Comments on: How to beat the car culture

By: CiscoCorrales

CiscoCorrales — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:48:48 +0000

Although Seattle has the reputation of being transit friendly and eco-friendly I beg to differ. Being from the region I know that Seattle (metro) is more car dependent than Phoenix and their traffic woes much more disturbing. While a new traffic study ranks Phoenix (the 12th largest metro in the nation) as the 29th worst for traffic, Seattle with 1 million less in population is in the top 10. On top of that, their light rail ridership, despite being more densely populated than Phoenix and even Tempe, is dismal not even matching Phoenix’ Sunday ridership averages (Phoenix averages 18,000+ on Sundays and Seattle 15,000 on WEEKDAYS).

Park and rides would have been an excellent addition to their system as they have room for such endeavors as they are not New York and would have increased ridership. However, the urban population in Seattle has a very obvious distaste for their suburban counterparts and would rather their system suffer low ridership than bring them on board the system and allowing them to drive less distance and into the city center. A huge lack of foresight in my opinion. As a downtown Phoenix resident, I would rather a north Phoenix, Surprise, East Mesa, Chandler, etc resident park at the Sycamore/Main or 19th Ave/Montebello station than continue their drive into the heart of the city where they’d have to pay for parking and would walk less by doing so…

By: leianna

leianna — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:45:27 +0000

well being from Seattle, it makes perfect sense to have just one park and ride and to clarify its not just one for the entire system its one for its neighborhood district. Seattle is the most ecofriendliest place of the Northwest and because of the structure of the cities landscape, the railways were built in order to have the public walk to and from destination – is that not the point of the light rail: to regulate gas emissions and promote the use of this “carpooling” idea to save our cities pollutions? I must agree with Tony and kudos to Seattle all the way for their unique approach to handling a more sensible and organized system that does not require more millions of dollars to build park and ride stations because one in EACH NEIGHBORHOOD DISTRICT is good enough.

By: TlaB

TlaB — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:22:17 +0000

Sorry for the late weigh in on this… but nontheless….
Light rail is expensive to build and, once laid, is a “fixed track” with a route that is very hard to alter. For that reason, cities have to be realistic and recognize that people need a myriad of ways to reach it. (No LR track is going to be in the best place for everyone.) Bus routes are a flexible way to reach the LR line because they can be redrawn as needed to serve the population, but people also can be helped by a Park & Ride. Even if they travel part of the way (in bus or car), you can still reduce total emmissions by eliminating some of the distance that is driven at all.

By: Tony

Tony — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 06:03:06 +0000

Seattle’s line is alot like ours in terms of the types of venues served along the way, so to answer your question – yes, Seattle does have those attractions.
I couldn’t believe it myself when I heard the news, and I think it’s an interesting concept. Would it work here in the desert? I’m not so sure, considering the general public’s perception of bus transit here – which is a key link in getting people to ditch their cars in Seattle.
Having said all that, I applaud Seattle in their efforts to get people to drive less! Kudos to them!

By: Rail Life

Rail Life — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 01:31:49 +0000

I was pretty shocked to learn about the lack of park and ride lots for their new system. I mean, seriously, what are they thinking?
Look at the success of our park and ride lots. The ends of the line get a ton of people traveling from the suburbs. Sporting events, festivals, concerts etc are all times when people decide not to fight traffic and the hassle / expense of parking. Do they not serve any attractions like this?
A Seattle radio station recently called me to ask about our park and ride lots. The guy was pretty un-impressed with their lack of parking and made it very clear to the audience.
Here in Phoenix, if there were no park and ride lots, the ridership would be MUCH less that what it is now.
Makes no sense to me…