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Light Rail Tallahassee


TD

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I'm sick of cars. Its inevitable gas is running out and prices are skyrocketing. The solution to traffic is not to widen roads. Lets Face it, the Automobile in America is dieing fast..

Tallahassee needs to jump on the bandwagon and start building a Light Rail system.

I have lived in California in the San Francisco area and made use of its excellent mass transportation system.. From Bart to the trolleys to the MUNI to Cal-train and busses you cant go wrong.

Im sick and tired of cars clogging our roadways and wasting money on gasoline.

Part of the reason why Im leaving Tallahassee is the terrible transportation planning.

I also have used systems in Miami (Tri rail Metro Rail and Metro Mover)

It works, and it works well.

The place where I go is going to have an excellent mass transit system so i can do without a car... Whether you have realized it or not, the safety of your little cars and trucks is in jeopardy... give it 20 years max before you will sit beside me on a bus or train.

Long Story short I want action... I want to scrap all proposed new roads and widenings and use the money to construct trains (light rail and commuter rail lines).

Dont say we arent big enough to support it, because we are... With millions of dollars of blueprint dollars being wasted on Crapital circle we could already have built light rail lines.

I hope people will join with me in the push to support the construction of mass transit and rail in Tallahassee!

(and no im not going to ride the terrible Star Metro service) It goes no where! and its so infrequent....

Join the Rail push and let us be heard. My hope is that we can get an article posted in the Democrap and wake the community up...

And certainly scrap these useless road widening projects and turn them into a great rail system!

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A light rail would not help me at all. I only live 5 miles from work and would have to drive to get to any station that would be put up. I think it would be a alright idea, I am just not sure how many people would really use it. Most people live close to where they work or travel in from out of the city to get to work. Good idea thou.

Also we are not running out of gas. We just dont have refineries to make the gas we need.

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A light rail would not help me at all. I only live 5 miles from work and would have to drive to get to any station that would be put up. I think it would be a alright idea, I am just not sure how many people would really use it. Most people live close to where they work or travel in from out of the city to get to work. Good idea thou.

Also we are not running out of gas. We just dont have refineries to make the gas we need.

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Maybe sometime in the future Light Rail might work. Install a few key routes. These would be what I would be in favor of if it only served Tallahassee. If it does the surrounding area then that's something completely different then.

1) Bradfordville, Killearn area, Midtown to Downtown.

2) Mahan (Pinacle, CC, Magnolia) to Downtown.

3) Southwood, Parkway @ CC, Governors Gq. to Downtown.

4) Woodville/Crawfordville Rd area, Orange Ave. Famu to Downtown.

5) Airport, Inovation Park, FSU to Dowtown.

6) Lake Jackson area, Tallahassee Mail, Tharpe Old Bainbridge road area to Downtown.

Since Tally is pretty much wagon wheel shaped with its main roads I followed that idea with the rail routes. I think one going to airport would be so awesome. You can save gas money and with the parking increase you save there too. I would ride it when I fly out of TLH. :)

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(and no im not going to ride the terrible Star Metro service) It goes no where! and its so infrequent....

Join the Rail push and let us be heard. My hope is that we can get an article posted in the Democrap and wake the community up...

And certainly scrap these useless road widening projects and turn them into a great rail system!

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There is no way light rail could ever make it in Tallahassee. As any transportation planner will tell you, you need a critical mass (population) of people, as well as high density to make light rail work. It's too expensive for too little people to use it in town.

People are often misguided about StarMetro. It is a good system. It has its flaws, but it does go places and service is reliable. An expansion of StarMetro is far more robust of a project than any light rail would ever be.

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A light rail would not help me at all. I only live 5 miles from work and would have to drive to get to any station that would be put up. I think it would be a alright idea, I am just not sure how many people would really use it. Most people live close to where they work or travel in from out of the city to get to work. Good idea thou.

Also we are not running out of gas. We just dont have refineries to make the gas we need.

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This is were I see the future of transportation read it, learn it, like it.

Hybrid Smart car

I have actually noticed a few of these around town the past few months. I think they are cool. Allot of other countries are already driving these, why is it taking America so long to do so? BMW is has a list for 300 new dealerships to be built across the county for these little guys, hopefully we will be getting one soon. You can pick up one of these "bad boys" fully loaded with leather and everything for $13,000. And not have to fill it up but once every 3 weeks or so. I see these becoming more of a reality before we get a Light Rail system in Tally.

I do like the Light Rail system, I rode the Tri-Rail in Fort Lauderdale every day to and from Work (90 mile round trip) and it was great! Cost me $10 a week and it included bus pass as well. When the train would arrive late for work at times my boss never minded cause he like the idea of his employees using the train. I even remember a few times we would take our laptops and 5 of us would ride the train from West Palm to Miami and conduct our meetings on the Train and take out lunches on the beach. Fun times!!

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An addendum to the thread :)

This discussion got me to thinking: there's a lot of ideas tossed around and individuals who are interested in planning, but a lot of members (please don't take offense) are not in the planning field, and are not familiar with planning principles. TD's proposal got me thinking about this, since no transportation planner I know would entertain a proposal for light rail in this town!

We need more planners to get involved in this forum - people that work day to day for a planning agency, that are on the front lines of what is going on in Tallahassee to provide insight and knowledge about the planning field. As a budding planner there is still a LOT I have to learn (especially about branches of planning I'm not familiar with, i.e. affordable housing).

What do you guys think about this? There is a great interest in planning among you all, but I think there is a need to inform and educate about basic planning principles to the public. A lot of people have great pie-in-the-sky ideas (such as the one TD presented) and are disappointed when they are not implemented by the city, county, etc. It's great to dream - but I'd like to encourage everyone to have realistic dreams about how they want Tallahassee to look - dreams that have a potential to be fulfilled. In order for this to happen, people need to have a grasp of basic planning principles.

NOTE: This post is meant for an open and useful dialogue - NOT to say that you all are dumb or anything like that!! :)

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As far as the bit about planners is concerned: I think it would be a great thing to have more of them involved, but not to the extent that they are seen as the only persons with valid opinions about these issues that we're all so passionate about. Some of us may not be planners by title, but have the spirit of a planner in the heart.

This idea of light rail seems very premature to me. Like jpl, I really think StarMetro is doing an excellent job since Ron Garrison took it over. With the changes they've implemented and those planned, Tallahassee's transit system will likely serve as a model system in the future. I'm quite interested in knowing how many of us here who've had the opportunity to take a bus, have actually taken that opportunity to see if it could be incorporated into your daily/weekly schedule?

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Despite everybodys opinions about how light rail will never come to Tallahassee. I believe it will and it can work. Cities similar in size to tallahassee are doing planning and feasibility studies around the country.

Yes I know light rail doesnt go everywhere. You have fixed main routes with park and ride depot's. and the bus or trolley system picks up at the light rail stations to connect you to places the light rail doesnt go.

Also, JPL before you post something like that be a little more thoughtful. Essentially you insulted me saying I know nothing about planning. And Since im not in the field that it can never get done and I need to think Realisticly.

I am real., Charlottes LYNX blue line was built for 450 million roughly...

Anyhow. carry on.

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In fairness TD, I don't think anyone said it would never come to Tallahassee, I think the consensus is that it probably won't happen anytime soon.

I don't think jpl meant to insult anyone, I think he was stating his claim just as you and I have.

Charlotte is a large Metropolitan area of 2.5 million people. There are 700K within Charlotte's city limits. So I'm not sure if that's a good comparison for us. I can't think of any cities our size, with metro's the size of ours that have a light rail system, can you name a few?

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I got spoiled with Marta, living in Atlanta. I rode it nearly daily. But, the thing is, it ran when I needed it. StarMetro stops at 10 pm - that does me no good if I intend to use it at night.

Plus, and this is a big issue, compare the Marta website: http://www.itsmarta.com/

with the StarMetro online page: http://www.talgov.com/starmetro/index.cfm

Frankly, it sucks. You should be able to type in where you are and where you want to be and have that route mapped out for you. Heck, the maps and routes on the StarMetro line haven't been updated since April of last year. If the city wants us to use it, they need to make that easier.

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I got spoiled with Marta, living in Atlanta. I rode it nearly daily. But, the thing is, it ran when I needed it. StarMetro stops at 10 pm - that does me no good if I intend to use it at night.

Plus, and this is a big issue, compare the Marta website: http://www.itsmarta.com/

with the StarMetro online page: http://www.talgov.com/starmetro/index.cfm

Frankly, it sucks. You should be able to type in where you are and where you want to be and have that route mapped out for you. Heck, the maps and routes on the StarMetro line haven't been updated since April of last year. If the city wants us to use it, they need to make that easier.

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That'd be great, but I'm not holding my breath until it happens. Once it does, however, I know I'll be looking to use it more often, if I can. Personally, I prefer public transit to driving.
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2006321190972680028_rs.jpg

I'm sick of cars. Its inevitable gas is running out and prices are skyrocketing. The solution to traffic is not to widen roads. Lets Face it, the Automobile in America is dieing fast..

Tallahassee needs to jump on the bandwagon and start building a Light Rail system.

I have lived in California in the San Francisco area and made use of its excellent mass transportation system.. From Bart to the trolleys to the MUNI to Cal-train and busses you cant go wrong.

Im sick and tired of cars clogging our roadways and wasting money on gasoline.

Part of the reason why Im leaving Tallahassee is the terrible transportation planning.

I also have used systems in Miami (Tri rail Metro Rail and Metro Mover)

It works, and it works well.

The place where I go is going to have an excellent mass transit system so i can do without a car... Whether you have realized it or not, the safety of your little cars and trucks is in jeopardy... give it 20 years max before you will sit beside me on a bus or train.

Long Story short I want action... I want to scrap all proposed new roads and widenings and use the money to construct trains (light rail and commuter rail lines).

Dont say we arent big enough to support it, because we are... With millions of dollars of blueprint dollars being wasted on Crapital circle we could already have built light rail lines.

I hope people will join with me in the push to support the construction of mass transit and rail in Tallahassee!

(and no im not going to ride the terrible Star Metro service) It goes no where! and its so infrequent....

Join the Rail push and let us be heard. My hope is that we can get an article posted in the Democrap and wake the community up...

And certainly scrap these useless road widening projects and turn them into a great rail system!

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Here is a list of some of the proposed or under construction

Rail systems across the USA

Light Rail

Some are in larger Metros, but some are close to the size of Tally.

I heard about planning one in Spokane Washington which has about 200,000 residents.

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Spokane is the only one within 100,000 residents (in the metro) of Tallahassee that is proposing a Light Rail. Any city similar in size to Tallahassee such as Huntingdon, WV is planning streetcar service, which is lower capacity and less extensive. A streetcar running a loop of downtown might be affordable, though not particularly useful. A true light rail system running from the airport to downtown to say, Bradfordville, would be many times more costly.

Also, upon reading about Spokane's proposal, they would use a railroad running along a pre-existing transportation corridor, which is something Tallahassee lacks.

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