit on the sidewalks at all then), which would lead to more injuries and more complaints. 

Overall, I don't think the problem is the scooters at all. It's the lack of infrastructure in this city for anything other than cars.

[ruraljuror]

4 hours ago, PaulChinetti said:

"I imagine that a combination of adding a third wheel, wider wheel base, and slower acceleration could eliminate well over 50% of injuries. "

I was referring to this, if you add another wheel, a wider base and make it slower. Then they aren't scooters anymore and lose some of their (micro) mobility. If people are complaining about scooters taking up too much room on sidewalks and being in the way in general. Imagine if they were even larger. Not to mention if they were larger people would drive them in car lanes even more (because they wouldn't fit on the sidewalks at all then), which would lead to more injuries and more complaints. 

Overall, I don't think the problem is the scooters at all. It's the lack of infrastructure in this city for anything other than cars.

I agree.  Whatever happened to 'use at your own risk'?  If another scooter company comes along and make a wider three-wheeled option then more power to them, but by no means do I think that should be a requirement enforced by the city. 

[12Mouth]

2 hours ago, ruraljuror said:

I agree.  Whatever happened to 'use at your own risk'?  If another scooter company comes along and make a wider three-wheeled option then more power to them, but by no means do I think that should be a requirement enforced by the city. 

Again, I was not insinuating that this should come from some new law - only that right now, injury rates are pretty high (and these companies keep getting sued). The product is very young and engineering improvements will likely come from the market in the near future, resulting in far fewer injuries. So I think we agree? I imagine that this, combined with a more experienced user base and established norms for riding, will put the injury rates more in line with something like bike riding in the future (which is pretty low). 

[markhollin]

Williamson County residents want impactful traffic improvements.

More at Nashville Post here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/infrastructure/article/21089792/williamson-residents-dont-like-transit-studies-but-want-cheap-impactful-traffic-improvements

[PaulChinetti]

Lord, "we want it to be free and to happen now". That is some serious naivety. 

Maybe they will vote on and build some new trains, that dump them right at the border of Davidson County. I know a few people down in Williamson County that where against the transit plan. They didn't want to see any tax increases. 

[grilled_cheese]

1 hour ago, markhollin said:

Williamson County residents want impactful traffic improvements.

More at Nashville Post here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/development/infrastructure/article/21089792/williamson-residents-dont-like-transit-studies-but-want-cheap-impactful-traffic-improvements

kill me

[BnaBreaker]

3 hours ago, PaulChinetti said:

Lord, "we want it to be free and to happen now". That is some serious naivety. 

Maybe they will vote on and build some new trains, that dump them right at the border of Davidson County. I know a few people down in Williamson County that where against the transit plan. They didn't want to see any tax increases. 

Well ya know, they may have had to wait an extra three days before they could afford to purchase their fifth Mercedes SUV...

[henburg]

That article shouldn't surprise many of us unfortunately, there is a major problem with overall attitudes and misconceptions to modern traffic solutions here. Everybody more or less wants the same things and yet nobody is on the same page regarding the necessary steps to reach those goals. 

[smeagolsfree]

The people in Williamson County that come to these meetings are typical idiots that want a solution but dont want to study it, dont want to pay for it, dont want their taxes to go up, but want the problem solved. They have no understanding of the issue.

Enforcement of the HOV lanes will not solve the problem because few of the folks using the lanes are car pooling. They are single driver cars coming from the McMansions in Franklin and Brentwood.

Again, I say take the HOV lanes away and either put buses or a regional light rail system there. The state already has the land. There is no need to ask CSX for anything and it forces the folks to use the service because it takes their precious HOV lane that everyone ignores away. Those that continue to drive can continue to be stuck in traffic.

[Rockatansky]

On 9/26/2019 at 5:59 PM, downtownresident said:

he expanded capacity is needed

That's a very subjective statement.