The ebb-and-flow of information has been interesting to watch. After a bit of a lull in pertinent information, both the Star and the Indianapolis Business Journal have posted lengthy articles.
- The wind farm in Benton County is now online. It is the first commercial-sized wind farm in the state.
- Possible buyer’s remorse over the push for ethanol.
- An editorial of possible benefits of higher gas prices. Unfortunately, the editorial does not mention a biggie: energy conservation.
- I’ve saved the most exciting article for last. The Indianapolis Business Journal has a lengthy article on the cost-cutting that has made our push towards mass transit more viable. Adaptive-reuse is a beautiful, common sense approach.
Another relevant article for your roundup (free NYTimes.com registration required):
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/19/opinion/19krugman.html?em&ex=1211342400&en=eb7387c4dc9be539&ei=5087
Click here if you can’t get that link to work.
Of course I love the idea of any mass transit in Indy, but the graphic for Nashville stated an $8-$10 round trip. Seems like that is quite high to attract a lot of riders.
And what does it cost JUST FOR GAS to run that SUV 20-25 miles each way to downtown from Far Fishers?
$8-10. No parking included.
If downtown offices stopped subsidizing parking, the trains would be full the first day.
Corr, I read that article earlier. I’m glad that it’s starting to creep in to the mass media that an inefficient lifestyle is not sustainable.
Chris, that does seem a bit high, but the track is longer than the proposed one for Indy. I would guess it will be cheaper here.
The thing I’m noticing is that the Nashville train has 710 daily passengers. If we can expect similar ridership numbers here, they shouldn’t even bother. Compared to the tens of thousands of daily vehicles on I-69, that’s absolutely nothing. It would make no difference whatsoever in car traffic.
Not to mention that this loud, dirty, antiquated diesel train will be rumbling through Indianapolis neighborhoods. Why should we devalue city neighborhoods so the suburbanites can have a cheap commuter route?
Trains are more than just modes of transportation. The areas around the stations can add density, and become more walkable as well. Taking 710 cars of the road does not seem like a lot, but a well-developed mass transit system can be a powerful tool when attracting people to live in your city.
Development around the car, on the other hand, leads to, well, lots of cars. We’ve seen over and over that widening roads does not alleviate congestion over time. Our best option is mode diversification.
I would imagine (and hope) there would be a few inner city stops on the tracks.
Very true, Kevin. I haven’t heard anything about any intermediate stations, but if they place some in sensible locations, that would change my attitude a lot.
Sensible locations for Marion County stops on the Nickel Plate Line: 82nd St., 62nd St., 38th St., 16th St., Downtown. A stop adds only 3 minutes or so to a trip, so five intermediate stops between Fishers and downtown would add maybe 15 minutes to the trip. A total distance of 21 miles (give or take) at 42mph means about 45 minutes total one-way trip time.
This seems reasonable, but then I don’t commute to and from Fishers every day. Does anyone know how long the current (nonstop) bus takes?
Those sound like good stops to me.
Not sure of the length of time for the Fishers bus.
The Indygo schedule indicates Fishers ICE takes 40min to downtown, 42min back from downtown (Penn & Ohio). Carmel ICE takes 40min to downtown, 45min back from downtown.
http://www.indygo.net/ICERoutes.htm