Providence RIPTA Services

[sdarcy274]

This is the backwards part - you don't get a viable rail option without an existing network of functional, well-patronized buses.

The cases of the different 'Obama streetcars' tell the tale fairly well. The successful ones were built on the backs of a functioning, (relatively) well patronized bus network - looking at Seattles SL*T before the Link, KC Streetcar, or assorted ones. The rail is additive. On the opposite end, you have things like Cincy, OKC, and in some ways Dallas, where the rail isn't additive to the network.

Even the early 90s light-rail mania warns that you can't just plop down light-rail and expect that systemwide ridership (one of the primary indicators of a good public investment) will grow.

this simply isnt true. there is ample evidence that rail draws in more people than buses and people stigmatize buses. can you build rail out of no where with no other public transit? of course not, no one is saying this. Hence why i said this state lacks VISION. if the goal is to get more people moving on public transit, esp in dense well travelled corridors, then rail is more effective than buses. Again, this doesnt mean buses should not exist, it means continously throwing money at it hoping it will improve isnt a long term public transit solution.

 

[Stlin]

There's a lot less on Foulkes campaign site about RIPTA than the RIDOT bridge issue, which is predictable, but it at least got a mention - whereas I can't find hide or hair of Mckee having made any forward looking statements about RIPTA in the past year. At least Foulkes stated plan, while simplistic and hardly comprehensive to RIPTAs needs, has a decent chance of actually being useful transit.

 

[as02155]

rail draws in more people than buses

That's contingent on constructed as a well-integrated transit system. A system that is slashing bus service now, even before rail is built, isn't putting forward a path toward that future. Again, as the Obama streetcars show, you can replace buses with a rail line and fail to serve riders - in some cases serving fewer riders with a much higher capital cost.