It's a foregone conclusion that the Gannett-owned Indianapolis Star will support anything identified with the New World Order, which includes propagating the global warming myth and replacing a motorist-driven commuting society with government-run mass transit. The Star has made up its mind that an electric rapid bus system must be built in Indianapolis, and it must begin with a north-south Red Line, better known as the Palladium to the Stadium route.
The Indiana Policy Review recently published the results of a study questioning whether the costly Red Line would improve mobility and provide more sustainable transportation. To replicate the benefits of a much more costly light rail system, the Red Line will feature dedicated bus lanes that will allow the buses to move faster with fewer stops. IndyGo estimates the buses will run a little more than 18 mph on average, while the average speed of cars is 34 mph. The study suggests that the dedicated bus lanes will sit empty 90% of the time and create traffic congestion elsewhere along the line, particularly the narrow College Avenue corridor planned for the route.
The Cato Institute study noted that IndyGo's buses carry an average of just 5.7 passengers over the course of a day (i.e., passenger miles divided by vehicle revenue miles). The Red Line is expected to carry on average about 15 passenger (two-thirds of whom would already be riding a bus under the existing system). The Red Line 60-foot buses would hold up to 120 passengers. The study questions the clean energy advantage since the electricity fueling the buses is generally coming from fossil-fueled electric power plants, resulting in more, not less green house emissions. Of course, if Obama gets his way, there will be no more power plants fueled by the mislabeled fossil fuels. The study also questions whether Indianapolis has the density and number of jobs in the inner core of the city required to sustain ridership of the bus rapid transit system.
A story in today's Star by John Tuohy, who is extremely hostile to anyone who questions the proposed mass transit proposal, attempts to discredit the Cato Institute study. Tuohy refers to the Cato Institute as "a libertarian think tank." He must think "libertarian" is a dirtier word because its critics typically just call it "a right wing pressure group." Tuohy cites other experts, who question the 74,000 figure used by the Cato Institute as the number of persons working downtown, who claim the study defined downtown too narrowly. Proponents contend the figure is closer to 134,000 and an additional 137,000 jobs exist nearby.
The proponents of the Red Line contend ridership will expand considerably above current ridership levels because of dependability and speed. They also contend people and businesses will relocate to be closer to the bus lines. The author of the Cato Institute is an "anti-planner" who has previously testified against mass transit proposals before the General Assembly on behalf of Americans for Prosperity, a Super PAC funded by the evil Koch brothers Tuohy informs us. Tuohy throws in some bogus study of a bus rapid transit system that credits a similar system in Cleveland as creating $6 billion in economic development activity. Cleveland is still a dump, and the economic activity credited to the rapid bus transit system had nothing to do with it, but that study serves the purposes here so The Star will go with it.
Several people have noted the biggest demand for public transit services is crosstown traffic, not north-south traffic. That's the part of the debate so far that's missing. A bus rapid transit system would help connect far more lower-income workers to their employment by building the first line along Washington Street to accommodate those who would benefit the most. Like I've said before, the Red Line isn't about connecting workers to their jobs. It's all about providing a party bus that Carmelites can occasionally use to come downtown to a Colts or Pacers game and drink as much as they want while there without consequences. The College Avenue instead of the better Keystone Avenue route is necessary to provide an additional party stop in Broad Ripple Village. These so-called planners are so transparent.
9 comments:
It's no surprise that Granny's misinformer or Granny-Net's lame stream organ, the Scar, supports the nostalgic fascism of coal powered travel known as the Red Lie. Ain't they brilliant?
I own an apartment building on Garfield Park, and its the southern part of the Red Line that interests me. The end destination at the University of Indianapolis will link these students to downtown Indy. And there is a desperate need for bus transportation on the south side. A lot of people down here don't have cars. You can watch literally hundreds of people toil up and down these streets on foot to the Dinner Bell and local groceries, pharmacies and such. I watch elderly people walking in groups pushing wheel chairs down Shelby Street past Garfield Park. A bus that would stop and pick these people up and give them a ride would be a blessing. You lawyers can bicker all you want about your ego issues. But a decent new bus service down Shelby road will change lives, if they can make it affordable. These people live on ssi payments, usually around $770 a month. If you really want to make the red line accessible, make it free. Send the bill to the Capital Improvements Board, or Barnes and Thornburg and a few big firms, or Simon Lucas and Irsay. I disagree that the bus is about bringing Carmel big shots to games. This is about getting desperately poor people up to the hospital. Try doing that by bus. Really. Try going from the Dinner Bell to Eskenazi by bus, sick, in the rain, with a few dollars in your pocket.
Anon 8:57: Students can go full on off grid hipster & ride bikes; rather than rely on filth factories of coal production... Right? This is nothing more than a public treasury looting scheme.
I don't know about this one --it well known and documented that Indy has virtually no public transit system, and so I am somewhat glad to see that the bus line is moving. slowly as it may seem. A couple of thoughts - first, I am very relieved that the powers that be made the decision to move away from rail, as that would have been a disaster....if you have any doubts, check into how well Buffalo's rail system has worked out. Rapid Bus provides a much greater flexibility (the routes can be moved if demographics and traffic change) at a significantly lower cost. Build a rail system and you are screwed if the traffic changes (or never materializes) There are a few good points being made about east west needs (as opposed to north south) and perhaps they can be addressed as the system catches on....the real issue to me is whether or not the suburbanites in Carmel, Fishers, and NE Indianapoplis will ever give this system a chance and patronize it to the degree necessary. My guess is that it will be a NO unless 1) gas prices go up significantly ie more than $4 a gallon and/or 2) parking in downtown Indianapolis becomes more expensive == as the downtown core continues to fill out, this may eventually happen, but $2 parking at Circle Center mall does not provide enough incentives for people to leave their cares at home....
Certainly, the culture will have to change in Central Indiana, but in my mind, this is a good move....whether it works out -- that is the question we will find out in the next 5-10 years.
Get a grip Boggs, you're barely cogent as usual. Every city in America runs bus service, whether gas, electric or other, and they're necessary. These students can't all ride bikes, and not in the winter, and what about the disabled and elderly? As usual you spout off your stupid statism remarks without ever really adding anything to the conversation. Rail in downtown Indy was a terrible, expensive idea, but this is bus service, which we need badly, desperately. Just get on with it. They aren't running the thing to Greenwood, which seems like a ridiculous oversight, so why Carmel? Just stop at 82nd St. somewhere near the malls so people from Indy can ride up there for work. And consider taking the red line south to county line road so indy people can ride down there for work around the greenwood mall.
Transit could work in Indianapolis but not if IndyGo and TPTB have anything to do with it. I lived in Denver many years ago when it was a bus only town. The difference was that in Denver RTD built bridges to the business community. They got them to subsidize bus passes. They put in Park and Ride lots and extended service to the suburbs. In short, they made it more attractive to ride the bus than to drive into the core. They also recognized that pitting the city against the suburbs was a suicide mission because far more people, wealth and power resided in the suburbs than the core. A few years back they were rewarded when Denver taxpayers voted to tax themselves to build out the FasTracks rail system. That's how you do it. Of course, the Red Line isn't really about mobility. It's mostly about real estate development opportunities for the usual suspects. Nothing ever changes in Indy.
Anon 2:49 Could there possibly be two of you? "Richard Suttom, IMHO, mocks anything and any person not in his neat little extremist far left of center socialist Democrat dream world orthodoxy, common sense or truth be damned."
I think all opinions should be heard since the city is a failure. We have five million plus people in Indiana and plenty of money. Indianapolis reflects who we are. And where our priorities lie. I think its a sorry state of affairs. We aren't acknowledged to be anything special. We're a flyover. Nobody wants to move here but illegal immigrants. We have a fool bigot for a Governor. One more reason for people to make fun of us. We can't even provide bus service in our largest city. And really, I don't think most people care that much. Its pretty much every man for himself. Things are corrupt. At the Statehouse. With our Sheriffs. Lawyers. Most of the construction players. Everybody kind of knows what Indiana is like.
"this is bus service, which we need badly, desperately"
Huh? There's lots of bus service in Indy. Washington Street, 38th Street, Shelby Street, US 31, etc etc
And to those who think extending it into HamCo is this great idea - how many times was the Fishers Express started because of "pent up demand" and stopped due to funding and/or low ridership? I agree with Gary on this - this is nothing more than a "party bus" for the Brainard fanboys to go downtown, get drunk, stop off at BR for more, then stagger home.
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