Monday, December 12, 2011
Around Town Manifest Density: Mayor Dean Favors Bus Rapid Transit Over Light Rail
Posted by Steve Haruch on Mon, Dec 12, 2011 at 3:47 PM
As reported by The City Paper's Joey Garrison, today Mayor Karl Dean threw his support behind a bus rapid transit (BRT) system connecting Five Points to West Nashville, after a consulting firm narrowed the best options down to light rail (at a cost of roughly $275 million) and BRT (at the relatively small price of $136 million).
“I’m a big fan of our buses,” Dean said Monday morning to members of the Broadway-West End Steering Committee, who voted to support consultants’ recommendations for BRT. “The fact is, with BRT, we’ll have even better buses.“If you look at decisions the way I have to look at things, there is the cost,” he said. “There is a $130 million difference in the cost. That is significant when we have to figure out how to pay for this.”
Dean, who said BRT would generate virtually the same ridership numbers as a streetcar, indicated a new BRT system along West End, Broadway and into East Nashville could be installed by late 2014 or early 2015. The report —— initiated more than a year ago to review transit options from White Bridge Road to East Nashville —— is a prerequisite to land federal dollars for transportation projects. The level of local dollars needed for the project is still unclear.
“We’ve been working with consultants, looking where the best chances are to get federal funding,” Dean said. “We believe it is bus rapid transit.”
So why can't we be like Portland and Seattle and have cool-looking street cars with nicknames like S.L.U.T.? Simply put: We're not dense enough.
Now, one could argue that the time to install a system that can accommodate greater density is before that level of density has been achieved, but as the mayor notes, I'm not the one who has to pay for this stuff. In any case, we are told the higher-end BRT buses look like street cars and, if they have their own lanes and close-together stations, they'll basically be functioning in much the same manner as street cars, but with lower start-up cost and easier vehicle acquisition. (There are definitely stretches of road between White Bridge and Five Points where it's hard for me to imagine there's enough space for a dedicated BRT lane, but maybe I'm just too dense.)
You'll be familiar with some of the broader outlines of the Nashville-area transit discussion if you caught Joe Morris' piece in the Nashville Ledger last week, and for the pro-sprawl counterargument to transit in general and rail in particular, check out this post, titled "Tilting at (Transit) Windmills in Nashville," over at New Geography, which posits that sprawl — which is, for lack of a better word, good — contributes to our not-terrible traffic congestion:
This favorable traffic situation is despite the fact that Nashville has among the lowest overall transit market shares in the United States or Western Europe (less than 0.5 percent of travel in the metropolitan area). The key to this success, like that of other American metropolitan areas in relation to their international peers is low density and decentralization of employment and other commercial locations.
If that sounds like an argument against mass transit, it should.
Anyway, we'll have to see how this all shakes out — the steering committee voted in favor of BRT, but there's still that whole getting-federal-monies part, then the local-monies part and the getting-people-to-ride-it part. (We're into that sort of thing here at the Scene.) And while even the best laid plans don't always work out quite the way their inventors hope, a bus plan is better than no plan.
Comments (13)
Showing 1-13 of 13
I believe the two options were 1) BRT and 2) Streetcars. Not 2) Light Rail.
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dislikeBravo to Mayor Dean for understanding that Nashville needs to solve its mini-transit problems before going all-in on mass transit. More and better buses along with an effort to get more cabs and vans {linked to investments from shopping areas, medical facilities, the colleges and other high-density population areas} are vital to building the local infrastructure so that people from the suburbs can abandon their cars and still get around Nashville.
The issues related to sprawl and future transit needs will probably have to be solved at the State Capitol. Unchecked growth in the collar counties and beyond will not stop because Nashville desires it. The legislators in Middle Tennessee need to focus on ensuring that future growth is, to the greatest extent possible, follows existing interstate and rail lines or is easily accessible from those transit corridors.
Until we have the ability to move people within Nashville, there is no compelling reason for most suburbanites to leave their cars. Investing in regional mass transit might let us sit at he cool cities table but it won't solve our problems and it won't help our taxpayers.
Besides, we have a huge investment in infrastructure for water and sewer coming up that takes priority over trains. That is the next big investment we will have to make.
Mark you are 105% correct. Our leadership has already been angling for regional funding of transit projects, but for the most part, Nashville has done a terrible job providing real transportation solutions for our own citizens. Rather than provide modals that can serve the citizens of Nashville, we have allowed niche business and community interests to hijack "public transportation" for the benefit of just one small portion of our great big city.
So, imagine what will happen when we approach our neighboring communities or their elected officials at the state house (we are in the pronounced political minority in state government now mind you) and say we need money from them in order to fund projects like this one short corridor. "Why would we fund a system that sits entirely on one of your streets?" "Why don't you take the money from your downtown tourist circulator and pay for your own damn BRT?" "Why would we fund a system when you blew all your money on a downtown central station instead of providing connections between your own citizens?" "We will connect ourselves together, we are getting most of the new jobs and tax paying residents anyway and we will not have to deal with your downtown revitalization crap."
I wonder if anyone on that steering committee uses Nashville's buses as their primary form of transportation?
Why does it cost 136 million for one BRT line?
The BRT on Gallatin Rd was 800,000 for the hybrid bus plus the cost of 30 nice shelters. So call it one million.
Does it cost an extra 135 million just to designate one lane as bus only??????
Dan, if Freddie O'Connell is on the steering committee (he has been on the MTA board), then there's at least one regular bus rider.
Why not just start running buses along that route? Like, right now? The people who would ride it (and I'm one of them) don't need the frills to get it started, just a way to get to work without having to pay two bus fares and wait around at the bus station downtown for a transfer.
I don't see a way to have a dedicated bus lane all of the way from Five Points to White Bridge Road, without severely restricting automobile traffic. You can't use the Interstate; I doubt the Federal government would allow Metro to reserve one Interstate 40 lane specifically for buses. You can't use Charlotte Avenue; it has a section that has only one lane in each direction, so having a dedicated bus lane would mean shutting out all other traffic from using that section of Charlotte. This only leaves West End Avenue, and the section from Murphy Road to White Bridge Road mostly only has two lanes in each direction. Limiting one lane to buses only would cut the capability of the road in half, as far as non-bus traffic is concerned.
Wheel tax heavily people who live in surrounding countys that drive cars in here make their money, leave and spend no money here or pay no taxes here!
I know it's a different country, but my family took a vacation to Quito, Ecuador several months ago and I was impressed with their bus service. They have dedicated bus lanes throughout the city and it runs more or less like a subway, with stations spaced out a long the line. We utilyzed them to get around and with the car traffic snarled up at times, you could get to one side of the city to the other relatively quickly. The outlying areas have "feeder" services that run from more suburban areas into a central station. It is a well-thought out system and heavily used by people there. I know that there are challenges in Nashville to doing something similar, not the least of which is changing habits in a culture dominated by the automobile. We also have infrastructure issues to work through. But it would be nice to have other options in Nashville, be it light rail, dedicated bus lines, subway, etc.
nm,
Excellent point. My thinking is that some additional cab and van service along the corridor would help expand usage of the buses.
T-Bone, I think that wheel tax revenue goes to the county government where the wheels are registered. A payroll tax on everyone who works in Davidson County might work although it seems unlikely to get the necessary legislative approval. That would be unfair to employees in contrast to regular visitors who frequently use our roads but rarely spend much money.
I am not advocating this but just pointing out that it is a more workable option.
@Kosh, the additional expense for the Broadway/West End corridor BRT is to provide a dedicated lane for the BRT (which is really how it should be done; the Gallatin BRT route would be more correctly referred to as an express route).
@jfeldredge, restricting single-passenger auto traffic is a part of the goal. And that is a good thing. However, according to the plans I have seen, it looks like two travel lanes in each direction will be preserved--it appears as if the bus lane will take the turning lane away.
As much as it pains me to agree with Mayor Dean on any subject, I am afraid, at this juncture at least, expanding the bus system is the correct move.
I have also traveled overseas and been properly impressed with the efficiency of the mass transit systems, however, one must consider several points. In many countries, obtaining a drivers license, not to mention insuring and maintaining a vehicle can be expensive. The cost of fuel is another issue. Additionally, many overseas have grown up with the idea of using public transportation while many of their contemporarys in America only know private autos. (No, I don't count school buses.)
While now might be an ideal point to establish tracks for light rail or street cars, while the city grows around the tracks, I am not sure the cost can be justified. We may have to make do with the bus system and be satisfied with later adopting an elevated system. Which might make more sense anyway, as an elevated system would not effect ground traffic, and likewise ground based traffic congestion would have no effect on an overground system.
I am still surprised, though, that Mayor Dean didn't jump at the chance to plunge the city further into debt, especially when he could claim this was to move Nashville into the future.
Just one persons opinion.
