We spend too much time arguing about the type of public transit our cities should implement. It’s such a waste of time, energy and resources. Imagine what we could accomplish if we devoted just a fraction of that energy to working together and accepting the idea that all transit technologies have a place.
Somewhere along the line transit advocacy stopped being about multi-modal solutions and became instead about technology-specific solutions. For the last 20 years the conversation has stopped being about why transit is good and has instead become about why buses, gondolas and light rail are good – to the exclusion of all others.
This isn’t a zero sum game, folks. No transit technology is going to win at the expense of all others. The world’s too big, cities too enormous, and too many people needing to get from Point A to Point B.
You’re never going to see a city exclusively with LRT, just as you’re never going to see a city exclusively with BRT, CPT or any other three letter acronym.
We’ve gotta work together.
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You’re never going to see a city exclusively with LRT, just as you’re never going to see a city exclusively with BRT, CPT or any other three letter acronym.
Depending on the size of the city, right?
I’m pretty much sure it is possible to manage a city with just one system – and with a positive area coverage. And I have to admit I see that solution in streetcars (tram) or an LRT. But only for a city up to 500.000.
The design of the city has to allow a clever network – which rarely appears. Cracow in Poland is an excellent example for it. The city center is car free and surrounded by a large tram network ( http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Krakow_tram_network.png – but also BRT) I lived there for one year and have to say the whole solution was incredibly comfortable (even compared to Stuttgart with around the same population but one additional subway network).
But I agree: we’ve gotta work together (and start taking care of those people which want to sell their own product as the one and only solution – best of course too). Neutral and in best interest for city – which are the citizen in comfort and costs – for now and in longer term.
I think only analysis of facts, prognosis and costs are the solution – with sitting together around one table with independent specialists and a lot of reasonable talking.
We’ve got a pretty good example of – how it not should be done – here in Stuttgart going on right now. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuttgart_21
I’m having a hard time imagining a modern city with trains but no buses. And it seems to me that if there are buses, there will likely be some form of BRT eventually (albeit maybe just in its milder forms).
But perhaps more interestingly–we have already fallen into exactly the trap Dale described. Why is this even a common topic of conversation? Does it have something to do with transit specifically? Maybe, although I see the same thing happening among fans of different technologies in lots of different areas (e.g., Mac versus PC).