Gas Prices Send Surge of Riders to Mass Transit

[roteague]

Originally Posted by mgescuro

Ummm... Mag Lev, while feasible, is just too expensive.
I'm going to assume this is a light rail system of some kind?? Having it NOT go downtown is kinda strange, don't you think?
It's been a while since i've been to Oahu, but shouldn't a system like this connect the heavily travelled areas -- maybe even parallel H3 or something?

It will eventually go into town, but the first segment will only run from Kapolei to Waipahu (2012) and won't even get to town until 2018. Since most traffic is from Waipahu to town, I don't see much sense, but I'm not a transit engineer.

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/ap...804200375/1001

[mgescuro]

Originally Posted by roteague

It will eventually go into town, but the first segment will only run from Kapolei to Waipahu (2012) and won't even get to town until 2018. Since most traffic is from Waipahu to town, I don't see much sense, but I'm not a transit engineer.

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/ap...804200375/1001

Wow... I still can't get over the fact that it's elevated!!! I hope it doesn't hinder any of the views!!
I live in a City where there was so much controversy over elevated freeways, that people had a party when the darned thing collapsed in the 1989 earthquake!! And no one cared that it was gone because we had the views back.

The lower noise of monorail or maglev systems would make more sense, I would think.

Anyways...
This is SF's BART system. I get to ride it every day.
Since I was a kid, I always thought the whine of the electric motors was cool.

+ YouTube Video

[roteague]

Originally Posted by mgescuro

Wow... I still can't get over the fact that it's elevated!!! I hope it doesn't hinder any of the views!!

There was talk of putting the town portion underground; the route would have gone directly under Iolani Palace .... that isn't going to happen.

[Rick 2000]

Mass transit = bad neiborhood on wheels .

[mgescuro]

Originally Posted by Rick 2000

Mass transit = bad neiborhood on wheels .

Well that's certainly helpful.
Mass transit has a bad rap in this country.

There are some great systems in the US. Most will pale in comparison to European systems though.