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Triangle Regional Transit


monsoon

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I've been riding the bus a couple times a week now for about a month and it is funny to me that I actually prefer the older buses versus the new ones. Yes, the new ones look better on the outside, but who cares, they are not as comfortable as the old ones. The old ones had nicer seats and something you could actually call a headrest. The newer ones are filled with metal rails and a "sheet" of cushion on plastic chairs. This is key in a long ride from DTR to RTP. It might be a small point to some but the details are important for those that use the TT buses for long trips across the triangle. By long I do not mean distance, I mostly mean time; bus is just too slow.

Where is that train??? <_<

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I've been riding the bus a couple times a week now for about a month and it is funny to me that I actually prefer the older buses versus the new ones. Yes, the new ones look better on the outside, but who cares, they are not as comfortable as the old ones. The old ones had nicer seats and something you could actually call a headrest. The newer ones are filled with metal rails and a "sheet" of cushion on plastic chairs. This is key in a long ride from DTR to RTP. It might be a small point to some but the details are important for those that use the TT buses for long trips across the triangle. By long I do not mean distance, I mostly mean time; bus is just too slow.

Where is that train??? <_<

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Agreed. In my experience on the new buses, some of them have basically no padding and are terrible to sit on for more than 15 or 20 minutes, while others have about 1" of extra padding that actually makes a huge difference and makes the seats usable. However, the higher backs and headrests from the old buses are sorely missed. It looks to me like the metal rails can be unbolted from the seats, so perhaps a head rest could be bolted on in their place?

I have sent a complaint to TTA to this effect, and I suggest that you do the same.

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In response to my complaint I got a prompt reply from the director of bus operations Laurie Barrett. The buses that were part of the pilot program are the ones with no padding whatsoever. The seat inserts on those will be replaced with the padded inserts. Evidently this complaint has been common. TTA is ordering some more buses for delivery later this year. Ms. Barrett attached a photo of the seats that will be ordered for these buses. They have higher backs and are very similar to the ones on the old buses.

She didn't mention anything that can or will be done about the lack of head rests on the current buses. Realistically I wouldn't get my hopes up.

post-823-1210186598_thumb.jpg

post-823-1210186598_thumb.jpg

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Now I understand why the mock of the TTA rapid rail car had blue and gold stripes.

Proposed Regional Rail Vehicle

DMU Mock-up Introduced in Dallas, TX

September 26-28, 2005

The new rail car from United Transit Systems (UTS) was on display at the American Public Transportation Association Expo at the Dallas Convention Center.

In May 2005, Sojitz Corporation of America President & CEO Jun Matsumoto and Rotem Company Vice Chairman & CEO Soon-Won Chung signed a design agreement with TTA which allowed UTS to begin limited design and engineering on the prototype.

TTA had signed a contract to build 14 rapid rail DMUs for its then 28-mile rail 12 stations transit system.

GN7A0019_000.jpg

DSC00045.JPG

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This is really promising for getting TTA LRT off the ground... NY Times is reporting that mass transit use is UP across the country especially in the West and South, where ridership is up 10-15%! If there is that much of an increase in our part of the country, we should have little trouble I would hope of passing anything necessary to get LRT up and running. That further pushes my point that NOW is the time to get this thing off the ground. In the meantime Raleigh, TTA, Durham and the other cities with bus lines need to beef up their services to accomodate increasing ridership.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/10/business/10transit.html

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It's really sad after so many years of planning and funding rapid rail transit for Raleigh-Durham that they have to start all over.

I think the problem with DMU rapid rail that was proposed is the cost alone for the fuel. Going to light rail in the same corrridor might be the best option.

This time they should connect dirctly to Duke University, Chapel Hill and north Raleigh as part of Phase I and even the Raleigh-Durham International Airport.

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This will definitively be my last post here. I am busy planning to move my business to South America next year, so my time is short -- aside from the fact that I see so little progress in the Triangle anyway. So here is the last idea that I will proffer up. So pundits, have at it. Guffaw and bellyache all you want. I probably won't read the replies anyway. For the rest of you who actually want to see something done within your lifetimes, this is as simple a bootstrapping way to get trains running as you will find.

The idea is based on the same principle as public radio & television. The idea is that if you want something, you will pay for it. (Smart people have that figured out. I frankly don't care about the rest.) It also utilizes the idea of a charitable-use tax deduction to offset the investment in a public service. However, it will need several things in order to work: 1) NCRR's co-operation at coordinating for commuter rail scheduling, and the willingness to allow the CR to be run essentially at cost for at least the first 5-year proving period (this willingness, by the way, has an upside for NCRR -- once commuter rail is up and running, their asset values along the NCRR ROW will improve enough that a 5-year grace period makes sense); 2) you will need the State Legislature to pass legislation allowing for participants in the program to take a pre-tax credit on their state tax returns (my suggestion is that if they set the limit at $1,200 per year for individuals and $1,200 per year per employee as well for corporate taxpayers whose employees participate a matching-funds program, that not too many people would squawk); 3) you will need a 501

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The DMU project was canceled because it did not meet cost effectiveness standards. Converting this to LRT would increase the costs greatly and may not be as useful a line because of the distance involved. So I don't see how proposing a different technology that doesn't offer any practical benefits but it far more expensive would be a better plan.
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Politics killed the original TTA plan...They were shooting for a continuously rising bar. There was fragmented local support and fragmented support on the Senate level.

I think STAC's plan which is more comprehensive yet more of a combination of previous plans with an actual implementation plan, will get us where we need to be. I hate that we basically have to start over with environmental assessments on the rail piece. I'm thinking that's an unnecessary bureaucratic step at this point...what has changed since the last impact study???

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