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Which will Nashville Get


AceMentor

Transit  

52 members have voted

  1. 1. Which of these is nashville more likely to get

    • BRT
      28
    • LRT
      24


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I said bus, cause they already have them. NOW. I really hope that they get LRT just for the simple fact that I think it would be more effective in the central city for moving people around. Not to mention it would compliment the bus system already in place.

This whole shin-dig about the commuter rail is a croc. They should have invested the time and money into LRT,THEN after that is finished (or close to completion) go ahead with the commuter rail.

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Well, I voted for BRT if only for the fact that it's cheaper and therefore more likely.

If I was the King of Nashville--har, har--I would have had some sort of LRT in the city and BRT following the currently planned commuter rail. After that, I would have done the commuter rail thing.

Edit: Lexy, you mentioned awhile back on SSC that you were from Central City KY. I mentioned that I'd been around there a bunch of times as my wife is from Owensboro. What's Central City known for? The Everly Bros, or a state penitentiary? I had a neice-in-law who dated a convict from around there. lol

I'm not trying to put Central City down. :)

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Well, I voted for BRT if only for the fact that it's cheaper and therefore more likely.

If I was the King of Nashville--har, har--I would have had some sort of LRT in the city and BRT following the currently planned commuter rail. After that, I would have done the commuter rail thing.

Edit: Lexy, you mentioned awhile back on SSC that you were from Central City KY. I mentioned that I'd been around there a bunch of times as my wife is from Owensboro. What's Central City known for? The Everly Bros, or a state penitentiary? I had a neice-in-law who dated a convict from around there. lol

I'm not trying to put Central City down. :)

OH GAWD!!! Its a small world for sure. WOW! Well it is known for the coal mines around there. Once was home to the largest earth moving machines anywhere. That is really about it. Everly Brothers, Bluegrass Music, Coal, and Convicts are about all that it is. I still love it, even if it is a little redneck heaven. I lived there from birth to age 20. Then moved away, but return from time to time for the family. My family was some of the original settlers in the region back years and years ago as a matter of fact.

I noticed in another thread that you had mentioned your "Owensboro wife". How cool is that. I was born in Owensboro at what used to be Ownesboro-Davies County hospital. Now it's Owensboro Mercy Hospital. WOW! I still need to pick my jaw up off the ground. LOL!!

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I was born in Glasgow. Does that count?

An observation: I've worked in La Vergne for 12 years now. At some point a few years back Park and Ride lots were installed at Waldron Road/La Vergne, and Sam Ridley/Smyrna. On a good day only a couple of years ago, two cars might be in the lot. The numbers in the lot have grown a lot, some days to the point of being nearly full.

To me, that makes BRT sound not only practical, but a plan that is most needed to alleviate the congestion during rush hours. The freeways are large enough to accomodate most traffic during most of the day, but commuters need the option to park and ride. With BRT, that will probably happen.

A decade from now, I can see LRT on West End, Hillsboro. The Federal money will follow the private investment in ultra-dense housing submarkets. Main/Gallatin, Franklin, Clarksville Pk. and Nolensville Roads will benefit from improved local bus service.

In Inglewood, I see buses constantly, always with good ridership...even inside the hinterlands of the neighborhood. I can walk a block in three directions and get downtown without taking my car. But I can't put the top down on the bus, so I'll drive. But I'm a spoiled little man, too.

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BRT is more practical for Nashville currently IMO. Its cheaper to start and a more flexible option than the highcost investment and limited routing LRT entails. Buses can change routes, LRT is pretty much stuck to where its built.

I think regional rail along BRT is about the best options for Nashville at this point in time.

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I think they are waisting money on LRT at this point in time, because for the money they are not going to be able to move many people and the people they will move will only be from Nashville east. It would make a lot more since to expand the bus lines to all of the surrounding counties. If you want to take a bus bus from Franklin, Gallatin, Pleasant View or other points just outside Nashville, you could'nt. At least you have the option in Rutherford county to ride the bus in, but I do not know what the schedule is like from there. Bus lines can be added today where as the infrastructure for the LRT can take years to install.

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OH GAWD!!! Its a small world for sure. WOW! Well it is known for the coal mines around there. Once was home to the largest earth moving machines anywhere. That is really about it. Everly Brothers, Bluegrass Music, Coal, and Convicts are about all that it is. I still love it, even if it is a little redneck heaven. I lived there from birth to age 20. Then moved away, but return from time to time for the family. My family was some of the original settlers in the region back years and years ago as a matter of fact.

I noticed in another thread that you had mentioned your "Owensboro wife". How cool is that. I was born in Owensboro at what used to be Ownesboro-Davies County hospital. Now it's Owensboro Mercy Hospital. WOW! I still need to pick my jaw up off the ground. LOL!!

It gets even smaller--

My sister-in-law is a nurse at Owensboro Mercy and her husband is a retired Owensboro homicide detective--of course, it was his daughter who dated the convict. I had another brother-in-law who worked in those coal mines around there.

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This is an interesting thread. Let me chime in with a few clarifications since some of the posts here seem to be confused on the different modes of mass transit.

  • BRT - Bus Rapid Transit. This is bus on fixed usually out of grade routes. i.e. They travel down roads built to only be used by the buses, no cars allowed. This is what differentiates it from regular city bus service. BRTs may have to cross normal roads however. There are also stations and the buses resemble futurestic trains instead of city buses. Of couse parts of this can be dropped to save money, but the more this is done, the less "rapid" it becomes. Because the unique roads, BRT routes are not normally changed.

  • LRT - Light Rail Transit. There are a lot of definitions of this but generally these are electric trains that provide service along fixed routes. They have stations and the trains normally hold between 75 seated to 250 people standing. Some cities, like Houston, have placed these trains at grade to save money, but this means it they have to deal with traffic. Other cities have LRT on dedicated ROW which is more effective. It is a trade off of between cost and utility where the tracks are placed. Electric Streetcars/Trolleys are sometimes referred to as light rail, but I tend to want to put them in their own category.

  • Commuter Rail - This is rail that is used to being people in from the suburbs into the center city or or other work locations and as its name suggests is setup primiarly to move commuters. Typically the timing of the trains is such that many trains will head into the city during the morning, out of the city in the evenings, and service is greatly reduced outside working hours. It's primary purpose is to help with traffic congestion on highways by getting cars off the road. Commuter rail resembles Amtrak locomotives pulling passenger carriages, though there is a newer technology out called DMU (diesel multiple units) that more resemble a light rail train. These trains use existing freight routes to move people. Commuter rail is often called Heavy Rail which in terms of these type of discussions, it is not.

    Commuter rail is the type of rail being built in Nashville now.

  • HRT - Heavy Rail Transit This is the high capacity, high speed, short stop electric trains that you see in the major cities. The NYC subway, DC Metro, and Atlanta's Marta are examples of heavy rail. It is very very expensive to build so you only see it being built in the USA in very few locations. The last new Heavy Rail system built in the USA was the Los Angeles Red line in the late 80s early 90s. Since then the city has permanently placed on hold further expansions and is now going the LRT/BRT route.

There are certainly other ways to describe transit, but most people on this and other forums go with these definitions. I hope this helps with the discussion.

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I am going to hold strong to my vision for Nashville's light rail. A line that extends from the West End area into the cbd (stopping near the GEC), across the river with a stop at the coliseum and over into the mass of people in East Nashville. This line can then be extended to Germantown and up Jefferon to the TSU area (get college kids downtown, they bring vitality and life to a city) and then another leg out to the airport (we need to make it easy for convention attendees to get into downtown which also means we need a bigger convention center and another hotel of approx. 1,200 rooms - Omni or Intercontinental please).

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Central Nashville definitely has places that have the density to support a decent LRT system. Connectivity and transportation getting too and from the LRT lines however is still a problem. For this reason I completely support greatly expanding regular bus service first, THEN implementing one, MAYBE two light rail lines at first...from five points in east nashville to vanderbilt or further down hillsboro to green hills. BRT is practical and would work well, but I think it should be used more for longer distance commutes. For example, you could build a BRT line from downtown to Antioch. Regardless of what form it comes in though, Nashville SERIOUSLY needs to improve its mass transit system.

We also must keep in mind as well that an LRT system is expensive, but comparitively speaking, is it really anymore expensive than widening an expressway? AGAIN?

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This is an interesting thread. Let me chime in with a few clarifications since some of the posts here seem to be confused on the different modes of mass transit.

[*]BRT - Bus Rapid Transit. This is bus on fixed usually out of grade routes. i.e. They travel down roads built to only be used by the buses, no cars allowed. This is what differentiates it from regular city bus service. BRTs may have to cross normal roads however. There are also stations and the buses resemble futurestic trains instead of city buses. Of couse parts of this can be dropped to save money, but the more this is done, the less "rapid" it becomes. Because the unique roads, BRT routes are not normally changed.

Yep, Houston is probably the foremost city with a highly developed BRT system. It's quite successful as well, moving tens of thousands of commuters on separated, sometimes elevated, grade down the median of most major freeways. It's basically for long commutes--20 miles or so--with huge park and ride lots and transit terminals on the outskirts of town. They also use Greyhound-type buses.

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This is an interesting thread. Let me chime in with a few clarifications since some of the posts here seem to be confused on the different modes of mass transit.

[*]BRT - Bus Rapid Transit. This is bus on fixed usually out of grade routes. i.e. They travel down roads built to only be used by the buses, no cars allowed. This is what differentiates it from regular city bus service. BRTs may have to cross normal roads however. There are also stations and the buses resemble futurestic trains instead of city buses. Of couse parts of this can be dropped to save money, but the more this is done, the less "rapid" it becomes. Because the unique roads, BRT routes are not normally changed.

I was under the impression that BRT systems could use existing road structures with lanes being designated or added to be for sole BRT usage. Thus making the systems more flexible and cheaper to start and maintain. Is this impression incorrect?

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If you want to see a TRUE BRT, look for pictures of Ottawa, Canada. My wife and I have been there twice and rode the BRT there. It IS the example other cities will follow. It works there and is really the most effective way of moving large amounts of people around the city.

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I was under the impression that BRT systems could use existing road structures with lanes being designated or added to be for sole BRT usage. Thus making the systems more flexible and cheaper to start and maintain. Is this impression incorrect?

Indeed they can. But the more of this that is done, the less it is BRT and the more it is just plain city bus service. It is difficult to put stations and pedestrian access on BRT lines where all you have is a painted line on the road. There is no way to avoid the cars.

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Here is a crummy pic of Ottawa's BRT Line with an actual station in it too! The station is the PEDWay with the covered booths beside it along the DEDICATED bus road. Not a "lane", but a dedicated road for buses only.

courtesy of www.lightrailnow.org

otw-bus-leaving-lincoln-fields-stn_d-williams.jpg

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Here is a crummy pic of Ottawa's BRT Line with an actual station in it too! The station is the PEDWay with the covered booths beside it along the DEDICATED bus road. Not a "lane", but a dedicated road for buses only.

This whole thread has been an education for me. I was not aware of Bus Rapid Transit as shown in Ottawa as an option. It makes perfect sense to me. It's so much more flexible, and must be considerably less expensive to build than rail lines. I think a city with a grid of these lines similar in scope to, say, the interstate system that Nashville has would be awesome and very successful.

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  • 2 weeks later...

LRT would make so much sence in certain areas of Nashville. I think this city needs to begin having a plan for rail lines down heavy traffic areas...West End, Hillsboro, etc. I live in Bellevue, and constantly dream about the rail line in Belle Meade used as LRT. They could have a plan in place, and take action once there is a possability of funding. That's my two cents.

Also, I'm from Benton, KY, does that allow me to join in on the fun?

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Thanks Metro, I'm also from St. Louis, so I will probably post over there too. I've lurked for a while, and finally decided to join in on the parade. So far so good. I'm not on the computer that often, so there will be times when I will just seem to disappear. But, I look forward to the discussion, and am very glad that I finally joined.

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