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Cunninghams_right t1_j4867g8 wrote

the priority of things for our light rail is:

  1. frequency and reliability. 15min headway is too long for anyone to take it seriously as a mode of transit. it becomes "transit of last resort" when the wait is that long. this is made even worse by the low reliability. I've waited 10min for a train that the sign said was getting closer... then nothing. take out phone, see that the light rail is fucked up today (with no indication at the station), and just call an Uber because now I don't have time to go take the bus. it's stupid. now, I bike or scooter everywhere within the city and either drive or Uber if I'm going outside the city or to the airport.
  2. comfort and cleanliness. if people feel like it's sketchy/unsafe or dirty, they will be less inclined to use it. this shows in transit survey after transit survey throughout the US, but transit agencies struggle to do anything about it, as it would basically require a security guard on every train, which isn't in the budget.
  3. good first/last mile connections. MTA is really bad at getting people to/from the light rail. buses are unreliable and infrequent, and they refuse to subsidize rental bikes/scooters.

I think we should be keeping an eye on Siemens' driverless trams. if we can remove the requirement for a driver, we can run them more frequently AND put security on the trains/trams. not sure if we can really do much about the track maintenance problems that frequently put it out of service. we can separate the RoW a bit more and install gates across the roadway to reduce the collisions with cars, which could help a bit.

that said, I really think it is a mistake for the US to build surface level transit. our politicians don't have the backbone to give it true priority over cars like is needed to make it frequent and fast, so it will always suck.

also, if I recall correctly, our metro and our light rail have the same track gauge. we should turn both the light rail and our metro into a fully-automated tram, each with a 3min-5min headway. sharing the same rolling stock would help reduce maintenance costs and larger vehicle orders generally get a much better deal from the manufacturers

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