| Articles Home |
Everyone, but everyone backs the Minnesota Motor Vehicle Sales Tax (MVST) Constitutional Amendment 2006 saying the money will go to transit. I am against the amendment, it will just go to more highway construction. Don't kid yourself, the "transit" will be highway pavement too, just check out the wonderful transit proposals, the Hwy 81 BRT budget, Cedar Avenue BRT budget and the monster expensive I-35W HOV project, all have big pavement for big contractors.
UPDATE: December 8, 2006:
Both the Minneapolis Star Tribune and the St Paul Pioneer Press have stories
yesterday and today about how the MVST (which passed) will now not
really give any more money to transit and instead transit will
have a shortfall of up to $40 million. Also, expect bus route
cutbacks and fare hikes. Plenty of "highways to be built" though.
Gee, who would'a thunk it?
UPDATE: December 12, 2006 Bus Rapid Transit Stalled. There is no bus rapid transit according to Minnesota Public Radio. Especially where the pavement is the thickest: I35W.
UPDATE: February 20, 2007: See the Star Tribune excerpt below, how many huge highway improvements must be done before a single passenger boards BRT (Build Roads Today) on Cedar Avenue. It would be cheaper to develop and give everyone rocket packs or ultralite planes and fly down Cedar.
UPDATE: October 10, 2007: I-35W bridge over the Mississippi falls down August 1,2007. MNDoT has 0 cash reserve and puts transit projects on hold Sept, 2007 NO BRT ANYWHERE. So, when do I get to say "I told you so"?
Typically 66%-85% of Minnesota BRT project budget is building highway lanes, not exclusive bus right of way, but shared lanes. They build the highway lanes first and the bus service never quite materializes. This is totally backwards, first should come the park and ride lots and extra bus service, if the route is a success and shows a need, then build roadway. And if it is really a success they may never need the extra lanes as the bus service should reduce the car traffic. But that is never how it is done, it is always build highway lanes first. "Oh yeah", you say? "Prove it big mouth", you say?
The proof by example is the "I394 HOV Lane" transit swindle, so called High-Occupancy-Vehicle (HOV) lanes for bus and carpools on I394 which were built in 1992. Touted as the transit solution for a crowded I-394 in the 1990's it ended up with a few 3-trip-per-day bus routes to a couple suburban malls. Big surprise to nobody but the Metro Transit, no one rides a 3 trip per day route.
They only built a couple dinky park-ride lots, the first priority was the hundreds of millions of dollars of elevated freeway lanes and in Minneapolis at the terminus of I-394, the world's largest parking ramp! Yes, the WORLD'S LARGEST PARKING RAMP at the time; that is the clue bus for all of us waiting for BRT, there is no bus. Over a decade has passed and no BRT service happened on this heavily traveled corridor. Then a great "transit failure" was declared and the solution is anyone with two bits can drive the "HOV" lanes. In the last 15 years I did not not hear of any BRT bus service planned for I394, even though the HOV lanes are built, empty, waiting and ready for "Bus Rapid Transit", no not a word, ..., still not a word for any BRT on the HOV lanes, did you hear anything yet?? ..., Nope, complete silence. Jeez, the lanes are built and according to the MNDOT nothing but tumbleweeds and crickets are on the HOV lanes. Still not a proposal comes out of Metro Transit, MNDOT, city or Hennepin County for the few million dollars to run state of the art "BRT" out on jammed I-394; and there never will be, the HOV lanes are turned over to cars now.
So there is your transit dedicated MVST Motor Vehicle Sales Tax money, lots of highway lane "BRT" projects, which MUST build highway lanes first, before any bus service is tried. But no BRT on I-394, just more "Build Roads Today". No bus service, LRT or commuter rail will happen, just highway and bridge construction. How can I predict this? Just check out the results of the last four years, real transit cutbacks, fare hikes and a few million for study "proposals" but not a serious transit expansion, not even a cheap commuter rail line or already built I-394 HOV lane BRT, nothing. But plenty of huge highway projects, even bonded as never before so we will pay for them several times over. Pavement at any price.
Typical of the BRT proposals is the Cedar Avenue BRT proposal from Dakota County, $130 million for two more lanes on Cedar Avenue, south of Minneapolis. It included two park and ride lots for a couple million dollars, the only useful thing I saw in the proposal. The bus part of the BRT will probably not be implemented, most of the engineering and budget is building the highway lanes, no real numbers attached to the actual costs of running the buses seem to be in the budget. A couple three-trip-a-day buses will run for a month or two, then nothing. Like the I394 HOV Lane, the Cedar Avenue BRT will be another "transit failure" to be ridiculed by the right wing and soon will be just more highway lanes for cars. Same with Highway 81 BRT, highway lanes built first, right with the car lanes.
If done right there should be no need for more highway lanes on these projects, better bus service should expand the capacity of Cedar Avenue without the extra lanes. The only things needed is very frequent bus service and safe, convenient park and ride lots, a very cheap alternative to $130 million for several miles of extra lanes, it is probably 1/10 the cost of the highway lanes to implement first class bus service. Of course, "frequent" bus service is not three trips a day, it will have to be closer to 10 buses per hour at peak travel times and 24 hour service. Without frequent service no one will ride a bus. And with a fare difference of nearly 100% for an "express" vs "local" off peak ride, that is also a barrier to use. Local service should cost the same as express, local service is more stressful, slower, more wear on the buses, riders and drivers than express service, why charge more for the express service? There is currently no charge difference for LRT and "limited stop" services, why is the express service fare gouging nearly 100%? An answer to that question is in System transit usability design testing transit fare structure.
Or they could actually run a BRT down I-394 on the existing HOV lanes. The lanes are there, some park and ride lots exist, some routes exist, the only thing lacking is any organization and the will.
What about LRT on University Ave, or commuter rail from the MVST funds? As long as Governor Pawlenty-o-nuthin' is in charge there is no way these will be done, these are just "proposals". Just look at the fact that the previous Wrestling Governor, "Jesse the Body", waved his ham fist around and poof, Hiawatha LRT! Pawlenty and Bell have been around almost 4 years and nothing, plenty of nothing. Just more studies, cutbacks, fare raising, phony proposals and pawlenty-o-pavement and stadiums. Listen to Metro Council Chair Peter Bell's pronouncements about how the Feds won't fund University Avenue LRT, too expensive according to him, and he is the big supposed advocate, but the Feds are kicking in mucho dinero for the highways. Look how bus and transit budgets are scheduled to be cut next year. There is no money for transit in MVST, but plenty for more highways. So pass the MVST amendment and wish upon a star, but save the surprise act when transit never gets funded. (See UPDATE above, how soon the hammer fell!)
Transit usability and other transit issues.
"Highway work becoming big piece of Cedar corridor puzzle" - SARAH LEMAGIE Plans for rapid-transit busing along Cedar Avenue are still in the early stages, but as transportation experts contemplate bus system upgrades, they're also looking at major highway improvements to ease traffic. For more information about possible improvements to Cedar Avenue, go to Dakota County's Web page on the project at www.startribune.com/a2319. "Highway work becoming big piece of Cedar corridor puzzle" Plans for rapid-transit busing along Cedar Avenue are still in the early stages, but as transportation experts contemplate bus system upgrades, they're also looking at major highway improvements to ease traffic. Cedar's Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project calls for giving buses their own lanes and priority at traffic lights, expanding park-and-rides and, someday, building new stations as far south as Lakeville. Planners could triage the bus system and leave it at that. But commuters on Cedar already know the woes of gridlock, and the county counts five congested intersections south of 138th Street in Apple Valley. That number could grow to 12 by 2030 if no improvements are made. Plus, new shoulder lanes won't get bus riders to work much more quickly if planners don't also consider the bigger traffic picture, officials say. As project manager Kristine Elwood said, "If we're going to put $135 million into BRT, we want it to run efficiently." Options for highway improvements range from doing nothing or adding minor fixes, such as turn lanes on cross streets, to these two major overhaul concepts: Adding an extra through lane in each direction on Cedar between 138th Street and a point just south of County Road 46. One drawback to this option is that the county would have to buy a lot of right-of-way to widen the road, a costly and difficult prospect that could also affect businesses along Cedar. Building three interchanges at the busiest intersections, instead of adding an extra lane, and taking out signals at others to smooth traffic. This option has many Apple Valley leaders concerned about how drivers would access businesses along Cedar. The county won't choose a preferred alternative until this summer. Cost estimates haven't been done, but most highway improvements would be on top of BRT's $135 million price tag, of which project planners have secured only $26 million.Is It BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) or BAS (Bait and Switch)?