Comments on: GUARDIAN Offers Yet Another Transit Plan

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 17:26:45 +0000

As Jennifer Kalczuk stated, the BRT has NOT been established in Grand Rapids. Nor has the millage been voted on. The vote is May 5. The BRT Project would be a huge waste of money with little no benefit to the community. There already is a transit line on this route. THe only thing BRT would do is cost money and clog up traffic. Hopefully, the voters of Grand Rapids will NOT approve this project.

EDITOR NOTE–Here in Boise the mayor is working to build an expensive system with iron rails and his plan won’t even go to the voters. We were aiming for something less drastic and hit on the BRT plan.

By: Jennifer Kalczuk

Jennifer Kalczuk — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 18:30:16 +0000

I am the external relations manager for The Rapid, the transit system in Grand Rapids MI and want to make a clarification. Our BRT project, the Silver Line, is not yet operational as you indicate. Our project has been approved by the Federal Transit Administration to enter project development. We anticipate opening in 2012.

By: JIMV

JIMV — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:40:25 +0000

Buses and trains lose money. Big buses and tourist trains lose big money. Tourist trains also get tourists…Run a line from center city to the mall and from there to Nampa and see what happens. If the thing does not stop every block, it could work.

By: gatsby

gatsby — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 05:26:48 +0000

We learned from Dagny Taggart that reason cannot triumph over unreason until the unreasonable give up. And I don’t see Team Dave folding up the tent anytime soon.

By: Dr. Smooth

Dr. Smooth — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 03:24:15 +0000

Guardian: Here is another system that claims to spur reinvestment in Cleveland without burying rails in the pavement.

http://www.intransitionmag.org/Winter_2009/BRT_Redevelopment.html

EDITOR NOTE: We have opposed steel rails in our streets, but Team Dave will not listen to reason from GUARDIAN readers and insist on some sort of trolley.

By: Cyclops

Cyclops — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 02:42:17 +0000

SHUUSH, Guardian! You know pefectly well that VRT, CCDC, and City hall have shown repeatedly that they can’t handle logic or common sense! Now there is no telling what they will do in response. Why, they might even have delusional visions of a trolley that just ran 30 blocks downtown, and cost 55-60 MILLION dollars!

By: Tom Anderson

Tom Anderson — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 01:04:28 +0000

In Praise of the Lowly Bus

Clark Williams-Derry, Sightline Daily

Sustainable transportation geeks give trains lots of love, but tend to overlook buses. That’s a mistake: buses are surprisingly green. This report, for example, finds that buses are pretty much the most fuel efficient way to travel between cities — better, on average, than rail, cars, or airplanes.

Of course, you can’t just trust one report — especially one that was funded by the American Bus Association. But plenty of other people have found the exact same thing. Our research on greenhouse gas emissions per mile of travel found that inter-city buses have the lowest climate impact of any form of travel. Rhe authors of the Consumer’s Guide to Effective Environmental Choices — which is a bit out of date now, but still excellent — found the same thing. So did the Environmental Defense Fund. I could go on; but the bottom line is that people who care about sustainable transportation find that intercity buses are a pretty good deal for the climate.

There are two key reasons why intercity buses are so fuel efficient. First, the average intercity bus in the US carries about 21 passengers at a time (calculated form tables 1-32 and 1-37 of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics National Transportation Statistics report.) Second, they get between 6 and 7 miles per gallon (figure of ~6mpg from table VM-1 of the Federal Highway Administration’s Highway Statistics Series, and 6.7 mpg from WRI’s GHG protocol.) Put those two numbers together, and you find that a bus gets well over 120 passenger-miles per gallon of fuel. Not bad — that’s nearly as good as a Prius carrying a driver and 2 passengers!
(24 March 2009)
http://www.energybulletin.net/node/48477