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Wheels in motion for dedicated mass transit funding
State legislation that many consider one of the first steps toward creating dedicated funding for mass transportation in Tennessee was filed earlier this month.
The enabling legislation, sponsored in the House by Rep. Janice Sontany (D-Nashville) and in the Senate by Sen. Joe Haynes (D-Goodlettsville), would potentially accomplish two things.
First, it would allow other major municipalities in Tennessee to establish their own Regional Transportation Authority, like the one already in place for Middle Tennessee.
It would then allow a local RTA to take one of two routes in order to establish a dedicated funding source for regional transportation. An RTA could take a dedicated funding proposal to voters for a referendum, or it could ask a local legislative body like Metro Council to pass a law created a new funding source for mass transit.
Greg Adkins, who serves as president of the Tennessee Public Transportation Alliance, said the legislation was the “first tool in the tool box” to create dedicated funding for mass transportation in the Nashville area.
Mayor Karl Dean has expressed interest in expanding and improving Nashville’s mass transit system ever since he was campaigning for office in 2007.
“As Nashville and Middle Tennessee have grown, expanding mass transit to the regional level has become a priority from a quality of life, economic development and environmental standpoint,” Dean said. “We need to move forward with regional transportation planning and I see this enabling legislation as a first step in that process. Regional cooperation and dedicated funding are required to receive necessary state and federal dollars for a project like this.”
The Nashville Area Metro Planning Organization is conducting an update to its regional master plan, which should be ready for release early next year. That plan, which has solicited extensive public input since last year, will include cost estimates for mass transit options in the Nashville area.
“The pending legislation represents an important first step towards ensuring this region is competitive for federal funding for mass transit,” Nashville MPO Executive Director Michael Skipper said. “But most importantly, it is a reflection on our growing regional commitment to building a multi-modal transportation system for improved regional mobility, environmental sustainability, and economic prosperity into the future.”
Officials have said it's too soon to speculate what the source of the dedicated funding might be at this time, because economic conditions impact the feasibility of certain options.
The legislation was referred to committees last week.
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We need lightrail in Nashville NOW. Look at Charlotte and Portland as similar cities that have great public transportation. We need to have lightrail from downtown to BNA, with stops through midtown. We need to have Bus Rapid Transit connecting Nashville to to outer counties. Move forward on this Nashville.
Mass transit is not a viable option for everyone."Dedicated funding" should come through ticket sales.
Ta ta ta daaaaaaaaaaaa !...yeah, but don't ask the voters for areferendum.Let's make it a law instead.Why ask us ? We only the ones paying for it.Let's collect more money that ends up beingspent somewhere else.Bids ? We don't need no stinking bids !Long live the good ole boy system.Long live incompetence.
Better late than never. Oddly, if the legislators had done this just two years ago, the state and RTA would have been eligible for "stimulus". Maybe that's the reason these yokels are moving forward with this now (Free money!!) LOL.
Mass transit here is a losing proposition for two main reasons. We don't have the population to support it and we don't have a central job market.We should have learned a lesson with the choo-choo train that is hemorageing money and that is just operating expences, not costs of building it if we had to.If you want to try before you buy with billions try buses which could be moved or resold not rail which you can only recover the value of the scrap metal it contains.Remember another thing too, the Feds have no money of their own so it isn't "free" it is your money too that will be wasted when better uses could be fould to benifit more people.We could pay the people that ride the Star to stay home and not work and actually save money. How smart is that to want to build more losers?
If you needed light rail there would be a line at the permit office of people clamoring to sell you light rail. Since you're making this up because you want OTHER PEOPLE to ride the rail you will build with my money, and there is no actual desire on ANYBODY's part to ride your white elephant, the only way to get it done is to steal my money and build what noone will use. You are a communist, unfortunately you seem to have the masses mesmerized and you're going to manage it, to the loss of all of us. Damn you.
Don't drink the LRT kool aid. I lived in New York City for 10 years and the subway lost money every year I was there. They raised fares 3 times and got huge federal subsidies. That was in an extremely dense urban city on a very small island. It lost money. It is expensive to build, expensive to operate, and expensive to maintain. That was a walking city, Nashville is not. Trasnsit is a pipe dream. Maybe, just maybe in two hundred years.
If the local, state, and federal governments keep taxing us to death, there's going to be a mass exit out of the United States. I'm already looking at South America as a retirement option.
We are at a crossroads. Do we continue to build things out of envy of what other cities already have (regardless of whether it actually works for those other cities) or do we do the smart thing for Nashville.There are just to many "advocates" of certain technologies floating from city to city selling their particular flavor of mass transit. Inevitably when they do sell their system they are then put in charge of running it and earn good salaries doing so. The Nashville Star is an example of this. Until recently it was run by the same group of out-of-towners who lobbied for it. As in other cities the commuter train business never pans out and the advocates are already going to the next city.We do need a transit plan and funding source. But is should be invested in real technology already in place, not in the sexiest, most expensive and most difficult to install. Buses are a proven part of a successful transit system for growing American cities. We should get out of the way of the consumer and quit funneling all bus traffic to downtown Nashville. The hub-and-spoke system does not work for airlines anymore, why should we try to do that on the ground. Follow the Southwest model of more direct routes, more often. The bus system should be a network of routes connecting the whole of the city to itself, not just another economic redevelopment tool for downtown business interest. One should not have to ride from St Thomas to downtown just to get to Green Hills or Bellevue or Charlotte Pike.
id - if you think we do not have a central job market turn on the TV and watch the traffic report, since it has apparently been 25 years since you have done so.
We don't compared to other cities. Read the other posts and see why it won't work.We are the second biggest county in the nation yet have a fraction of the population of LA.Beside "dedicated funding" is the worse kind and promotes waste. If you have a surplus somewhere and a REAL NEED in another money is wasted on low priorities and you have to raise revenue for the needed.A city budget should be spent on priorities according to importance not entitlements for individual fifedoms.
BTW you whiners don't know what real traffic is unless you have commutted in LA or NY. Even Atlanta is worse then this.Just buying the right of way for light rail would be cost prohibitive. Learn from the Star, and that (the right of way and the infrastructure (rail)) was basically free. That is the best we can hope for.
JeffMTA is starting to develop direct routes which do not go downtown. The first one will start in April. Details at MTA website and at the public meetings that they held two weeks ago, that you obviously didn't attend.RAIL? No way. It is expensive, time consuming and inflexible. Look at San Diego. They opened the first light rail line in 1981. Now they have 6 lines and the impact on traffic is marginal. Buses are the best option. There are express buses from Gallatin and Mboro which are packed each day. The Rapid Transit bus line on Gallatin Rd is to start in April and will be a great success.As to dedicated funding, it should be done. Period. The only question is what type of funding. Some locations use sales tax but we already know what a fickle source that is. Property taxes? I can hear the screams already. btw, ALL forms of transportation are subsidized by government.
This is all worthless.Karl baby doesn't care; he's passing a law.No votes necessary. No one has asked us and he's already madeup his mind how to do it.In Europe, they are very successful usingelectric buses for transportation.Very efficient and very clean running.Is this even being considered ?The info on the Star is right. How can wecontinue to make the same mistakes ?How about this: Dean is much more interested in his pride andego and legacy than he is in doing what'sbest for Nashville.The point is, we have no say in it !
PandaNo say? Did you go to one of the several public meetings MTA held on the issue of dedicated funding? Or any of their other public meetings?Did you contact your councillor about this issue? Your state rep or senator? Or do you just whine and complain?
Public meetings are a waste of time and effort. They let you rant then they do what they want anyway.You have to vote the bums out of office.
IDGAF- Buses are the best options for the interstates. Bus Rapid Transit should have connected Nashville to Lebanon, and should connect Nashville to Murf, Franklin, Gallatin, etc. Within the city, we need lightrail, or streetcars (i.e. Portland). Streetcars a lot less expensive than lightrail, and run on electricity. There are 40,000 people that work downtown, and they need transportation other than their expensive cars or those ghetto buses. JeffF- you are right in that the best bang for your buck and the most effective system is one is that has routes connecting the whole city (this includes downtown though).
I was not proposing leaving downtown out, only that the area should not be where everyone has to go to do anything. Believe it or not downtown is not the money generator for the government proponents make it out to be. Families do not move to cities for the "vibrant downtown". Singles may but they turn tail and run as soon as their spawn starts.
How long is the train ride from downtown Nashville to Lesbian?
Kosh:What a joke you are.Here'a my favorite from you:"As to dedicated funding, it should be done. Period."Period. Like "there's the proof, and thatsays it all"What pompous ass.
New Yorker the answer is 4 appletinis
Where have you been NYer? The ride is longer then it takes to drive.