Comments on: Guest Blogger: Alex Ihnen http://www.nextstopstl.org/1260/guest-blogger-alex-ihnen/ A Conversation About Transit Wed, 08 Feb 2012 02:21:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Tim http://www.nextstopstl.org/1260/guest-blogger-alex-ihnen/comment-page-1/#comment-259 Tim Tue, 20 Oct 2009 19:58:08 +0000 http://www.nextstopstl.org/?p=1260#comment-259 I agree that a north-south MetroLink line in the city would be great. But the route that is being proposed -- Tucker-Chouteau-Jefferson south -- repeats what has been MetroLink's biggest weakness: Too few stations are where people really want to go. What about Soulard, the brewery, South Grand, Shaw's Garden, Grand Center, the Zoo or Muny? I appreciate the desire to spur development in underdeveloped parts of town, but that unfortunately hasn't happened near most stations. Build the new line to serve already popular destinations and help bolster the benefits for people living/working nearby as well as visitors. I agree that a north-south MetroLink line in the city would be great. But the route that is being proposed — Tucker-Chouteau-Jefferson south — repeats what has been MetroLink’s biggest weakness: Too few stations are where people really want to go. What about Soulard, the brewery, South Grand, Shaw’s Garden, Grand Center, the Zoo or Muny? I appreciate the desire to spur development in underdeveloped parts of town, but that unfortunately hasn’t happened near most stations. Build the new line to serve already popular destinations and help bolster the benefits for people living/working nearby as well as visitors.

]]> By: Brian http://www.nextstopstl.org/1260/guest-blogger-alex-ihnen/comment-page-1/#comment-247 Brian Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:19:41 +0000 http://www.nextstopstl.org/?p=1260#comment-247 The Loop Trolley has HUGE flaws. It doesn't expand rail service coverage. It doesn't improve travel time. And its huge price-tag (Capital AND O&M) comes as a big opportunity cost. The money wasted on the Loop will be a missed opportunity to invest more broadly across the region in multiple, smaller capital projects that would attract far more customers and/or have operational savings. While Portland and Seattle are known for operational and expanding MODERN streetcar systems, numerous other regions are also planning MODERN streetcar, including Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Columbus, Kansas City, Minneapolis, and Tuscon, among others. Even those with vintage or heritage trolleys, namely Dallas, Little Rock, Memphis, and Tampa, have seriously explored switching to modern streetcar. Joe Edwards has done great things. But dumping money into "play trolleys" would be a huge mistake for St. Louis. St. Louis once decided to stick with river transportation, when Chicago went with the railroad. Hopefully, St. Louis gets on the modern track this time. The Loop Trolley has HUGE flaws. It doesn’t expand rail service coverage. It doesn’t improve travel time. And its huge price-tag (Capital AND O&M) comes as a big opportunity cost. The money wasted on the Loop will be a missed opportunity to invest more broadly across the region in multiple, smaller capital projects that would attract far more customers and/or have operational savings.

While Portland and Seattle are known for operational and expanding MODERN streetcar systems, numerous other regions are also planning MODERN streetcar, including Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Columbus, Kansas City, Minneapolis, and Tuscon, among others. Even those with vintage or heritage trolleys, namely Dallas, Little Rock, Memphis, and Tampa, have seriously explored switching to modern streetcar.

Joe Edwards has done great things. But dumping money into “play trolleys” would be a huge mistake for St. Louis. St. Louis once decided to stick with river transportation, when Chicago went with the railroad. Hopefully, St. Louis gets on the modern track this time.

]]> By: john w. http://www.nextstopstl.org/1260/guest-blogger-alex-ihnen/comment-page-1/#comment-246 john w. Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:29:44 +0000 http://www.nextstopstl.org/?p=1260#comment-246 I wouldn't dismiss the idea of community involvement (design competition or otherwise) in bus stop improvement as superfluous, simply because pragmatism offers the choice of installing proprietary bus stops that are in use in other locales. If the point of your post is that the lack of community involvement in the improvent of our streets, neighborhoods and communities, wouldn't you agree that a great way to entice communitarians to engage in civic improvement is to provide opportunity for them to contribute to lasting betterment of their own city? It seems that allowing the city to make its own imprint on otherwise utilitarian would be a smash hit, rather than resigning itself to the pragmatics of perfunctory bus stop shelters? I wouldn’t dismiss the idea of community involvement (design competition or otherwise) in bus stop improvement as superfluous, simply because pragmatism offers the choice of installing proprietary bus stops that are in use in other locales. If the point of your post is that the lack of community involvement in the improvent of our streets, neighborhoods and communities, wouldn’t you agree that a great way to entice communitarians to engage in civic improvement is to provide opportunity for them to contribute to lasting betterment of their own city? It seems that allowing the city to make its own imprint on otherwise utilitarian would be a smash hit, rather than resigning itself to the pragmatics of perfunctory bus stop shelters?

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