Comments on: Pick A Topic And Say Your Piece

By: Tom Anderson

Tom Anderson — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 07:15:56 +0000

We’ve all been living in this fantastically wealthy country for so long our brains have been pickled to the point of being useless.

The Problem is that people choose to live a long ways from where they work.

The answer is to help them to choose to live very close to where they work and to help facilitate the transition, …NOT to create a boondoggle that tries to make massively expensive and complex ‘solutions’ that don’t really ‘solve’ anything.

Since people only respond to price signals, it has got to be very expensive to commute to work, or, for that matter, spend the whole day driving around in a car for no important reason.

By: Gordon

Gordon — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 02:55:10 +0000

Cyclops said: “I find it amazing that intelligent, well educated people would still dare to share just the information and facts that support their pre-existing views.”
Why do you find that amazing? Isn’t that what a blog is for — I tell you my thoughts, you tell me yours, other people can chime in and offer different opinions and ideas, and, who knows, among all of us, we might even come up with something really good and useful that others of us could agree with. Pretty much like sitting around in a coffee shop or in a friend’s home (except Guardian ain’t buying the coffee or handing us any beers). Sharing ideas, opinions, prejudices, whatever you want to call them, is an important part of democracy. You want only one side, let King George and Rush Limburgercheese resume their rule. Meanwhile, the rest of us can keep on arguing, discussing, learning from one another, and having some fun in the process.

By: Cyclops

Cyclops — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 02:49:17 +0000

gman12 your first reason is silly. The second one makes perfect sense!!

By: gman12

gman12 — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 09:55:02 +0000

Guardian, let me be the first to say that buses suck. I used to ride them every day…not by choice mind you, but because I could not afford an automobile.

Living life on a fifteen minute till the bus gets here so I can sit next to a stinky homeless guy is a tough adjustment. Next try getting laid without a car.

By: dog

dog — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 19:01:15 +0000

Pay people to ride bikes. It is way cheaper.

By: Tom Anderson

Tom Anderson — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 17:43:01 +0000

Here’s an idea for a complete Treasure Valley public transit system that could instantly free up congestion, reduce pollution, get everyone to their destination quickly, and cost nothing.

Encourage hitchhiking. People buy ‘hitchhiking tokens’ and give one to whoever picks you up. These tokens could then be spent for gasoline or redeemed for cash by those with electric vehicles.

The hitchhiker would carry a dry-erase board that they would write their destination on, then just stand next to the road.

Presto, problem solved without huge infrastructure costs!

By: TEXN

TEXN — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 14:52:12 +0000

Cyclops, it was ignored but not for a lack of support. Nor did I tell all I studied, as I didn’t feel it relevant to this discussion. As well as not wanting to write out an additional dissertation. Especially in this small comment box.

Yes, several roads (minor, major, highway, interstate) were upgraded. Even the seemingly eternal I-15 construction through Ogden finally ended this past fall!
SLC is a much more dense city than Boise, and people do tend to walk, bike, and even ride the bus system there (don’t have the ridership percentage for that). But what really matters is that these areas offer a wide array of transportation choices…and that many less vehicles on the road. The rail system is still growing, TRAX does not capture a large percentage daily trips…ridership will increase as the infrastructure grows. It takes time, of course with the new administration, maybe all of those UDOT/UTA projects will be constructed overnight.

I truly wish they would take the time to get the lights timed, the biggest downfall of having a train system.

The Treasure and SL Valley are quite a bit different, however the current state of the built environment is similiar…it follows the tracks and is a rather narrow corridor.

Cyclops, I apologize for not adding the data I had written about several years ago to also support your POV.

By: Cyclops

Cyclops — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 04:46:05 +0000

I find it amazing that intelligent, well educated people would still dare to share just the information and facts that support their pre-existing views.
Texn is correct with all the data. Unfortunately, the part he fails to share is that one of the major conditions of hosting the Olympics was a substantial increase, and up grade, to the surface transportation system. (For those of you from Eagle, that means roads)
There is also a failure to share the fact that the traffic in SLC still sucks! Also less than 8% of the population regularly uses the rail system. But that didn’t support Texn’s position so it was ignored. It seems that a “substantial portion of the costs are born by ridership” means that 55% of operating costs are all that is important. Never mind that 45% of the costs are still being paid for by the taxpayer. I suppose that the master’s thesis failed to consider that the Salt Lake Valley is a natural, narrow corridor. Being 12-15 miles wide and 125 miles long naturally lends itself to public transportation. Never mind that our leaders here at home have allowed 360 degree “sprawl” that cemented failure for mass transportation years ago! So, once and for all, let’s cease comparing Boise with Portland or Salt Lake City. The ONLY thing we have in common with them is we all three speak English!!!

By: Gordon

Gordon — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 00:42:33 +0000

Maybe the Guardian is right — we shouldn’t build a rail system until we’re big enough to really need it.
That way, instead of doing it now while there is at least some rather bare space between the valley’s cities, we could wait until the whole valley is solid subdivisions and shopping centers. Then we’d get to tear down lots of buildings and stuff to create a path. Creates jobs for the wrecking crews, etc.
By the same logic, of course, we shouldn’t have brought in electricity until we ran out of kerosene for our lamps and wood for our stoves.
There’s a word I really dislike, because it’s so phony sounding and overused, but in this case perhaps it’s appropriate: It’s “proactive” to do something before you need it instead of just reacting after the need becomes intense.
If you’re gonna get into an old-West gunfight, load your iron before you walk out into the street at high noon.
Er whatever.

By: TEXN

TEXN — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:25:11 +0000

bikeboy- it took SLC, UTA, and UDOT approximately 9 years before they got the first TRAX line running…a major catalyst of funding the development for the transit line was the Winter Olympics. People railed (pun intended?) against the idea of a train going through their neighborhoods, residents of Sandy and Murray wanted large walls put up, UTA did such…then they realized it wasn’t a visual or noise nuisance, and wanted the walls down!

Now that the line has been in place for 8 years, ridership has been consistently high and very much a favorite of SL valley residents. So much, that there are plans for development throughout the much larger (than Treasure valley) SL valley…including current progress to connect downtown SLC with the airport. The commuter line is up and running, from Ogden to SLC on UP rail lines, and is doing quite well. The transit system doesn’t generate additional cash flow, but the ridership pays for a large portion of the infrastructure that was needed. For such a conservative area, there are some forward thinking politicians and planners in the SL valley. Even though I don’t come from there originally, I feel a certain pride in gaining my education there and being involved with some of the planning (through Envision Utah)and maintained growth that the SL valley will continue to see over the next few decades (Kennecott has alot of land to develop!).

Part of my grad thesis, MS Urban Planning, at the U of Utah was regarding transportation…and the SL model was studied very indepth (as well as other great models from around the world).

Boise is too small, at the moment, for a rail-based system. I’m glad the Guardian finally saw a light with a bus system (AMBUS). BRT is a great solution, with little relative cost in infrastructure and much more flexibility in route changes. Nothing ever works perfectly when it is first started. Changes should be made as the valley grows.