[Mpls] bus routes & LRT

[Chris Johnson]

Rosa Pedersen wrote:

> Which actually is one of the biggest strengths of rail/subway as 
> opposed to buses: they can never change the route on you. We bought 
> our house largely based on it being served by several bus lines - but 
> of course Metrotransit could have just as well decided to stop the 14 
> at Lake street as at 38th and we would have had nothing to do about it 
> except walk the extra distance in the winter.


This is worth repeating and emphasizing.  Additionally, it is not just 
the potential home purchaser who benefits from this "fixed" 
infrastructure characteristic of rail lines, whether commuter rail, 
freight rail, light rail or subways. 

Urban planners benefit because there are fewer variables to consider.  
They know where the rail lines are and will be for a long time to come.  
They know certain kinds of development and activities will concentrate 
around them and others will avoid them.

Employers benefit because they can choose to locate near rail transit 
and be assured that their investment in real estate, moving costs and 
more will be amortized over a very long time, rather than needing to be 
concerned with moving again.  Businesses who locate near rail for 
reasons other than employee transportation, for example near freight 
rail for shipping materials and products, likewise benefit.

Commuters of all sorts benefit, because they know where the density and 
rail commuters will be congregating.

Anyone who has consciously thought about transportation infrastructure 
while visiting other places where rail transit is well established, such 
as virtually every country in Europe, spots the patterns of development 
and living that surround rail transit, and the benefits it brings.  This 
same pattern existed in the USA until about 1950, and still exists in 
more subtle forms around New York City and Boston.

In a world where many things change at a breakneck speed and most 
everything else changes as well, having fairly fixed transit routes in 
the form of some kind of rail is really beneficial.



Chris Johnson, Fulton