Light Rail in Central Ohio

[Steve]

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.

[NerosNeptune]

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?

[Steve]

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…

[cheap]

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.

[SamuraiJack]

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.

[bjones7]

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!

[Steve]

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.

[rus]

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.

[cheap]

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.

[ricospaz]

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.

[Steve]

@cheap They’re (myself included) on the highway because there is no mass transit.

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

[cheap]

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.

[geoyui]

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.

[cheap]

stephentszuter said:

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

nahh,im just fucking with you

[SamuraiJack]

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..

[Author]

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