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BRT/BRT-HOV mostly nonsense? Facts say otherwise.& what about the housing component? Good when trolleys did it a century ago, when Brightline is doing it, but bad when a Monterey does same?
Author: Real transit, real change
Date: 04-29-2024 - 15:47
I agree that Monterey is a small market, so risky. Not a big job center. But geography and severe limits on where housing can be built restrict development to a narrow corridor. And housing islands of Salinas & Castroville & Watsonville. Drivers from further out funnel to a couple of access points. Like Seattle & Vancouver & Salt Lake. A narrow corridor increases feasibility. Might work in Monty, might not.
LA BRT G Line carried 12k a day last year. Pittsburgh's numbers are older but east busway carried 28k weekdays. South and west 13k and 7k. 7k is good for a single line. More than many single commuter rail lines. Houston uses peak hours BRT HOV instead of BRT. Houston had been carrying 50k on 6 routes. BRT HOV from a western suburb to downtown cut avg rush hour bus commute from 45 minutes to 24 minutes. And that is only partial BRT at rush hour only. Not true BRT but proves faster semi-exclusive ROW increases use. Miami south BRT increased weekday riders 70% to 12k when it opened. Some decline since then but faster trips & better reliability increases demand.
Many more BRT & BRT HOV success stories. "BRT is mostly nonsense and wishful thinking" is gross mischaracterization. Better to be skeptical about if it scales down to Monterey size. Agree that BRT is also misapplied and falsely sold as a panacea. Houston now has a failed BRT through its west surburban second downtown. But that is because it gets heavily bogged down in several miles of non-BRT and non-HOV shared traffic. The worst traffic corridor in the city. Failure to do exclusive ROW or HOV where it was needed the most.
Suburb builders a century ago built loss leader trolleys to sell homes. Brightline builds train corridors of questionable profitability to sell real estate. Even if a Monterey BRT is not cost effective analyzed on its own. The societal benefits of it unlocking large scale construction of multifamily housing could be worth the cost. Affordable housing is CA's biggest need. Having a preserved rail corridor most of the way to convert helps keep costs down. It is there, use it. Which is cheaper per passenger, rail or bus? They calculated bus. Likely true at this scale.
$130 per rich rider handcar rides do nothing to increase housing. Do nothing to speed up bus commutes. Do nothing to get commuters out of cars into transit. They bring in tourist and their dollars. I think housing and transit are more important than marginal tourist gains.
LA BRT G Line carried 12k a day last year. Pittsburgh's numbers are older but east busway carried 28k weekdays. South and west 13k and 7k. 7k is good for a single line. More than many single commuter rail lines. Houston uses peak hours BRT HOV instead of BRT. Houston had been carrying 50k on 6 routes. BRT HOV from a western suburb to downtown cut avg rush hour bus commute from 45 minutes to 24 minutes. And that is only partial BRT at rush hour only. Not true BRT but proves faster semi-exclusive ROW increases use. Miami south BRT increased weekday riders 70% to 12k when it opened. Some decline since then but faster trips & better reliability increases demand.
Many more BRT & BRT HOV success stories. "BRT is mostly nonsense and wishful thinking" is gross mischaracterization. Better to be skeptical about if it scales down to Monterey size. Agree that BRT is also misapplied and falsely sold as a panacea. Houston now has a failed BRT through its west surburban second downtown. But that is because it gets heavily bogged down in several miles of non-BRT and non-HOV shared traffic. The worst traffic corridor in the city. Failure to do exclusive ROW or HOV where it was needed the most.
Suburb builders a century ago built loss leader trolleys to sell homes. Brightline builds train corridors of questionable profitability to sell real estate. Even if a Monterey BRT is not cost effective analyzed on its own. The societal benefits of it unlocking large scale construction of multifamily housing could be worth the cost. Affordable housing is CA's biggest need. Having a preserved rail corridor most of the way to convert helps keep costs down. It is there, use it. Which is cheaper per passenger, rail or bus? They calculated bus. Likely true at this scale.
$130 per rich rider handcar rides do nothing to increase housing. Do nothing to speed up bus commutes. Do nothing to get commuters out of cars into transit. They bring in tourist and their dollars. I think housing and transit are more important than marginal tourist gains.
