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Transit Updates for Greater Grand Rapids


GRDadof3

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Ok so all the letters to the Press and comments on Mlive are making me nervous about this thing. Is it going to pass? I realize the last Rapid millage request passed, but people seem a lot more skeptical of this one.

I think we can rule out this thing passing in Grandville and Walker, but does anyone think GR and Wyoming (and possibly EGR) will throw in enough oomph to get this thing going? I feel like we've come to far to let this slip through our finger tips.

I don't live in any of these cities so I can't vote, but I'm trying my best to convince everyone I know to vote yes.

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1. Ecomony - We are a Health Focused City and as a result we are nationally recongized in that regard. Economy for us has been the best outside Ann Arbor or Lansing both major government centers for our state. Next we are looking at 2012 before this line is up and running which just happens to be when Medical Mile should have most projects finished, hence traffic concerns are a problem when US 131 is running at over 100k cars per day.

2. The money has already been earmarked and as result WILL be spent. It will either be spent here or somewhere else. Mine as get the money than let somebody else get it. As for the national debt, well we ALWAYS had one even under Jackson. What we need to do is stop using the income tax and use a property tax IMHO.

3. Yes there is a cost to this but Wyoming has a street millage that can be used to convert Division into a Boulevard and Grand Rapids has already started on sections.

4. From what I have seen online is that in most cities there seems to be an initial slow period but word of mouth will get more people to choose the bus. I seen one vid that had 3 people on a bus then 3 months later it was 15 to 20 and getting more every few months.

5. The BRT rate of operation is similar to the #1 bus but it WILL be on time and each station will have an accurate time to arival to let the riders know when it will be there.

6. A BRT line provides a much faster in and out, people will prefer this system over the traditional bus. But the downside is it does not stop every 1/8 of a mile but rather every 1/2 to 1 mile. That means there is more people at each station vs stop and as a result they tend to start looking around more and shop if they are using a park and ride area. I went to the design charette for the 54th/60th stations and trust me when you see what happened in Cleveland you will understand.

7. In the morning the Northbound lanes will have one for cars and one for the BRT line along with a shared lane and car lane for the Southbound lanes. In the evening periods it will be reversed. I am assuming during noon time where traffic is the heaviest all 4 lanes will be for cars.

8. I am hoping 1 year before they convert route 28. But that is not going to happen I am thinking it will take about 3 years before another line will be looked at. As for upgrading to a Light Rail or Streetcar, I do not see that happening since it defeats the purpose of being able to alter the line in the future.

BTW here is the traffic counts for South Division in wyoming.

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Please debunk my concerns

1. Economy

2. I'm concerned with our national debt And don't tell me it's going to be spend somewhere else if it's not going to be spent here. That's like saying, i'm going to chop off one of my limbs, which one? how about none? Just because your children's tax money is available to spend somewhere does not make it morally right to spend it.

3. Initial Cost barrier

4. Hard numbers on examples of increased ridership rate in other cities

5. Operating rate vs. Bus's operating rate

6. Why does this increases development and not buses. Are we paying 40,000,000 for a time improvement with which a 10 minute improvement will never be seen by an average rider unless they get on at the beginning of the route, and just so happens to hop off at the very very end of the route.

7. What does Division look like with a dedicated BRT lane? 1 lane for cars each way?

8. How long will this system last before another upgrade is needed?

I'll take a shot at a couple (don't have time right now to look up an answer to 4 (although you should google Washington DC's Orange Line) or 5).

1) The economy isn't going to be awful forever. This thing won't go into service for a couple of years and in the meantime the construction will create jobs. When we come out of the recession, Grand Rapids needs to be in a position to compete globally and transit is one way to help.

2) The state and federal money to build the BRT has already been taxed and already been budgeted. If it doesn't get spent here, it WILL get spent elsewhere. This is different than the bonds the Federal Government is selling to China so it can buy struggling private companies (like AIG and Chrysler). As for the local money, I guess you could object to have to pay a few more cents every month in property taxes, but that isn't "our children's money" - it's ours.

3)The initial cost is very small compared to the long term benefit. It is also small compared to other major transit upgrades (i.e. South Beltline, widening I-196, etc.) Further, the money for the initial startup has already been taxed, has already been budgeted, and will be spent regardless.

6)This is a point that hasn't been talked about enough. There are several reasons why BRT creates more development potential than regular buses.

First, BRT is more permanent. The Rapid could, at its discretion, eliminate any of the routes in the system. It will not do that with the BRT because of the investment. Therefore, developers know they can advertise their properties as being "transit adjacent" in perpetuity.

Second, picture the process of riding BRT versus a regular bus. With a regular bus, you're waiting on a street corner with no indication of whether the bus will arrive on time or not. You feel like a schmuck. People look at you funny. No developer will build a building to more easily facilitate you standing on the street corner like a schmuck.

With BRT, you're waiting in a station, ticket already in hand, and with a screen telling you when the next bus will arrive. You feel like a savvy, earth-friendly, big-city commuter. Developers want to attract savvy, green, urban commuters and build developments with built in stations, making waiting for the bus even less onerous.

If you've ever ridden a subway or the El in Chicago, you know what I mean by the above example. It's just fundamentally different than waiting for a bus. The BRT won't be quite that level, but it will be a step in that direction.

7) First, much of Division is 7 lanes wide right now (two parking, four driving, one turning). Second, even if Division becomes three lanes wide (two driving, one turning), why would that be a problem? If it's slightly congested, use Eastern or 131 or...ride the Silver Line!

8) Forever. I ride Philadelphia's 80 year old subway system to grad school every day. Yes, there have been upgrades over the years, but they cost less than your standard road upgrades. If the system needs to be replaced with something better, then it will have succeeded in attracting ridership. More likely is that the system succeeds and other lines (Lake Drive, Alpine, 28th Street, GVSU) get built.

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Or, in my case, because I truly do not understand how this is adding up to a good investment. I have no vested interest in this either way as I will not be riding it and I do not live in that area. But I get to vote on it, so I want to know why it makes sense to say yes.

I like the idea, the theory. Just not ready to say that this is as great of an idea as some are.

I am sorry Rizzo, but please don't lump me in with people trying to "prove a point." You shouldn't chastize those who are trying to get their arms around this. If it ends up making sense, I will vote yes.

I only expected the folks who were trying to prove a point to really get what was said. It wasn't my intention for those here for learning to feel chastised. I will retract what was said and say that some people use the 'cost per rider' as a tool. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but based on my own questions and concerns, I think it's a poor way to explain whether a project is viable or merits funding. It's a way to oversimplify.

My participation in this thread is to share ideas and points of view. Do with it as you will. I'm trying to wrap my arms around things like this also. I have family and friends who come to me asking some of the very same questions found here. So when I discover new things I try to share it if possible.

Now let's move onto your concern about making sense out of this project. I have criticized this project on some points. Knowing that GRATA investigated (back in '99) commuter rail in this same corridor at more than half the price and at comparable ridership numbers. Sometimes, I find it really difficult to defend BRT on some facts and figures given by supporters.

I will dive into a couple of things expressed early on in other posts.

It was said that Division Ave. will be shut down to two lanes at both rushes. This was an overall concern for a lot of people. However it's not correct. Only one lane will be needed per rush. One northbound lane will be closed to traffic in the AM. One southbound lane will be closed to traffic in the PM. The Rapid and Friends of Transit needs to drive this point home.

Someone made the concern that Division Ave. and the Southland in general is a bad place to make improvements. This is based mostly in perception. One only needs to study the population densities, traffic densities and transit ridership densities in the south corridor to come to a different conclusion. To come to any other conclusion is like saying downtown isn't the major employment center of West Michigan. South Division Ave. is a very stable corridor to build off of.

Also, the final cost of the project including five years of operating funds is (by my estimation) going to top $48-50M. (see link at bottom for a base cost) This is much lower then what some special interests groups have been touting in mailers. Some groups figure $110M for The Silver Line and others $70M. No ideas howthose numbers were obtained with what public data is available.

I laud the Silver Line on some non-tangible points. But, I have to be cautious with the ROI figures, the hype and some of the overall bad perception issues that people think BRT will bust. However, with that I think the project has the distinct and important role as trailblazer. The trailblazer while cumbersome and lacking of perfection has a role to play. This project may become a catalyst or spark for new transit elsewhere in the metro area. If this project goes the way it is being touted, it has the potential of being a working model for area voters of what improved transit looks like. Yes the improvements are mediocre, but they are improvements.

If you want to see improved transit down the road, this is the place to make a stand.

If you or others want the numbers take a look at the Fed's own admission on the 'South Corridor Project': www.fta.dot.gov/documents/MI_Grand_Rapids_-_South_Corridor_BRT.doc

Edited by Rizzo
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I'd much rather have bike lanes throughout the city. I think the future of personal transportation, especially personal transportation that is healthy like: walking or riding a bike, has a much brighter future than creating a system that makes people dependent to government transportation services. Although I'm much more on the fence about the BRT system then before.

Edited by crinzema
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I'd much rather have bike lanes throughout the city. I think the future of personal transportation, especially personal transportation that is healthy like: walking or riding a bike, has a much brighter future than creating a system that makes people dependent to government transportation services. Although I'm much more on the fence about the BRT system then before.

Never happen in GR, the winters kill any impact bikes would make.

Can't see it making much impact at other times either, Americans are getting older and fatter.

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Never happen in GR, the winters kill any impact bikes would make.

Can't see it making much impact at other times either, Americans are getting older and fatter.

Never say never. Arcturus, I can't guarantee that we'll have bike lanes all over the city, but I'd put the probablility at 75-80% that you will see a big increase in bicycle lanes or painted shoulders around the city itself in the next 2-5 years. I can't speak for the suburbs, they have a much bigger task and it's a harder sell, but many in the city are on board with becoming a more bicycle friendly place.

Also, Minneapolis has one of the highest mode shares for bicycles in the entire country. We get more snow, but it's not as cold. It's not unreasonable to ride a bicycle here in the winter if you have the mindset to do so and you live nearby to your required services.

Edited by fotoman311
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Never say never. Arcturus, I can't guarantee that we'll have bike lanes all over the city, but I'd put the probablility at 75-80% that you will see a big increase in bicycle lanes or painted shoulders around the city itself in the next 2-5 years. I can't speak for the suburbs, they have a much bigger task and it's a harder sell, but many in the city are on board with becoming a more bicycle friendly place.

Also, Minneapolis has one of the highest mode shares for bicycles in the entire country. We get more snow, but it's not as cold. It's not unreasonable to ride a bicycle here in the winter if you have the mindset to do so and you live nearby to your required services.

Sorry, while your hopes and visions are commendable (and to be encouraged) the impact of bicycles will never be (oops, said that word again :) more than a scant fraction of total transportation needs, cold climate or otherwise.

To say it's a better transportation solution than mass transit as one poster suggests is just as unrealistic as thinking America is getting younger and thinner.

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Sorry, while your hopes and visions are commendable (and to be encouraged) the impact of bicycles will never be (oops, said that word again :) more than a scant fraction of total transportation needs, cold climate or otherwise.

To say it's a better transportation solution than mass transit as one poster suggests is just as unrealistic as thinking America is getting younger and thinner.

I won't say it's a better transportation solution than mass transit, but I feel it's very important to have an infrastructure in place the encourages a mix of transportation options. Around 40% of trips that Americans take are less than 2 miles. 90% of these are done by car. Even a slow bicyclist can ride 2 miles in 15 minutes or less. Old people can ride bicycles. My in-laws 82 year old neighbor rides a couple of miles around the neighborhood a few times a week. She's not comfortable leaving the neighbrohood, because it's surrounded by arterials with higher speed limits and no bicycle facilities. It's great exercise for old people.

There are cities in Europe where 33-37% of the mode share is by bicycle, one of these cities, Copenhagen, gets a fair amount of heavy, wet snow in Jan and Feb, and a good amount of rainfall. Minneapolis had nearly 3% of people commuted to work by bicycle (the survey question is "how did you get to work in the past week" and it's asked in MARCH!) in the 2000 census, and I'd feel safe betting that it's higher now. I don't think it's unreasonable to increase the mix and make the bicycle a viable transportation option. It's certainly not going to happen overnight. But, neither is mass transit.

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I haven't gone through all 100+ pages of this thread, but has anybody posted Andy Dragt's video of what the BRT Line looks like? I'm part of the Friends of Transit committee and we hired him to travel to Cleveland to show exactly what BRT looks like. Granted, their system isn't identical to what the Rapid has in mind, but it's very similar.

I think this is a pretty powerful tool and I'd encourage you supporters to forward it around to your contacts in the final few days before election.

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I'd much rather have bike lanes throughout the city. I think the future of personal transportation, especially personal transportation that is healthy like: walking or riding a bike, has a much brighter future than creating a system that makes people dependent to government transportation services. Although I'm much more on the fence about the BRT system then before.

Public transportation and walking/biking go hand in hand. You can't walk from 60th to Downtown, but you could take the BRT and then walk to your destination - which would be healthier and more environmentally friendly than driving the whole way. Lots of people already bike to the nearest bus stop and then ride the bus across town.

Also I think giving people transportation options that are less expensive than a car but can get you further than a bike makes them less dependent on other government services and therefore saves everyone money.

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I will dive into a couple of things expressed early on in other posts.

It was said that Division Ave. will be shut down to two lanes at both rushes. This was an overall concern for a lot of people. However it's not correct. Only one lane will be needed per rush. One northbound lane will be closed to traffic in the AM. One southbound lane will be closed to traffic in the PM. The Rapid and Friends of Transit needs to drive this point home.

Someone made the concern that Division Ave. and the Southland in general is a bad place to make improvements. This is based mostly in perception. One only needs to study the population densities, traffic densities and transit ridership densities in the south corridor to come to a different conclusion. To come to any other conclusion is like saying downtown isn't the major employment center of West Michigan. South Division Ave. is a very stable corridor to build off of.

Also, the final cost of the project including five years of operating funds is (by my estimation) going to top $48-50M. (see link at bottom for a base cost) This is much lower then what some special interests groups have been touting in mailers. Some groups figure $110M for The Silver Line and others $70M. No ideas howthose numbers were obtained with what public data is available.

I laud the Silver Line on some non-tangible points. But, I have to be cautious with the ROI figures, the hype and some of the overall bad perception issues that people think BRT will bust. However, with that I think the project has the distinct and important role as trailblazer. The trailblazer while cumbersome and lacking of perfection has a role to play. This project may become a catalyst or spark for new transit elsewhere in the metro area. If this project goes the way it is being touted, it has the potential of being a working model for area voters of what improved transit looks like. Yes the improvements are mediocre, but they are improvements.

If you want to see improved transit down the road, this is the place to make a stand.

Thank you for your response. And your point about setting the stage to continue to improve transit throughout West Michigan is a good one and speaks to me.

With that said, I think that I will end up voting for this. But once this is in process...

I want to see a continued focus on integrating the various modes of transportation around town. And I have a suggestion for a way to integrate two of our favorites on UP:

1. The Silver Line goes in. Each station should add a ton of available space for bicycles. Make it nice. Have some lockers, some spots that people can lease and "reserve" on a monthly basis. Don't just slap some "normal" bike racks in there. Make it a little nicer, a little more intimate.

2. At the same time that we are talking about the Silver Line, we are adding the bike trail along the South Beltline. There is already a bike trail from Byron Center to the Zoo. There are other trails all around West Michigan, but in this case I will talk about the trails in proximety to the Silver Line. Why not create new trail "spurs" that directly link to the stations on the Silver Line? If you live within a mile of the Silver Line, you may bike or walk to a station. If you live farther than that, unfortunately you may be unwilling to ride your bike on a street to get to a station. I am not saying that some won't do this, but why not leverage our existing bike trail infrastructure and link it to the new Silver Line.

Maybe, to take this just a step further, you add signage on the bike trails, directing you to the nearest Silver Line station?

My point: Like any venture, you have to drive "traffic" to your doorstep. For people who already use the bike trails, this would be a natural way to extend their use of the trails and the new Silver Line.

Am I stretching here or is this within the realm of reasonable thought?

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Thank you for your response. And your point about setting the stage to continue to improve transit throughout West Michigan is a good one and speaks to me.

With that said, I think that I will end up voting for this. But once this is in process...

I want to see a continued focus on integrating the various modes of transportation around town. And I have a suggestion for a way to integrate two of our favorites on UP:

1. The Silver Line goes in. Each station should add a ton of available space for bicycles. Make it nice. Have some lockers, some spots that people can lease and "reserve" on a monthly basis. Don't just slap some "normal" bike racks in there. Make it a little nicer, a little more intimate.

2. At the same time that we are talking about the Silver Line, we are adding the bike trail along the South Beltline. There is already a bike trail from Byron Center to the Zoo. There are other trails all around West Michigan, but in this case I will talk about the trails in proximety to the Silver Line. Why not create new trail "spurs" that directly link to the stations on the Silver Line? If you live within a mile of the Silver Line, you may bike or walk to a station. If you live farther than that, unfortunately you may be unwilling to ride your bike on a street to get to a station. I am not saying that some won't do this, but why not leverage our existing bike trail infrastructure and link it to the new Silver Line.

Maybe, to take this just a step further, you add signage on the bike trails, directing you to the nearest Silver Line station?

My point: Like any venture, you have to drive "traffic" to your doorstep. For people who already use the bike trails, this would be a natural way to extend their use of the trails and the new Silver Line.

Am I stretching here or is this within the realm of reasonable thought?

I definitely agree with both of those points. The nice part is that we can put those nicer parking racks and lockers in and source them from CycleSafe, which is located in Ada, and keep the money within our local economy. This is an important step in making multi-modal transit a viable alternative. The big problem with off-street trails is that they are only effective and safe in places where there are not very many intersections with streets and driveways. It's the same reason that riding on a sidewalk is not safe. So, it's not reasonable to just put in a trail on something like 44th St, or 36th St. There may be alternative routes that could be signed and publicized, though.

I'll have to look into the Silver Line station details regarding bicycles a bit more. I would not be surprised if some of those details have not been completely specified yet. I do know that I saw a couple of people on the Rapid Board that decides some of these types of things at the Bike Summit last Friday.

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BTW in regards to the bike trails, the city of Wyoming has a plan to extend the trail that runs on their side of the Division to the Kentwood trail across Division. That should help with some people in that regard. As for linking that trail to the BRT Stations, the 4 stations of 60th, 54th, 44th, and 36th are easy to connect to the trail since they stations are on the major cross streets. Another point to make is that this BRT line will have a station at the new Kroc Center being built off Division.

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BTW in regards to the bike trails, the city of Wyoming has a plan to extend the trail that runs on their side of the Division to the Kentwood trail across Division. That should help with some people in that regard. As for linking that trail to the BRT Stations, the 4 stations of 60th, 54th, 44th, and 36th are easy to connect to the trail since they stations are on the major cross streets. Another point to make is that this BRT line will have a station at the new Kroc Center being built off Division.

How is it easy to connect the stations at 54th, 44th, and 36th to the trail? Please elucidate.

Are you talking about Kent Trail? 131 is in the way and it's not terribly easy for a novice cyclist to cross it.

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The power lines that run about 1/4 mile from Division Ave has a bike trail. It was one of the main items in the Design Charette for the 54th/60th stations. In anycase that line I believe is gonna connect to the South Beltline Trail and goes north all the way to 28th St. I am not sure how far north it runs since I did not grab the Wyoming Bike Trail map at the city offices. If you happen to be around that area I would suggest you pick up a copy if you are interested in biking in Wyoming. They are currently looking at means of putting the map on city webserver but it is a pretty big file so nothing yet. In anycase Kentwood has a trail that runs around 50th street but it ends just before Division. Connecting those two lines is in the plans. Wyoming btw pays for these lines by the means of the Parks Millage.

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Any links to the % of people who commute to work by bicycle for major US metro areas?

Part of the problem with this question is that currently, the major widespread measure of commute share is the US Census, which is only done every ten years. Some communities do their own studies, but I am not aware of a centralized location for this information.

As you know, the last census was in 2000, so the data is dated. Also, as I mentioned above, the commute data is obtained by asking the question "How did you get to work in the last week". But, it's asked in March. So many people in seasonal areas like my wife, who might commute by bicycle from mid-April to October/November, would answer "car" or "bus" instead of "bike".

Here's an article outlining a few of the attempts: http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/survey/commuter.htm

I'm not sure how old that article is, but it won't be updated, because Ken Kifer passed away a couple of years ago.

For the census data, it's a little complicated, but you can download data here: http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DCGeo...S_2007_1YR_G00_

Look for "Means of Transportation to Work" in the tables. there are a bunch of different ones. EDIT: this info appears to all be in pipe-delimited format, which is frickin' ridiculous and I can't get excel to read it.

EDIT: Also, here's a short little press release that the Census Bureau produced after the 2007 American Community Survey, which is the survey that gathers commuting data.

http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/re...acs/010230.html

EDIT 2: This is a much easier database to search, but all its data is from the 2000 census and not the more recent survey done in 2005 from the census data above.

http://www.bikesatwork.com/carfree/carfree...s-database.html

Edited by fotoman311
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The power lines that run about 1/4 mile from Division Ave has a bike trail. It was one of the main items in the Design Charette for the 54th/60th stations. In anycase that line I believe is gonna connect to the South Beltline Trail and goes north all the way to 28th St. I am not sure how far north it runs since I did not grab the Wyoming Bike Trail map at the city offices. If you happen to be around that area I would suggest you pick up a copy if you are interested in biking in Wyoming. They are currently looking at means of putting the map on city webserver but it is a pretty big file so nothing yet. In anycase Kentwood has a trail that runs around 50th street but it ends just before Division. Connecting those two lines is in the plans. Wyoming btw pays for these lines by the means of the Parks Millage.

Have you ever tried riding on this "bike trail"?

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&...9&encType=1

There are stops every block and it's maddening trying to ride on it between 36th and 44th. It would be like if there were a stop sign every half-mile on the freeway. It might be okay for kids, but even then, you are making them use their judgement to cross a street that may have cars on it many, many times.

It does look like there is a lot more promise for this trail being ridable south of 44th, and connecting it to the M-6 trail, but I haven't ridden on that portion. I would be excited to see them pursue this, and it could serve as a very good feeder to the BRT line if they can make the connections over to Division.

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I agree that it is only a small bike trail for the southern end of the BRT line. It does need some work. I think though your judgement of it south of 36th and north of 44th is off base since most of those are side streets which have very little traffic. Outside of that the trail will be viable if they can connect it from 50th to 44th a little better. I did not see much of a path running between those two streets. A good bike crossing points across 44th and 36th would be benifical. Since 44th is a boulvevard it should be pretty easy. 36th is a diffrent story but there is an option with the street that the GM plant sits on, that has a signal. Outside of that its the Northern stretch that is very difficult to follow. As I said it would be a very good trail if the BRT line gets built since Wyoming is looking at that trail for improvements.

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I agree that it is only a small bike trail for the southern end of the BRT line. It does need some work. I think though your judgement of it south of 36th and north of 44th is off base since most of those are side streets which have very little traffic. Outside of that the trail will be viable if they can connect it from 50th to 44th a little better. I did not see much of a path running between those two streets. A good bike crossing points across 44th and 36th would be benifical. Since 44th is a boulvevard it should be pretty easy. 36th is a diffrent story but there is an option with the street that the GM plant sits on, that has a signal. Outside of that its the Northern stretch that is very difficult to follow. As I said it would be a very good trail if the BRT line gets built since Wyoming is looking at that trail for improvements.

I repeat, have you ever ridden your bicycle on it? Just because those streets are low traffic does not mean that you can just blow across them without slowing down to make sure there is no auto traffic to yield to. In general, there are decent sightlines, but it's still not a good situation. The trail is also in pretty poor condition, if I remember right.

I tried this trail once and every following time I rode through that area, I just went on Buchanan, which is actually a pretty decent road to bicycle on all the way from Downtown. In that section from 36th to 44th, there was not a lot of traffic when I rode it. I think Buchanan from Plaster Creek (north of 28th st) all the way to 44th is a good candidate for a road diet from 4 lanes to 3 with striped shoulder/bike lanes. I would imagine traffic increases during shift changes at the soon to close GM plant, but not enough to make a significant difference. Also, Buchanan is signalized at 44th St, making it easy to cross. South of 44th is a bicycle friendly route through residential neighborhoods parallel to the trail right of way until 50th.

Edited by fotoman311
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Have you ever tried riding on this "bike trail"?

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&...9&encType=1

There are stops every block and it's maddening trying to ride on it between 36th and 44th. It would be like if there were a stop sign every half-mile on the freeway. It might be okay for kids, but even then, you are making them use their judgement to cross a street that may have cars on it many, many times. ...

I have. Buchanan (scant blocks west) is preferable for commuting, IMHO.

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EDIT: Also, here's a short little press release that the Census Bureau produced after the 2007 American Community Survey, which is the survey that gathers commuting data.

http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/re...acs/010230.html

EDIT 2: This is a much easier database to search, but all its data is from the 2000 census and not the more recent survey done in 2005 from the census data above.

http://www.bikesatwork.com/carfree/carfree...s-database.html

Those last 2 were helpful, thanks.

A brief look at the numbers shows as follows ...

Of the 63 largest cities (4 ignored as no '90 census data), % of bicycle ridership increased in 32, decreased in 20, and were unchanged (< .02% change) in 11.

Over a 10 year (1990 - 2000) period the increase was small ... maybe .1% or .2%. Grand Rapids fell into this. Using .4% as the median ridership nationwide using 2005 figures, if past trends continue we can expect bicycle ridership to hit 1% in approximately 30 to 60 years.

I figure future trends are speculative at best. Gov't assistance, demographics, population shifts, oil prices, urban policy, and technology are just a few factors. An affordable electric vehicle could really have a big impact.

If you consider Washington DC as a northern city and ignore Seattle due to its moderate climate, the number of northern cities making the top 20 in ridership % is 3. Of interest is the number of southern and western cities showing decreases, maybe because of aging populations.

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