Success Stories
Communities across the country are shaping their future with positive
transportation choices. Read the stories below to learn about the
positive strides that transit advocates are making in your neighborhood,
city or state.
Poll
finds support for mass transit
More Minnesotans support expanding the public transportation
system to lessen traffic gridlock than support building or expanding
highways for that purpose, an advocacy group's poll suggests.
Metrorail
breaks records in ridership
More people rode Metrorail in the past year than in any
year since the subway opened in 1976, at one point breaking the
record for single-day ridership.
Hiawatha
Line doubles expectations
Passengers boarded Hiawatha light-rail trains an estimated 476,800
times during the second month of service -- up more than 10,000
rides in July, according to Metro Transit. That's more than double
the 236,700 monthly goal set for the line before construction began.
San
Diego example of light rail's success
A Phoenix resident gets a chance to ride San Diego's light
rail system and finds that the benefits can also apply to Phoenix's
burgeoning system.
Euclid
Corridor: Boondoggle or Benefit
Cleveland hopes to generate jobs, spark residential, retail and
other development, generating jobs and revive it's shrinking tax
base with the Euclid Corridor project.
Train
Beats Car For Easy Riding
April 14, 2004--Two months ago, Times transportation reporters
Kurt Streeter and Sharon Bernstein started searching for answers.
They challenged each other to an ongoing duel. They'd ply well-traveled
routes like the morning rush-hour commute from Santa Monica to downtown
Los Angeles, starting and ending at the same spots. Streeter would
rely mostly on mass transit. Bernstein would hit the roads in her
Honda.
Tacoma
Link: The Little Tram That Could
Tacoma's brand-new light rail transit streetcar (what Europeans
call a tram) has been on a roll – exceeding its ridership
projections (by years in advance), and achieving the central-city
redevelopment goals planners had hoped for.
Driving
Ambition
Sometimes a parking garage is not just a parking garage. Sometimes
a parking garage is award-winning architecture. Such is the case
with Seton Medical Center Wabash Parking garage, part of a $51 million
capital expansion. The garage, completed last year, recently netted
the Austin firm of Page Southerland Page a design award from the
Austin Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
New York State: City Council approves plan
for transit center
July 15, 2003--Albany will go ahead with its $14 million
project to turn the old railroad depot into a transit center starting
this fall. The City Council Monday reviewed the plans and then voted
5-1 to go
ahead, with the understanding that changes may be made before construction
starts.
View full story:
http://www.democratherald.com/articles/2003/06/17/news/local/news02.txt
Seattle WA: Seattle-Everett Sounder line
finally leaves station
For the first time in 60 years, a commuter train will be
running daily between Everett and Seattle beginning later this year,
under an agreement announced yesterday between Sound Transit and
the
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad.
View full story:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/124129_sounder29.html
Washington DC: Metro Calls Car-Sharing
a Win-Win
Flexcar, the car-sharing company that parks its vehicles
at or near Metro stations, has prompted its customers to ride the
subway more often, transit officials said.
View full story:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21720-2003Jun5.html
Tennessee: Proposed rail line not just
for commuters
Commuters to Nashville are not the only reason many Wilson County
officials overwhelmingly approved money for a proposed 31.4-mile
commuter rail project. Many council members and commissioners were
sold on the potential for commercial and industrial growth made
possible by
track upgrades for the commuter rail and by the lower cost of those
upgrades for Mt. Juliet, Lebanon and Wilson County brought about
by federal grants.
View full story:
http://tennessean.com/growth/archives/03/06/
34071476.shtml?Element_ID=34071476
California: BART Opens 8.7-mile Extension
to the San Francisco Airport
We've squirmed for years like children in the back seat, asking,
"Are we there yet?" More than 30 years after BART hired
an engineer to design it, the agency will open an 8.7-mile extension
to
the San Francisco International Airport and the Peninsula.
View full story:
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/6093462.htm
Oregon: Weekend riders help keep TriMet
a leader
Increases in weekend ridership are helping TriMet maintain its position
as a national transit leader, based on a staff analysis of transit
data. Based on population in its district, TriMet ranks as the nation's
29th-largest district, but stands at No. 13 in ridership, said Carolyn
Young, TriMet director of programs and communications.
View full story:
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/
portland_news/1055937575327012.xml
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