[speedgibson] Speed Gibson: Railus Interruptus

[Email subscription to blog articles]

Posted by Speed Gibson:
Railus Interruptus
http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1213883653.shtml


   Bus service isn't perfect. They run late at times. They break down
   occasionally. But these are singular events that inconvenience a
   comparative few now and then. Your own car could also get caught in
   traffic or break down as well.
   But it's different with Light Rail. Snow storms, traffic accidents,
   and system failures stop the entire line, not just your ride. Even
   [1]minor nearby construction stops it, per the Metro Transit website:

     Route 55 buses will replace trains on portions of the Hiawatha Line
     on Saturday, June 21, and Sunday, June 22, to accommodate
     construction work on an apartment complex adjacent to the track.
     Buses will serve customers between 46th Street Station and Fort
     Snelling Station from 3 a.m. until noon Saturday and from 3 a.m.
     until 10 a.m. Sunday. Trains will operate normally elsewhere along
     the 11-mile line.
     Full rail service will be reactivated in time to serve Twins fans
     headed to weekend home games at the Metrodome.
     In the work zone, a contractor will dig near the track to tap into
     a water main that will serve an apartment building under
     construction on Minnehaha Avenue north of 54th Street.

   All this for a water main. What's going to happen with the Central
   Corridor line, heading into the more dense University of Minnesota and
   downtown St. Paul areas? And what if Met Council is right, that it
   spurs development all along University Avenue in between? Wouldn't
   there have to be similar shutdowns and more of them?
   The old streetcar tracks were torn up for a very good reason: to
   improve transit with bus service. That was over 50 years ago, meaning
   relatively few are now around to tell us what streetcar life was
   really like. By the time we learn again, we'll be saddled with half a
   dozen of these boondoggles.

References

   1. http://www.metrotransit.org/serviceInfo/riderAlertsDetail.asp?alert_id=246