Greenville Transit

[johnboyanoski]

skyliner,

I believe the Cely sign on Church Street is for the renovations to the school district offices. I saw that sign the other day, and was wondering what might be going on...I was hoping for a Tba...

[breed]

It seems to me that BRT is just a more-efficient bus system.

At any rate, regarding the LRT vs BRT discussion... find me an area that has LRT without a functional bus system. I think you need the groundwork of a good bus system first.

[Skyliner]

skyliner,

I believe the Cely sign on Church Street is for the renovations to the school district offices. I saw that sign the other day, and was wondering what might be going on...I was hoping for a Tba...

That is interesting. Why put such a large sign out there when people will hardly (if at all) notice the actual construction? Oh well. Perhaps we will eventually be reading a TBA blurb about new development happening on that vacant Broad Street lot.

Edited March 15, 2007 by Skyliner

[johnboyanoski]

That is interesting. Why put such a large sign out there when people will hardly (if at all) notice the actual construction? Oh well. Perhaps we will eventually be reading a TBA blurb about new development happening on that vacant Broad Street lot.

Vacant Broad Street site? Are we talking about that large swath of land on the southern side of Church Street bridge, across Broad from Northhampton Wines? Funny you ask, I talked to someone about that land this week. Apparently, the owners are sitting on it until they find the right project. You have to admit, it has to be one of the best open sites in all of downtown. All that acreage with nothing on it. I can see housing there...

And to make it transit related, maybe if housing goes there it will lead to a shuttle loop system downtown where people in surrounding neighborhoods can take shuttle/trolleys to downtown instead of driving.

[Skyliner]

Vacant Broad Street site? Are we talking about that large swath of land on the southern side of Church Street bridge, across Broad from Northhampton Wines? Funny you ask, I talked to someone about that land this week. Apparently, the owners are sitting on it until they find the right project. You have to admit, it has to be one of the best open sites in all of downtown. All that acreage with nothing on it. I can see housing there...

And to make it transit related, maybe if housing goes there it will lead to a shuttle loop system downtown where people in surrounding neighborhoods can take shuttle/trolleys to downtown instead of driving.

Bingo! That is the one, and your idea is very good. I thought of residential as well, and incorporating a transit station (LRT, BRT, or trolley) would be fantastic!

[g-man430]

John Boyanski should do a very good article on this BRT development. Future BRT bridge picture taken earlier today by me. This is on the same side of Woodruff Road as Saturn is. The other side of the bridge still looks the same as several months ago with just pilings in the ground:

[g-man430]

I contacted somebody with the city that knows a lot about this project and she told me that this would be on rail AND pavement.

[adrockc2]

I contacted somebody with the city that knows a lot about this project and she told me that this would be on rail AND pavement.

Something like a guided bus perhaps?

[johnboyanoski]

John Boyanski should do a very good article on this BRT development. Future BRT bridge picture taken earlier today by me. This is on the same side of Woodruff Road as Saturn is. The other side of the bridge still looks the same as several months ago with just pilings in the ground:

actually, we did a biz cover on this subject back in January. The other big part of this is the airport is right there. helps serves a major connector...

[Spartan]

Bingo! That is the one, and your idea is very good. I thought of residential as well, and incorporating a transit station (LRT, BRT, or trolley) would be fantastic!

Thats called Transit Oriented Development (TOD)

A true BRT doesnt have a rail component. The only way I can figure it would is if it had a "third rail" type of power source. But if youre going to build rail, why not go ahead any put in light rail?

This is more like waht I am expecting for Greenville

But I'd like to see something like this:

[Skyliner]

The last photo shows the exact same type of bus as the one in the rendering displayed at the release. Check out the link to WYFF's story to see what I mean. Being a dedicated link, I'll be happy to see anything at this point, though rail would certainly be forward-thinking.

[gs3]

But I'd like to see something like this:

This is what the renderings for Greenville's shows. A hybrid bus/rail system. I'm simply excited that it will run on it's right-of-way.

[g-man430]

It's going to be like that last pic I believe. It's the EXACT same one WYFF showed. Notice the Springfield on the front of it and no above ground lines like light rail uses. For confirmation of which one it will be, i'll send those three pics Spartan posted by email to her asking which one it is.

Edited March 16, 2007 by g-man430

[adrockc2]

It's still BRT.

It just uses a guide wheel to follow the "track".

[g-man430]

It's still BRT.

It just uses a guide wheel to follow the "track".

True. You can tell where the tires are at on the rendering. Why does everybody want LRT so much? What's wrong with this? It's cheaper and is just as efficient if not more.

Edited March 16, 2007 by g-man430

[maninthepark]

The pic. that WYFF used is of the Eugene Oregons, EmX Green line BRT that runs from Eugene to Springfield Oregon. It will open later this Year.

It runs on a guide way like this not rail.

[g-man430]

I told you it would most likely run on a monorail type system, but be embedded into the ground instead.

Edited March 16, 2007 by g-man430

[Skyliner]

I told you it would most likely run on a monorail type system, but be embedded into the ground instead.

The photo shows pavement, as I assumed.

[g-man430]

The photo shows pavement, as I assumed.

...but I still don't get why she said rail AND pavement if it is just going to be on pavement. Maybe it was a description of it and not what it will actually run on.

[maninthepark]

I just found out, the EmX line is already in service.Here are a few more photos I

found.

[g-man430]

I'm not complaining about getting this instead of LRT one bit. This can move more riders than LRT can in an hour and is just as efficient if not more. It's also cheaper too. You have to have a good BRT system before you have a LRT system anyways. Look at Seattle for example.

Edited March 16, 2007 by g-man430

[Greenville]

This looks very different from the picture on WYFF. The WYFF picture looked more like a train than a regular bus. My understanding was that the high-speed buses mentioned for Greenville needed some sort of track (thus the reason it would run along a rail line). If it's just pavement running along main roads, how fast can it really go?

[g-man430]

^^^They did say "high-speed" on WYFF and there is no way that BRT is high-speed. Nigel Robertson also said "a train-like bus." I'll just wait until it's built to see what it looks like unless the city comes out with a rendering before then. Sucks it is still 4-5 years away. Maybe they'll stick a Ferrari engine in it to make it high-speed.

Edited March 16, 2007 by g-man430

[Skyliner]

This looks very different from the picture on WYFF. The WYFF picture looked more like a train than a regular bus. My understanding was that the high-speed buses mentioned for Greenville needed some sort of track (thus the reason it would run along a rail line). If it's just pavement running along main roads, how fast can it really go?

You may want to look at the photo Spartan posted above. It is the exact same type of bus as the one on WYFF, yet it appears to be the same system as the the others shown here.

[maninthepark]

...but I still don't get why she said rail AND pavement if it is just going to be on pavement. Maybe it was a description of it and not what it will actually run on.

I don't know g-man, The pic. that WYFF used is the same as what Eugene used

for the media for the Emx line, but as you can see from the photos the actual buses

don't look the same as the renderings.

I do know that Bombardia builds a BRT system with a center rail for guidance on

narrow R.O.W so the drivers don't have to control the buses as they pass at high

speeds. And when the bus is on the street the center wheels retract.

I think WYFF Just used a generic rendering to show what it could look like.