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Light Rail in Central Ohio

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Started 10 months ago by stephentszuter
Latest reply from jbcmh81

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stephentszuter
Downtown Columbus
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Why is it not on the agenda? How can we make this a reality?

Every other day, I hear about people from bigger cities, as well a potential coworker from France, that finally decide that Columbus is a great place to live, but the second they realize they need to own a car to make it work in Columbus, they decide not to move here.

We are losing out on the demographic that every city desires (young, educated professionals) because of the fact that we have no real mass transit system. Sure COTA isn't bad and it's getting better, but where's the light rail? Where's the metro?

Don't tell me that Central Ohio isn't dense enough, because it is (at least enough to start small). It can take 20+ years to build light rail, so we need to get started now.

The sort of discussion I am looking to spur in this topic is--What can we do to contribute to/start this effort? What would it take to get light rail moving forward in Central Ohio?

Any ideas/comments/opinions are greatly appreciated! Thank you.

Posted 10 months ago #
NerosNeptune
Goodale Park
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It's certainly possible, as our neighbors in Cincinnati are getting a good start with their streetcar line. I think studying how they got the political will to do it would be a good place to start.

Everything I read says that Columbus is in better shape than the other large cities in Ohio, so I would think if Cincinnati can find a way to get it done Columbus can, too. It's certainly come up many times in Columbus in the past.. and there have been what seem like well thought out plans presented by people here and other Columbus websites. Sometimes I wish some of the people posting here who obviously have a lot of knowledge and ideas would get into whatever offices they need to be in to put their enthusiasm to good use.

It reminds me of the article someone posted here showing how to upgrade the amtrak northeast corridor to higher speeds for a tenth of the cost they're projecting. Why isn't that person working for Amtrak?

Posted 10 months ago #
stephentszuter
Downtown Columbus
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That brings up a good point--we had the streetcar in line for voters, but it was shot down. Wasn't it because of the funding channels? I think they wanted the businesses on High Street to fund the streetcar instead of the general public, correct?

Can anyone shed some light on what happened there? I wonder if we can get this back on Mayor Coleman's agenda...

Posted 10 months ago #
cheap
Westgate
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not enough people use mass transit here.

not enough people in this town want it here.

Coleman is the Dispatch's bitch,and the Dispatch doesn't want it here.

btw,young professionals do still move here.did you notice all the development downtown?

those aren't retirement villages being built,those are young professional internment camps.

Posted 10 months ago #
SamuraiJack
Hilliard
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Well there are a couple reasons:

1) Not enough people want to pay for it
2) Not enough mass transit riders (Might change if we had light rail that had shorter travel times)
3) Every time it has come up its some bizarre route that doesn't seem to address where the need areas are..
4) Not enough people want to pay for it..

I'd be happy if they just do Airport -> Downtown/convention center/Arena -> OSU to start, but even if they started tomorrow I'd be retired before they got it out to Hilliard.

Posted 10 months ago #
bjones7
Worthington Ohio
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I am not saying this subject can not be revisited by the city.( It seems to be revisited on CU every other conversation!) However the people have spoken and we have no rail! Majority rules! so does economics and politics (BIG REASON!)

Mr Akron him self, playing the worlds smallest violin on this subject!

Posted 10 months ago #
stephentszuter
Downtown Columbus
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I beg to differ on the idea that not enough people want it... It seems that everyone I speak with agrees with me on the idea that we need/want rail.

Do you have any sources/stats to back up the idea that not enough people in Central Ohio want rail? Also, I disagree with the idea that not enough people want to pay for it. I think the disconnect is how it is paid for. Do you have any sources/stats to back up the idea that not enough people want to pay for it? We did, after all, overwhelmingly approve the library tax to maintain current hours... in the middle of a recession.

Also, your .gif is unappreciated.

Posted 10 months ago #
rus

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bjones7 said:
I am not saying this subject can not be revisited by the city.( It seems to be revisited on CU every other conversation!) However the people have spoken and we have no rail! Majority rules! so does economics and politics (BIG REASON!)

Mr Akron him self, playing the worlds smallest violin on this subject!

I LOL'D.

Posted 10 months ago #
cheap
Westgate
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source..lmao

dude,if you want to know who doesn't give a shit about rail,go take a look at any highway in Columbus at 7:30am and at 4:30 pm.

you see that?

that is 95% of the city on that frigging highway.

the other 5%? well,they are out there,too.somewhere.

Posted 10 months ago #
ricospaz

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rus said:
I LOL'D.

+1

But I wish they would have something from the airport to downtown. run it down the middle of 670 or something.

Posted 10 months ago #
stephentszuter
Downtown Columbus
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@cheap They're (myself included) on the highway because there is no mass transit.

Are you being serious or kidding? I can't tell.

Posted 10 months ago #
cheap
Westgate
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ricospaz said:
+1

But I wish they would have something from the airport to downtown. run it down the middle of 670 or something.

hell,some of the people driving these run down the middle of 670,because they think that's a lane.

Posted 10 months ago #
geoyui
West Side
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I think bjones gif was not to offend you but the topic in general. If you searched on this site "light rail" you'd find a good number of forum topics related (and unrelated) to light rail.

I for one would definitely support and ride it. I tend to think the notion that a city doesn't have enough riders or wouldn't support it can be false. It's hard to understand something until it is there for you to see and appreciate. A live and die by my car here in Columbus, but anytime I'm in a city with mass transit, I use it and I use it a lot. If it's there and it's convenient and cheap, I think the populace will eventually come around and appreciate the benefits.

Posted 10 months ago #
cheap
Westgate
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stephentszuter said:

Are you being serious or kidding? I can't tell.

nahh,im just fucking with you

Posted 10 months ago #
SamuraiJack
Hilliard
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The last funding proposal was for a sales tax increase and it got soundly voted down. Not to mention there are several vocal folks in town who's heads pop out of their Gopher holes anytime the words 'light rail' cross a politician's lips and do everything in their power to kill it and bury it..

even the Mayor has given up on it at this point and he was one of the biggest proponents..

Posted 10 months ago #
rus

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ricospaz said:
+1

But I wish they would have something from the airport to downtown. run it down the middle of 670 or something.

Be nice, sure. Considering how soundly the streetcar was thrashed, though, I don't see it happening.

Posted 10 months ago #
stephentszuter
Downtown Columbus
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We used to have street cars, when our population was much smaller... it's doable now.

Are we coming to a consensus that it's the populous' opinions on the matter that is causing it not to happen?

I still think that's a misconception.

Posted 10 months ago #
rus

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stephentszuter said:

I still think that's a misconception.

Then prove it. Asking your friends doesn't count; sample size too small.

For reference:

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2008/05/05/story10.html?page=all

Posted 10 months ago #
stephentszuter
Downtown Columbus
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rus said:
Then prove it. Asking your friends doesn't count; sample size too small.

For reference:

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2008/05/05/story10.html?page=all

The article says that the downtown business owners oppose the streetcar, but
They said development of a broader light rail system is a better option than a streetcar line.

So in a sense, they wanted more than just a streetcar. I can support that...

Posted 10 months ago #
Twixlen
The Weston District
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It seems the article I just posted in the bus stigma thread also applies here, in some sense...

Why We Should Stop Talking About 'Bus Stigma'

North American public transit has a lot of work to do, especially when it comes to buses, but telling transit agencies that they must defeat a "stigma," or break into a new "class," amounts to telling them to despair. It implies they must uproot supposedly deep-seated feelings in people's hearts, the sort of feelings that may change en masse only with the turning of generations. More disturbingly, it tells everyone that an incurious aversion toward buses is a normal part of being a successful person.

Fortunately, the real path to successful transit is easier. Now and then a major advance, like a new rapid transit line, causes a step-change in transit's relevance, but most of the time transit improves gradually as funding permits. Usually, when transit makes a modest improvement, it gets a modest ridership gain as a result, because the change has shifted the calculus for a few people on the vast spectrum of income and situation. If everyone were stuck at the extremes of "choice" and "captive," or waiting for transit to become relevant to their "class," this outcome would be impossible. In fact, it’s routine.

Mass transit, even the indispensable bus, will continue on that path to greater relevance to the degree that citizens care about it and demand that it be funded. Right now, many people who don’t use transit are making a rational choice, based on its current usefulness and their alternatives; no stigma is needed to explain that behavior. As transit improves, and especially as other options become more expensive, decisions will continue to change, person by person, family by family, and ridership will grow as a result. At some point in that process, journalists will stop talking about a stigma. But the solution to the "stigma" or "class" problem, all along, was to refuse to define it that way.

Posted 10 months ago #