The Transportation and Mass Transit Megathread

[AsianintheNations]

6 hours ago, Bos2Nash said:

Way to go WeGo. Only 15 years after the same technology was introduced for the MBTA (Boston) and almost 20 years after the MetroCard (NYC, which is being replaced now).

Can't believe the CharlieCard is 15 years old! That said, I wouldn't put the MetroCard in the same category - that was (is?) still a flimsy magnetic strip piece of paper more akin to the Charlie Ticket. Also, I believe smartphone support is only being rolled out in Boston and New York this year and next, so at least we're getting all the upgrades at once. Being able to refill online instead of at a station/on the vehicle itself is a lot more convenient.

Edited January 25, 2022 by AsianintheNations

[Bos2Nash]

Crazy right? I only vaguely remember the token system, but man is Charlie convenient lol. I dont know much about the MetroCard system, but found it is being replaced with a rollout of OMNY now (should be complete in 2023), but the technology fare improvement has been around for more than a decade. I'm glad WeGo is making it a convenient system, hopefully it makes a striking improvement for those that have to use the system. 

[AsianintheNations]

The only nice thing I remember about the tokens was that they were still valid even after rate hikes, compared to the fixed value of card/account storage systems. Otherwise, it was such a pain getting luggage etc. through old-fashioned turnstiles.

Hopefully the new WeGo system will reduce the barrier to entry to using transit. The addition of the auto-upgrade to weekly/monthly pass pricing is awesome (from the consumer perspective). I'm fortunate to already have had my Vandy ID work as a bus pass, which they really need to advertise better .. unfortunately the low rate of use (or even awareness) when it is literally free dampens my hopes that barrier to entry is the main issue, though.

[Pdt2f]

The annoyance of the payment method is a huge factor in why I never use WeGo. DC’s metro system has the smartphone system and its sooooo convenient. I can sit on the toilet and purchase my passes without having to deal with the pain of going through the kiosks or desks. 
This upgrade automatically makes using WeGo more attractive to me in instances like returning home from the airport. Using Uber or parking in the economy lots is always my choice simply because of the ease and convenience, but if I can easily get home with a few taps of the phone and save a crap ton of money doing it I’m game. 

[billgregg]

Via the Nashville History page on FB (Debie Oeser Cox), mass transit in Nashville in 1902.

[AsianintheNations]

6 hours ago, billgregg said:

Via the Nashville History page on FB (Debie Oeser Cox), mass transit in Nashville in 1902.

Is this Transfer Station where the UBS building is now?

[MagicPotato]

I really wish Nashville brought back the street cars. It'll give Nashville a little flair when it comes to tourism. It'll be nice to have one from Broadway up towards Midtown.  

[Luvemtall]

21 minutes ago, MagicPotato said:

I really wish Nashville brought back the street cars. It'll give Nashville a little flair when it comes to tourism. It'll be nice to have one from Broadway up towards Midtown.  

That’s the kind of thinking that’s needed here! We don’t necessarily need subways or heavy rail in the core. But innovative means of moving people around, be it street cars, gondola’s ..etc. use light rail/ monorail to connect outlining communities (AIRPORT) and counties . Transit comes in many forms, just find a way to efficiently move people around.

Transportainment tractors ..etc , need not apply!

[billgregg]

4 hours ago, AsianintheNations said:

Is this Transfer Station where the UBS building is now?

Close. The current public square is quite a bit bigger than it was in 1908 (the year the map was made). Whole blocks of buildings were removed on the south and east sides of the square. The street entering the square at the southwest corner in the map is Deaderick and now hits the square dead-center on the west side. So the transfer station was on the block now wholly occupied by the Premier Parking garage at the northwest corner of Deaderick and Third, across the street from UBS.

Edited February 1, 2022 by billgregg
Clarity

[markhollin]

A new partnership between scooter company Bird + WeGo Transit will allow bus riders to utilize e-scooters to travel from the bus stop to their final destination. The micro-transit initiative aims to close transit gaps and provide a more eco-friendly alternative for travel in the metro area.

More here:

https://www.bird.co/blog/new-bird-partnership-wego-micro-transit-first-nashville/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2022.02.03 NASH&utm_term=NASHtoday Subscribers - MASTER

[Bos2Nash]

2 hours ago, markhollin said:

A new partnership between scooter company Bird + WeGo Transit will allow bus riders to utilize e-scooters to travel from the bus stop to their final destination. The micro-transit initiative aims to close transit gaps and provide a more eco-friendly alternative for travel in the metro area.

More here:

https://www.bird.co/blog/new-bird-partnership-wego-micro-transit-first-nashville/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2022.02.03 NASH&utm_term=NASHtoday Subscribers - MASTER

While it is admirable that they are partnering up here, I do doubt the efficency of the partnership. Here are my questions. Is it a free "last mile" scoot? The article does not explain how that would work with integration into the Metro pass. Additionally, I would be very curious about the data from who uses the scooters from the bus. Is it truly the bus riders utilizing the scooters or is it people using the bus station as a pickup point for the scooters? Lastly, it seems like it is only a partnership for the evening commute, because it is not like the scooters are going to be at each person's house to ride over to the bus station.

[KJHburg]

On 2/1/2022 at 9:53 AM, MagicPotato said:

I really wish Nashville brought back the street cars. It'll give Nashville a little flair when it comes to tourism. It'll be nice to have one from Broadway up towards Midtown.  

as a tourist yearly I would agree.  Streetcars that operate in traffic do not move fast at all as we have seen here in Charlotte.  But for Nashville it connect your west end hotels with downtown etc. 

[smeagolsfree]

12 hours ago, KJHburg said:

as a tourist yearly I would agree.  Streetcars that operate in traffic do not move fast at all as we have seen here in Charlotte.  But for Nashville it connect your west end hotels with downtown etc. 

We will soon need something to connect the East Bank & Germantown with downtown as well. I do not understand why the spur line that runs next to the Greenway in Germantown cannot be utilized and extended into downtown or even into Metro Center. CSX rarely uses this line other than an overflow from time to time. It would make a great north south connector of some sort.

[MagicPotato]

I agree, if Nashville just had a street car or some form of light transit in the urban parts of Nashville that'll be good enough. At least for awhile. It'll be nice to connect the suburbs, but currently I don't think it's worth it. Well that's in regards to cost and politics.

Edited February 4, 2022 by MagicPotato

[BnaBreaker]

12 hours ago, MagicPotato said:

I agree, if Nashville just had a street car or some form of light transit in the urban parts of Nashville that'll be good enough. At least for awhile. It'll be nice to connect the suburbs, but currently I don't think it's worth it. Well that's in regards to cost and politics.

Agreed.  I think the last plan was just way too ambitious.  I mean, I do appreciate them shooting for the moon, and in principle I absolutely loved the look of it.  But it's hard to get people, particularly those not overly familiar with public transit, to sign onto going from zero to one hundred all in one fell swoop.  Then again, when earlier proposals were made some people criticized them for not being expansive enough.  So in some ways, you just can't win.  But I'm with you in thinking that we just need to start out building one primary line that connects most of the central hot spots.  Nashville is lucky in that most of it's hot spots are, for the most part, in a rudimentary line already.  With the ever increasing residential density, and the thousands of tourists we're blessed with (many of whom are without cars,) I can see a line connecting Hillsboro, Vandy, The Gulch, Sobro, downtown, east nashville, and perhaps even onto the airport being a huge hit and catching on very quickly.  In the meantime, we just slowly but surely continue improving bus connectivity in the outer neighborhoods.  And hopefully overtime, that main light rail line will become a real concrete example that any naysayers in those outer neighborhoods can observe to see how successful light rail really can be here, and also how potentially useful and convenient it might be to have access to that system closer to their place of residence.  I think that if it's going to be done at all here, that's just how it needs to happen in a place like this that has gone so long without having any real culture of transit.  So we build that main east-west line first, and then hopefully over the course of time we can build a north-south line that goes from somewhere on Charlotte or Jefferson over to Germantown, down through Sobro and Weho, the new soccer stadium, 12 South, Nolensville Road etc.  

Edited February 5, 2022 by BnaBreaker

[nashvylle]

I feel like we should have a bold plan for the entire network, but a vote for just the first line. Mainly so the anti transit anything folks can’t throw the BILLION number at people, and also so the pro transit team’s pitch can be, “you are voting for this line as part of this network, but the network can change should technological advances change, neighborhoods change, etc.”

the East Nashville line will be highly used, and lead to the next line. 
 

on a different note, since Lee didn’t mention the Atlanta to Nashville Amtrak in his budget, should we assume it’s not happening even though it was included in Biden’s approved infrastructure bill? 

Edited February 5, 2022 by nashvylle

[tragenvol]

2 hours ago, nashvylle said:

on a different note, since Lee didn’t mention the Atlanta to Nashville Amtrak in his budget, should we assume it’s not happening even though it was included in Biden’s approved infrastructure bill? 

Although Amtrak receives state subsidies, I don't believe any federal funding for Amtrak service expansion would would pass through the state.

Edited February 5, 2022 by tragenvol

[markhollin]

The governor's proposed budget for this year includes $40 million to extend Cleveland Street to the River North site of the incoming Oracle corporate campus.

Metro Councilman Sean Parker tells Axios "it's great to see funding for multimodal infrastructure" in the budget. Parker says he hopes the state and Metro can partner to make the Dickerson corridor "a safe and accessible destination for all roadway users."

The road extension funding is part of last year's $175 million economic incentive package from the state that helped bring Oracle to Nashville.

The extension will be an underpass below the I-24 inner belt.   

More at Axios here:

https://www.axios.com/local/nashville/2022/02/07/proposed-budget-funds-cleveland-st-extension

The diagram with the press release is actually for the Grace Street pedestrian underpass, several block south of where the Cleveland Street underpass will be. 

[Bos2Nash]

4 minutes ago, markhollin said:

The governor's proposed budget for this year includes $40 million to extend Cleveland Street to the River North site of the incoming Oracle corporate campus.

Metro Councilman Sean Parker tells Axios "it's great to see funding for multimodal infrastructure" in the budget. Parker says he hopes the state and Metro can partner to make the Dickerson corridor "a safe and accessible destination for all roadway users."

The road extension funding is part of last year's $175 million economic incentive package from the state that helped bring Oracle to Nashville.

The extension will be an underpass below the I-24 inner belt.  There will be green space/par area on both ends on either side of the freeway.

More at Axios here:

https://www.axios.com/local/nashville/2022/02/07/proposed-budget-funds-cleveland-st-extension

 

I read this article over on the Oracle thread and looked at it again here and I find it hilarious that they are showing the Grace Street pedestrian underpass while the article is talking about the Cleveland underpass (which will be north of the graphic shown). Cleveland underpass is the blue line below (and referenced in the article) and the Grace Street pedestrian underpass is the red line (also the graphic above).

[PaulChinetti]

So there is going to be 2? That's awesome.

[Bos2Nash]

1 hour ago, PaulChinetti said:

So there is going to be 2? That's awesome.

There will be 2 underpasses, yes. The Cleveland extension with be a multi-modal that will include cars. The Grace Street extension with be bikes and pedestrians only. 

[smeagolsfree]

Craig will at some point be chocked full of information with this area, but he will share when he can share. So be patient with him. He is going to be busier than a one-legged man in a butt kicking contest!

[fishsticks176]

Amtrak released a map for their 2035 expansion. It includes Nashville, but as a one-off arm from Atlanta. It'd be great if we could connect to Chicago via Louisville...

https://twitter.com/AmtrakConnects/status/1494421265658093569/photo/1

 

 

[rolly]

@fishsticks176 Louisville would be great. I guess we'd be lucky to see the planned Nashville/Atlanta line by 2035.  Just seems so far away...

 

[Pdt2f]

1 hour ago, fishsticks176 said:

Amtrak released a map for their 2035 expansion. It includes Nashville, but as a one-off arm from Atlanta. It'd be great if we could connect to Chicago via Louisville...

https://twitter.com/AmtrakConnects/status/1494421265658093569/photo/1

 

 

I fixed it for them: