TOD Will Pay Someday

Unfortunately it feels like there is a bit too much optimism that TOD will pay for infrastructure such as rail. Really though, the increase in value brought by new transit lines has too many people fighting over it, from the basic infrastructure to affordable housing to the lines themselves. We can't expect to put all of that weight on the back of a few projects. However we keep making TOD out to be the savior of all. I feel like it can do a lot of things, just not everything.

Saturday Night Quick Links

Had a pretty busy last few days and it's been hard to post. Here are some quick links until I get a bit more time.

Dallas officials might stop the future Orange Line short of the airport.
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Should cyclists pay a registration fee? Personally I think absolutely not!
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The Hawaii Senate wants to take from the rail fund to balance the budget. You know, all this stealing from transit to pay for budgets is not cool. Why not take from the road funding? Too much of a sacred cow for you?
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Apparently there is a locomotive buried in Cincinnati. Who knew there were locomotives buried all over the United States like treasure.
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There are a lot of high speed rail concern trolls out there. This one in the Boston Globe.

"We have tremendous distances compared with Japan or Europe," said Carlos Schwantes, a professor of transportation studies at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. "We're just much bigger, and in so much of the country it's so low a population density that we'd have to ask the question: Is it worth spending our dollars for the infrastructure in those areas?"

How many times do we need to kill this argument. There wasn't enough population density in the Roman Empire for paved roads to the British Isles either.
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The Beltline is safe for now.

Attempted Robbery

It's always a bad idea to start letting the state take money from transportation funding to plug holes. Look at where it has gotten us in California, $3 billion dollars gone and transit gets screwed. Well here is another case where putting your foot down is a good thing. The State of Hawaii wants to steal the transit tax but Mayor Mufi is saying no. Good for him.

Bikes + Trains = Aloha

Bike sharing is taking off. Tethering it to transit is smart.

Momentum B-cycle is targeted to launch on June 1. Le's goal is to eventually have bike racks across O'ahu and within a five-mile radius of rail transit stops. The intent is to make it easier for residents and tourists to connect to mass transit and key locations," Le said. "It's good for the community."

Moving Along...

It's a good thing Honolulu passed the rail measure yesterday. Seems the were also approved to move along in the FTA process to "Preliminary Engineering" or PE.

The Federal Transit Administration has given its approval for Honolulu to start the preliminary engineering phase of its planned $4.3 billion commuter rail project, the city said yesterday. Beginning the preliminary engineering phase of the transit project is a major step toward securing federal funding.

Hawaii Appropriations

Matt has a post up on Committees that could be changing (Nothing is set in stone and I'll believe it when I see it). If as he predicts Inouye goes to appropriations, this means that Honolulu's chances of getting its transit project funded are that much better. Given the fighting that is going on there, and Inouye's pledged support for the rail project, this could possibly be a huge deal for them.

Hawaii Fight O

The opposition wants this guy's road plan, which happens to be called EZ way, and if the steel on steel election loses, they expect the FTA to pick up the tab for their elevated freeway. Well as the Mayor's office has said repeatedly, the FTA won't pay for HOT lanes. In fact, Ma Peters had tried to get HOT lanes funded in a recent fight with congress but lost. This is a battleground for transit. The opponents believe that if they can win in places without rail like Honolulu, they can turn the tide against it. And if we ended up using transit money for a freeway given the demand for real transit projects, then we haven't learned anything from the last 60 years.

Pineapple Expressway

The plan in Hawaii that Mayoral candidate Kobayashi pulled together with road warrior and former candidate Panos P is exactly the reason why we're on the wrong track moving towards livable communities in this country. Any time you create a situation where more cars and rubber tired vehicles can dominate the landscape, you kill any hope of developing places for people.

This plan, an elevated highway that would operate as HOT lanes and Rapid Bus lanes is a disaster. All it does it keep people driving in one of the densest cities in the United States and creates a huge scar on the landscape.


This is not transit, this is a sprawl inducing anti urban elevated arroyo for auto and oil coin collection. People need to seriously stop thinking that more concrete will solve their problems. The benefit of rail transit is not just the transit itself, it's the communities that are created and the reductions in the need for auto trips. No one is saying that people need to get rid of thier cars. But for a lot of people, relief from the ball and keychain is what they need long term.

Why is such a beautiful place such as Hawaii even thinking about creating such a scar? They should be instead, investing in thier future, because once this road fills up the Pols will tell them they need to build another one. The island is only going to get denser and growing out is not an option.

Adamantium for Hawaii Rail Composition!

Mayor Mufi won the majority of votes in his re-election bid but not enough to dispatch both of his opponents in the Honolulu mayoral primary. His 49% haul beat out both crazed highwayman Panos Prevedoros and current council member Anne Kobayashi who together rang up 48% of the vote. Close for sure but the totals were reflective of a mayoral race and not November's presidential election which will bring out the city's residents to vote in droves. Out of 900,000 people, only about 150,000 or ~16% came out to vote. In the 2000 election, Hawaii had about a 41% turnout rate however with a native son in Barack Obama running it is likely to be much much more.

Mayor Mufi now faces Kobayashi in the November election and it has been billed as a Rail vs. BRT showdown. On the ballot is a yes or no question of whether to go with steel wheels on steel rail. It's possibly the silliest transit question on any ballot ever, but its there and people are going to vote. A more pressing question in a city denser than most others in the United States should have a rail system, however the technology for the rail should be a bigger question. An automated guideway like Skytrain in Vancouver which is under discussion or a typical metro or light rail system that could be operated using interchangable parts that are not proprietary. I'd personally like to see more of that discussion.

The fact of the matter is that with a higher turnout it is likely that Mufi will win and the rail will pass. The reason being that most people support the rail transit solution and a defeat will only come when numbers are diluted or rail backers do something stupid, which isn't out of the realm of possibility. The next vote however will be on whether they should go with adamantium or steel for the rails themselves. After that, the voters will decide on whether the computer chips in the trains will be Intel, AMD or an abacus.

Election Day Coverage on The Overhead Wire

So you all know ahead of time, we're going to have an election night liveblog here at The Overhead Wire. The reason? No it's not to talk about the presidential race, but rather the Transit Space Race elections going on all over the country. Here's a preview of what we'll cover:

St. Louis - An election is being held to give Metro a half cent more in order to keep up with operating expenses and expand Metrolink, the region's light rail system. It's called Proposition M.

Santa Fe - A Sales Tax to extend Rail Runner into the city from Albuquerque.

Oakland/Berkeley - AC Transit is looking to raise the parcel tax $48 annually to pay for operations. This measure is called VV. KK is also on the ballot and would allow AC Transit to build BRT on Berkeley streets.

Los Angeles - This would be a half cent sales tax for capital expansion. It's called Measure R.

Sonoma Marin - SMART will go back to the polls to ask for an 1/4th cent sales tax to build a commuter rail line. It is called Measure Q.

Honolulu - Island residents are being asked whether they approve of a steel on steel transit system. (Crazy huh?)

Kansas City - A half cent sales tax is on the ballot to build a starter light rail line.

Seattle - Prop 1. I'm not going to be covering this as much except for some crucial updates. I'm sure the boys at STB got it covered.

High Speed Rail - $9.9 billion dollar bond for a statewide high speed rail line. This one is Prop 1a.

If I am missing something let me know. I'll be live blogging into the night until we get the Hawaii results. It's still a bit of time away. But I'll be reminding everyone every once in a while to keep your minds off the presidential election.

Major Paper Backs Rail in Hawaii

The Honolulu Advertiser says voters in the city should go for rail. They also call out the opposition for being misleading. What a concept.

Wow. Ridiculousness Reaches New High

You have to read it to believe someone actually said it: A Vote Against Rail is a Vote for Freedom and Prosperity.

Bob Jones almost had it right. Allow me to edit. A vote against rail is vote for the freedom, mobility, economic prosperity and a cleaner environment that busses and automobiles bring. A vote for the rail system brings urban jungles, more taxes, more government control, and more pollution.

An Engineering Professor Should Know Better

The Hawaii Reporter will print anything. I mean ANYTHING. Case in point, the intellectual dishonesty of Panos Prevadoros, who is a civil engineer and transportation professor running for Mayor of Honolulu. I can't believe someone who has a PhD in this stuff would even make comments like this.

First, he parrots the anti-transit talking point of the week about energy efficiency. We covered this earlier but Mr. Setty covers it again. My first thought was some poor sap fell for a line, but then I've been seeing it over and over again. People are actually falling for it, pushing numbers out of context. He also makes the claim that trains aren't that efficient compared to electric cars. Well how about trains that can be improved as well? Lighter, more energy efficient. Technological advances aren't just reserved for cars people.

Second he takes a number about one train and expands it purposefully, hoping his readers won't question him on it. Again I expect better from a professor of transportation.

... each train can carry 300 people, and during the peak times, there is expected to be one train every 3 minutes, for a total of 6,000 people per hour on the peak direction... Managed freeway lanes, such as HOT lanes, are designed to carry 2000 vehicles per hour per lane at free flow speeds, and since they carry express busses and high occupancy vehicles, the average occupancy would be well over 3 people per vehicle, for a total of 6,000 people per hour per lane.

This is intellectually dishonest because trains are well...trains. They are three to four of those vehicles coupled together. That blows his numbers all out of wack doesn't it? So instead of 6,000 people, it's more like 24,000 with four car trains.

Finally he states that BRT is more convenient than the rail line and states that people would have to make two transfers. One from their house to the line, then another when they get off the line. I find it hard to believe that if the feeder bus to rail line doesn't go to where their express bus goes now, then their express bus doesn't go to where they want to go now. If the rail line comes every 3 minutes, hits major destinations, and is much faster than crawling traffic I don't really see what the problem is. Especially in a very dense place like Honolulu.

He then talks up how the FTA loves BRT. Of course they like BRT! The Bushies hate spending money on transit. He also points to a BRT study that further muddies the definition of BRT. Who knows what BRT means anymore. All I know is that you can run cars on that lane of concrete, which is what he wants to do anyways with his HOT Lane BRT idea.

This doesn't fly, and I'm really annoyed at the capacity lie. The opposition is getting scared, and starting to grasp at straws. And to top it off, Panos recommended light rail for the subway corridor in Los Angeles.

A less expensive option would be light rail at $100 million a mile - an option Prevedouros supports...James Moore, director of the transportation engineering program at USC, is pushing for a busway because they are cheaper to build. Plus, buses can hold more passengers than rail cars.

What?! What is wrong with these engineers? Where is Vukan Vuchic when you need him?

Honolulu Noise Machine Might Have Hit a Wall

Constant noise coming from opponents to the rail system seems like just that, noise. As with Charlotte, it seems like the opposition just has a whole lot more time to make noise and money to spend making it. Wonder where it came from.

But we find out that contrary to the noise, a big majority supports the mayor in his handling of the transit situation. It's a pretty safe bet that they are just tired of the noise and are glad someone is taking leadership on the issue.

As reported yesterday, the Star-Bulletin/KITV poll found that 60 percent of the respondents wanted the city to continue with its rail development plan, while 24 percent wanted it stopped, and the remainder either were not sure or refused to answer.

"I am finding more people from East Honolulu and from the Windward side (two areas that have not strongly supported rail) who are starting to get behind rail," Hannemann said. "They are seeing that this is about the entire island eventually being connected."

There are people that say the poll proves the mayor is losing speed such as his opponent. However it seems like they are grasping at straws.

Vote for Honolulu Mayor Based on Mode

There are going to be three choices for Mayor in Honolulu, but be careful who you vote for, you could get a transit mode you don't like. The existing mayor has been pushing rail while Council Member Kobayashi is keen on BRT that would operate in its own aerial structure. But wait, if you don't like that choice, you can vote for Dr. Panos Prevedouros who is a traffic engineering professor who thinks HOT lanes are the answer.

While I wonder about building an elevated rail line instead of a subway under major arterials, why do people still think that building a huge structure to carry limited capacity vehicles is still a good idea these days. I don't get it!? What am I missing? Why do people think that more operators is a good idea when labor costs are the largest part of the operating budget and you have a ridiculously dense city with a need for a high capacity transit spine? And for good measure make it diesel or some other fuel that puts carbon in the air next to your outdoor cafe. I'm getting cynical.

Media as a Minority Opposition Enabler?

Richard discusses the opposition fighters in the debate over rail transit. What's interesting is how the media in these cities plays into the fight. In Charlotte they played up the opposition so much during the transit tax referendum that there was a thought that it could possibly win, even I was a little worried about it. But when the vote came out, it was 70-30. A classic drubbing.

What happened to drum up the opposition to have such clout? I'm not sure but the media seemed to be deep in it, and of course would bring readers to the Observer site as well as the John Locke Foundation blog which was the major source for the opposition.

Now in Honolulu we're seeing a massive media blitz, seizing on the conflict to setup and epic battle. Even the opposition leader is running for mayor, just like in Charlotte. Obviously he's not going to win on one issue alone, but it seems rather like a ploy to shine more attention on the division, even if there might not even be a real division by the vast majority on the island.

But the opposition has gotten nasty as well, not being able to win on the issues they are going to nasty depths.

In the most recent attack circulated via e-mail last weekend, a satirical illustration and text compared rail advocates to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and the Nazis. Hannemann administration officials said the e-mail "crosses the line."

The e-mail, with the subject line "People in Hawaii Are Too Stupid -- DON'T Let Them Vote on Rail," features a photo of Osama bin Laden with the message, "People of Oahu, you should NOT be allowed to make any big decisions in the ballot box. Only Mufi and his friends should decide."

It's gotten so bad in fact that the local paper has asked everyone to tone it down, something which they were enablers of and allowed to get out of hand even in their own paper. I have never seen an article on the facts or benefits, just who said what.

I think though that the Mayor has done the right thing by fighting back. There is no reason he needs to take a beating like this, especially from folks funded on the mainland by highly ideological anti-rail groups.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. This is the reason though that there has to be a strong leader at the front of these things. If not, it will die under the onslaught of a well funded opposition. The one common theme in all cities that have started with rail or have been able to continue is a strong mayor or governor pushing it hard. If you want transit, a leader like the mayor is key.