Light rail ridership goes up

[Bears]

http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/local/...4588993,00.html

2740 passengers a day is pretty good for such a primitive line. IMO it was a good idea to build this thing before the Biotech industry built up because 1. We needed confidence we could do something on time and on budget after the convention center and 2. Building the line while the industry was in full swing would've been a disaster (remember the traffic during construction?)

Here are some pictures bluff2085 posted earlier.

[sleepy]

I read that article. It said over a million a year in passengers.

Btw--some of those pics had to be during the COGIC convention with all the ladies in white hats.

[hgupta]

that was an interesting article. Chumney has really been disappointing me lately. It seems obvious to me that public transportation is not something that we should keep adding retrospectively. If there is a nice public transportation option, people will choose to live near it, and apartments and businesses will choose to be near it. Its not an instant thing, but happens gradually. And it disrupts businesses during construction, so no business will want to open near a proposed line if there will always be the constant threat of it being built later on.

Public transportation also takes a long time to build ridership. No one is going to move as soon as it is built, but they may move near a trolley stop when their lease expires.

[Bears]

^I agree. And Public transportation funds from the feds has gone down hasn't it? If we waited till 2010 for the Madison line got built, Memphis might be mostly on its own. MATA will be announcing a meeting for the future of light rail soon and there are 3 options for the route.

From the MATA website:

Alternative 1 -- Madison/Cooper/Young/Airways/Plough

Alternative 1A -- Madison/Cooper/Central/East Parkway/Airways/Plough

Alternative 2 -- Pauline/Lamar/Airways/Plough

The current assumptions for where the line would operate in relation to the right-of-way of the street are as follows:

- Madison, Cooper, Young and Central: operate in the street sharing a lane with motor vehicles

- Pauline and Lamar: operate in the street within its own dedicated lane

- Airways, Lamar and East Parkway: operate in its own right-of-way separated from the street

Alternative 1 and 1A are proposed to have 10 stations spaced along the route. Alternative 2 is proposed to have 8 stations. There will be stations located roughly 1/2 mile to 1 mile apart at key points along the route to serve neighborhoods and business areas. Park-and-ride lots will be available at some of these stations to serve people who live outside the corridor and are traveling to a destination within the corridor and want to use the light rail line. Alternative 1 is proposed to have four park-and-ride locations and Alternative 2 is proposed to have five. http://www.matatransit.com/faq.html

I don't know too much about Alternative 1A but I know Alternative 1 is getting some stiff opposition from the business owners of Cooper Young. Whats along 1A? Is the line too far from the main section of the district? I'm completely against Alternative 2 because it wastes part of the Madison line and it doesn't connect to the Fairgrounds and Cooper Young. Comments anyone?

Edit- I forgot to add...Does the trolley slow traffic down like the guy said in the article? From the pictures, it doesn't look like thats the case.

[HKG]

^I agree. And Public transportation funds from the feds has gone down hasn't it? If we waited till 2010 for the Madison line got built, Memphis might be mostly on its own. MATA will be announcing a meeting for the future of light rail soon and there are 3 options for the route.

From the MATA website:

I don't know too much about Alternative 1A but I know Alternative 1 is getting some stiff opposition from the business owners of Cooper Young. Whats along 1A? Is the line too far from the main section of the district? I'm completely against Alternative 2 because it wastes part of the Madison line and it doesn't connect to the Fairgrounds and Cooper Young. Comments anyone?

Edit- I forgot to add...Does the trolley slow traffic down like the guy said in the article? From the pictures, it doesn't look like thats the case.

First of all, if the city and MATA choose the Pauline route, what a waste the expansion will be. As far as the Cooper-Young concern, this puzzles me. Few people actually live on Cooper or Young where the tracks will be laid. And if businesses are concerned about mass transit dropping at their doorsteps, then the underlying assumption that mass transit and trolleys foster business breaks down. Bear in mind that these won't be the lumbering trolleys of Main street. The light rail train needs as many "destinations" as it can get. Cooper-young is a destination, but Central-Parkway certainly is not. I'd be more inclined to visit cooper-young and purchase a home there if a train could take me downtown or to the airport. I'd really like to know the "concerns" about the cooper-young proposal if anyone knows of any.

[Bears]

^The businesses in CY are afraid of business slowing down during construction. I can see their concern because it happened to businesses along Madison. People were reluctant to go on Madison (myself included) and business suffered or shut down. I believe MATA even tried some campaign to let people know those stores were still open during construction.

CY intersection is only 0.5 miles from Cooper Central. Are Memphians willing to walk that far? lol

[tatersmith]

^The businesses in CY are afraid of business slowing down during construction. I can see their concern because it happened to businesses along Madison. People were reluctant to go on Madison (myself included) and business suffered or shut down. I believe MATA even tried some campaign to let people know those stores were still open during construction.

CY intersection is only 0.5 miles from Cooper Central. Are Memphians willing to walk that far? lol

I used to think the CY route would be great and the businesses were crazy to oppose it. I agree with them after spending time down there. The street is much more narrow than Madison, especially the CY intersection. It needs to be North on Central or east on E Parkway. Close enough but doesn't ruin the neighborhood.

[sleepy]

^The businesses in CY are afraid of business slowing down during construction. I can see their concern because it happened to businesses along Madison. People were reluctant to go on Madison (myself included) and business suffered or shut down. I believe MATA even tried some campaign to let people know those stores were still open during construction.

CY intersection is only 0.5 miles from Cooper Central. Are Memphians willing to walk that far? lol

If the city was proactive, what it would do is lease some of the vacant lots around Cooper-Young for free parking during any construction--and publicize it.

[tatersmith]

If the city was proactive, what it would do is lease some of the vacant lots around Cooper-Young for free parking during any construction--and publicize it.

I don't know of many vacant lots around CY that aren't currently under development.

[Clobber]

I think 1A will work (Central/Parkway). There are a number of businesses along Central as it approaches Pkwy.

[HKG]

I think 1A will work (Central/Parkway). There are a number of businesses along Central as it approaches Pkwy.

So, if 1A is the chosen route, will the train ride in the median of East Parkway. That'd be cool if MATA could spare the trees and still get the tracks on the median. As to the poster who asked whether Memphians would walk .5 mile to CY...of course not!

[hgupta]

So, if 1A is the chosen route, will the train ride in the median of East Parkway. That'd be cool if MATA could spare the trees and still get the tracks on the median. As to the poster who asked whether Memphians would walk .5 mile to CY...of course not!

That would be horrible..the E Parkway median is a gorgeous asset to the city. Especially in the spring and fall.

[soverbey]

Does anyone know if this train will be elevated or what? I think an elevated train makes more since in the area considering all of the railroad tressles (sp?) there. Are these rail lines all in use around this area, if not why not use one of them for this line?

[qwertycc]

If it's south of Central, there isn't much left of the medians. East Parkway turns into Airways as it crosses Southern which is the first major street south of Central, so the line would not be on East Parkway for long. The median goes away right before the bridge over Southern.