Perhaps Tampa should investigate a hybrid, incorporating the best features of both light rail and buses.
Light rail has no ‘right of way’ problem. The rails define the route and the railcars use it. However, it has the limitation of being inflexible. If the rails are blocked, the cars stop.
Buses must contend with traffic. Traffic’s pace is the bus’ pace. However, the bus has flexibility. If one route is blocked, the bus can easily follow another.
Rail cannot easily respond to changes in population and its needs.
Bus routes can easily be added/dropped/changed.
Now, for the hybrid. Get a right of way (ROW) as would be done for rail, but don’t rail it; PAVE it. Paving the way would be less expensive and have lower upkeep than rails. The buses can run on the paved ROW and not be limited by the pace of traffic. In addition, emergency vehicles could use the paved ROW when necessary. They too would avoid traffic constraints. ONLY public transit vehicles and emergency vehicles would use the paved ROW. No doubt, there would be temptation to allow certain individuals access to the ROW. That would lead to abuses and generate another traffic problem.
Not only the paved ROW would be less expensive but also the vehicles that run on it. Railcars would cost more than buses. Mechanics are already trained to handle buses. Railcars would require more or retrained mechanics --- an added expense.
With the paved ROW, vehicles would immediately be available to use it. New vehicles would not be needed.
Tampa should “think outside the box” and consider some sort of hybrid.
Commuters in the Tampa area face long delays and heavy congestion on heavily-used routes nearly every weekday. While many agree there’s a problem, not everyone agrees on the solution.
One proposed fix is a light rail line. But that would cost money, raising issues of how to pay for it and how to compare rail against other alternatives.
Weigh in on the poll above, and post your comments below…
The only answer for me - and one that not all workers have the ability to implement - was to change my schedule entirely.
After having a baby and offsetting my workday to be two hours later, I find that I miss the worst of the morning and evening traffic. Of course, the stay-at-homes and chronic shoppers still jam all roads adjacent to malls, etc.
When I go to lunch at 2 rather than 12, I generally find that restaurants are less packed (but on Fridays sometimes run into what must be the “going home early” crowd on the interstates).
This will have to change when my son starts school, but for now, sign me
Missing The Train
By RICH SHOPES The Tampa Tribune
TAMPA - There’s plenty of enthusiasm for rail these days, but getting even the simplest system built in Tampa will take a monumental effort and be at least a decade in the making.
I think we need mass transit of some type to help people who drive from outside of the city limits into or across the city. the I-4 stretch, I-75, 275 Dale Mabry etc. A bus that drives around in circles down town, a bus that goes from mall to mall or a bus that goes from the airport to downtown in not going to help most of the people. Take the buses and/or train to where the commuters are coming from and take them to large companies. If you have drop off points a bit closer to companies that employ 2,000 plus people you are going to get alot of people off the road. Also try to get these large companies to have a shuttle..if the bus can not get closer to the company. Maybe large companies would be willing to help and call it a “Company benefit and public service”.
I do a bit of traveling to other countries. Buses are the mode of transportation, whether around the city or if I’m heading to another city. Buses show up at stops every few minutes and run in loops.. very easy and very quick.. even to other cities..
Why can’t this city buy some of those shorter buses like Pinellas and Western Pasco use? Add more buses, improve the routes, and advertise the changes.. It would cost a fraction of the rail system and could be implemented much faster and easier. Get people using and relying on mass transit, then introduce an expensive rail system.
I would like to see a light rail system utilizing the medians of I4, 275, the Veterans, and the Selmon. The Selmon might be tricky considering the overhead lanes now there. The trolley system could follow its old route down Bayshore to Ballast Point, with bus service from there to MacDill. Not only would the Bayshore trolley line relieve traffic for South Tampa, but it would be a tourist attraction as well, with out of towners snapping photos of the beautiful homes lining that route.
With the rights-of-way already there, we lay the rails, rent a few parking lots for riders along the routes, and hook up the trains.
The problem is in being “reactive” on the govt side as opposed to “proactive”. These are issues that need to be addressed well before the situation becomes an issue. By the time they get done with any project (after debate and delays) there are more problems. Growth = need. Look at the growth patterns and address the need before it becomes an issue, not after it’s out of control.
There are many alternatives but which will work the best? Which can be implemented quickest with the best results. Delays on major roadway construction do not help the situation. The “open” projects should have resources in place now to get them complete. The I-4/275 mess has carried on too long for one…
Build roads with more lanes – before they are needed when they will be effective and not after the population has increased to the point of the roads being redundant, increase ridiculously low speed limits, traffic lights that are synchronized accordingly, mandatory education for people that don’t know how to properly operate a motor vehicle which sadly includes more than half and periodic testing of these people to insure compliance with appropriate driving protocol, mandatory flex time choices from companies that employ a large number of employees, no elderly, retirees that don’t know how to drive and who have no where to go and all day to get there on the road for any reason from 6:00 am to 9:30 am and again from 3:30 pm to 6:30 pm – there that fixes all rush hour problems, next issue please.
PS – install a public transportation that can actually be used by everyone, a public transportation system that covers the entire bay area – trains, buses, subway, etc. Put your geographical political fiefdom mentality on the shelf put together an area wide transit authority that will utilize existing resources and put in place new ones. Let me get on a train in Brooksville that will with a few reasonable transfers, allow me to go to Sarasota in a reasonable amount of time.
Light rail may cost a lot but the traffic problems are going to get much worse… If we make a light rail system now it can be done in 5-10 years before the traffic problems get really bad. I also think we need a high speed train system to connect Florida’s major cities. Orlando, west palm beach, miami,
Talahassee, Tampa, and Jacksonville. In japan rail travel has worked and is used by millions daily. We need to use more rail travel in this country, it will work.......
Build roads with more lanes – before they are needed when they will be effective and not after the population has increased to the point of the roads being redundant,
Costs money. Will need to raise taxes.
fedelta_a_verita -
increase ridiculously low speed limits,
More fatalities like Sunday’s Day of Death (Nine die in traffic accidents)
fedelta_a_verita -
traffic lights that are synchronized accordingly,
Most are, to that ridiculously low speed limit you ignore
fedelta_a_verita -
mandatory education for people that don’t know how to properly operate a motor vehicle which sadly includes more than half
Costs money. Will need to raise taxes
fedelta_a_verita -
and periodic testing of these people to insure compliance with appropriate driving protocol,
Costs money, will need to raise taxes
fedelta_a_verita -
mandatory flex time choices from companies that employ a large number of employees,
Growth of Big Brother. Costs money, will need to raise taxes.
fedelta_a_verita -
no elderly, retirees that don’t know how to drive and who have no where to go and all day to get there on the road for any reason from 6:00 am to 9:30 am and again from 3:30 pm to 6:30 pm –
Facist. They were here before you. Most of them fought in wars you’ve only read about. Someday you will be older than them.
fedelta_a_verita -
there that fixes all rush hour problems, next issue please.
You are a simle person, aren’t you. The dynamic is a little more complex than you think.
fedelta_a_verita -
PS – install a public transportation that can actually be used by everyone, a public transportation system that covers the entire bay area – trains, buses, subway, etc. Put your geographical political fiefdom mentality on the shelf put together an area wide transit authority that will utilize existing resources and put in place new ones. Let me get on a train in Brooksville that will with a few reasonable transfers, allow me to go to Sarasota in a reasonable amount of time.
Quit smoking rope. People are not going to give up their cars. Your little rant betrays you. You have a mindset that the roads should be bigger, lights should be green longer, and everyone who doesn’t drive like you should be off the road.
You are the problem. Start riding the bus. Then we will talk.
I think this would be a no brainer for our local government. It’s going to have to be a mix of buses, rail,and roads. As the developing continues the situation worsens and thats the fact. Why aren’t the county and city on t.v telling use there preferences and updating the people of the progress?
I would much rather keep the $7200.00 a year that it takes to keep a car on the road in my pocket. The gas station gets $200.00, car loan $200.00, and the insurance $200.00(there’s that word again) all ads up at 12 months this year. And these are very low rates, and only singular. Many houses have more than one car. People need to stand up! And wake up! Look at the money you could keep, or in today’s terms, look at the money you could go to the mall with! HA! HA!
It would really help the people that really can’t afford a car but keep one because of work, or are just to active in their personal lives to do with out a car. And you know, your looked at as a second class person,( which may be a bit strong) or in trouble with a DUI, or just poor, if you don’t have a car. And alot of people just don’t want to look poor or disadvantaged to not have a car. Maybe you should do a story called” A car no matter what!” HA!HA!
Thanks
I feel that the best way to solve the traffic problems in and around Tampa is light rail. I think that the public should be looking at other countries that use a rail system. Scotland, Germany, and other countries have been using these systems for years and have ended up making light rail one of the best transportation systems out there.
Tampa traffic is only getting worse. By using light rail, you could avoid traffic jams, road closures and weather delays. Light rail does keep a fast timetable and could serve stops inside the downtown Tampa area. By using light rail in the city, employees could easily hop onto a light rail system and travel more than a few blocks to reach home or office, eat lunch, go to the office supply store or attend a meeting at another location. This system could cut their travel time in half to get home.
Tampa is becoming everyday a more popular tourist destination. Cruise ships, Ybor City, Tampa Bay Bucs Stadium, Busch Gardens and The Florida Aquarium attracts tourist all year round. The Tampa light rail system could be connected into the Amtrak station, airport and hopefully a station accessing the future Florida High Speed Rail System, which would serve Orlando, Miami, Jacksonville and other cities. The public needs to look into cities like New York, Las Vegas and even Disney World to see their light rail systems and how much easier it is to move around the city or area. Tourists like simple things, including transportation, in a city. Haven’t you found yourself having to navigate around a city with confusing bus lines, taxi cabs and walking? Light rail stations could solve the problems by getting the tourists to more destinations and attractions in Tampa,which in turn would boost the economy in Tampa and the surrounding area.
And then there is that final part of the whole inflation thing and money issues. Inflation. Inflation affects more than money, it effects and is affected by the amount of people. If the city is growing, that means more people, traffic, and the need to repair roads more. The Department of Transportation repairs roads non-stop, causing all sorts of road tie-ups. Light rail could easily be repaired at night closing one of the two tracks, still allowing the few night trains to make their commute. The whole money thing is important too. You must remember, as with anything, there is the “start up fee”. Once you set up the light rail system and the public realizes the ease of the system, the money from passengers would pay off these debts and would be able to cover to cost of maintaining the light rail system.
As a junior in high school, I have found myself everyday looking at what college I am going to attend, what I am going to do and where I am going to live. I see the problems at hand and I am constantly trying to find a fix for these. I have in the past and still am seeing the traffic issues in Tampa and I think that light rail serving popular downtown areas, outskirts and tourist destinations would solve most of these commuting issues. You must see it from the eye of someone that is going to have to deal with the mess of car pollution if something is not done now. Please, for my sake and others my age, for the ones living in Tampa now, and for the world, please put the light rail into action. It would clean up the city and take the stress off the road system and the environment. Something needs to get road traffic down, light rail is the answer.
Light rail may cost a lot but the traffic problems are going to get much worse… If we make a light rail system now it can be done in 5-10 years before the traffic problems get really bad. I also think we need a high speed train system to connect Florida’s major cities. Orlando, west palm beach, miami,
Talahassee, Tampa, and Jacksonville. In japan rail travel has worked and is used by millions daily. We need to use more rail travel in this country, it will work.......
While I agree with you in principal, the fact is that American’s are wedded to their cars. The whole auto industry, from spare parts to road design is a significant part of our economy. It is part of our culture and not something that we can change overnight.
The reason that Europe and Japan have such an extensive mass transit systems is that they were bombed back into the stone age fifty years ago. At the end of WWII, they were broke, and needed to move people. Mass transit was the only option.
China used to have a large bike population. Now, as the worker bees get a little more money, they are all moving towards cars. With bloody results.
Mass transit is the way of the future. Just how far in the future, well, thats up to everyone.
I ride the bus. An Express. Parking downtown runs $50 to $90 a month. Tolls, another $60, if you use Sunpass. Throw in fuel ($150-$250), and your up to $300 a month.
You can ride the express bus for a month for $80.00
Once people start to use the bus, then mass transit will be viable. But the first step, is to get on the bus now.
A viable bus program is the answer. There are too many issues with budgets exceeded and time delays to explore rails. This would take too long. The problem is now and needs a quicker resolve. Buses can be added as quickly as tomorrow. Then the search is for companies that can take care of fixing/building roads in short order.
