Thinking a bit further on this, besides the Western-Morgan connection which I would admit is a stretch,
the riskiest piece of this BRT loop is signal priority where the buses cross Dawson and McDowell. This happens at Lane (Westbound) and Martin (Eastbound.) These are state highways and I remember this was a sticking point a few years ago when we were considering alignments for on-street light rail through downtown as well.
With a perfectly timed one-way pair like Dawson/McDowell, it is not possible to have perfectly timing on all the cross streets. It is, however, possible to perfectly time the signals on just one of the cross streets, in just one direction. I would pick Eastbound Martin as that street on account of the BRT. Then, on the north end, I would have a flyover to cross the pair just north of Lane, next to the railroad tracks.
The BRT route is orange, the flyover is green, and the land owned by GoTriangle is purple.
This would be kind of expensive ($10 million?) but it does fit with the topography and existing built environment, would benefit all four BRT lines, and it could save about 3 minutes for every single bus that uses it by bypassing the traffic lights at McDowell and Dawson.
What if a fleet of these connected our downtown loop. Have them run every 5 minutes regardless of passenger, and queues of them ready at each BRT or bus/transit station ready to leave once someone gets in. Then maybe we don’t have to bring brt through downtown and can have it be a node on the downtown loop.
This is a great idea for tourists, but for people who use this service everyday, they’d enjoy the tunnel the first time or two but they’d stop paying attention pretty quickly. Transit users consistently rate reliability, convenience and speed as what they want most out of a transit system.
because the platform doesn’t tell me which post you’re replying to (or does it?), I am going to take a guess that it’s the one where I suggested that the path between stations could also be an art installation. If so, I was not suggesting a tunnel. I was suggesting that it be at the sidewalk level so that it’s not just for those in transit. It would be for everyone.
Yeah, that’s what I was referencing (I misunderstood about the tunnel). I’m 100% on board with public art on sidewalks, but I don’t think it’s relevant for transit riders.
That being said, I LOVE the idea of pedestrian-oriented art installations. They’re fantastic for tourists and for local people who are taking a walk but don’t have a tight deadline (i.e. not commuters or people with “places to be”).
My thought was to kill many birds with one stone. If transit riders were required to walk from one station to the other, at least make it an experience.
Some of us are seniors, with onset of mobility problems. Quarter-mile isn’t far, until you’ve done a round-trip on crutches. Especially in the rain. Doing the quarter-mile round-trip several times a week? I don’t think a significant part of the electorate would buy that.
The United tunnel at ORD was enjoyable the first few times I went through it. After that, ho hum.
I am saying this is an ideal situation. I am only saying that, if there were going to be two stations and people HAD to walk, why not make that walk better?
As for the example of the UA terminal at ORD, it was just an illustrative example of how that experience was improved.
I sincerely apologize for causing so much friction over just sharing an idea.
Oh, thanks but there’s no need for an apology. I was merely calling attention to the plight of some seniors who already “hoof it” from their home to the nearest bus stop and again from the bus stop nearest their destination to their destination. If the city then interposes a walk to make a bus connection, it becomes quite burdensome. I hope the city bears this in mind, that’s all.
This convo reminds me on all the Metro stations in Paris. Each one has a different style/decor to it. One has tiles of letters covering the tunnel and you can find words (wordsearch) while you wait for the train. The Louvre station has copies of some of the paintings you will find in the museum above. One station has gigantic gears sticking out of the tunnel, like some sort of steampunk movie. Each station has its own personality, and I think that is awesome and interesting for the riders while waiting for their trains. I am not typically a fan of “public art” but this is one form of public art that I fully support. Too bad we don’t have an kickass metro system like Paris where we can go crazy with this sort of thing.
Cleanliness and functionality matters so much more than design.
Tokyo’s transport system is the definition of utilitarian, for the most part. (Some of the newest stuff is fancier, but it’s also been more expensive to build.) However, it’s such a marvel of efficiency that it’s beautiful in its own right for that reason.
They also keep it clean. Which makes a big difference.
Oh, I’m getting up there in age too! Ageing isn’t for the weak of heart, pun intended.
As I get older and I pay attention to what other seniors do, it’s becoming clearer to me that one thing that I need to do more of is move. While there are always exceptions to the rule, and special accommodations that need to be made, many senior benefit from walking & exercising their hearts.
This is not to say that I support a scheme where there are two separate bus terminals and no plan to connect them other than walking many blocks. I’m just saying that we shouldn’t automatically look at seniors as people to put out to pasture and encourage them not to move/exercise.
Sorry, not trying to derail the conversation (pun definitely intended), but does anyone now who owns that crescent-shaped property between RUSBus and Boylan Bridge Brewpub? Basically right between the tracks? What are the plans for that lot?
Wow I was just talking about that with someone as I walked by. Also took these pictures of the new event space. They have a real bar too. Junction West.
Nice pics! Yeah, it’s a huge lot that’s basically a RR wasteland because it’s on an island between all the tracks. But what a goldmine that property would be otherwise!
DOT and Norfolk Southern Railroad own all the land in that crescent south of Hargett, and Empire Properties owns the wedge north of Hargett.
I know this is a tired drum I’m beating, but if we could get Norfolk Southern to vacate those tracks it would have a lot of benefits including making the land west of Union Station a more attractive site for development.
