Re: Rail Transit
I have to concur. We have three more weeks till the deadline and I haven't heard anything about reaching the 44.5k signatures. This isn't a knock down but if the majority were against rail, this petition drive would have been a cake walk, right? I mean, in the beginning, the rebuttal was that the mass majority were misinformed. Well, it's been two and a half months of media blitzing with a whole lot of personal attacks included. The public is definitely aware of the rail project at this point. Oahu has 900,000+. I'll halve that to weed out those too young or not qualified to vote. That's still 450,000 and the petition drive is being pushed into overdrive just to get to 30,000 signatures. Not exactly majority.
Again, you're oversimplifying. While you may be lucky to only need one bus, there are plenty who currently transfer from bus to bus so bus to rail is no different. You're also overlooking the fact that with a rail backbone, the current 500+ bus fleet can be reallocated as feeder routes that run deeper into neighborhoods. What this translates to is that perhaps a local bus stop will now be even closer to your doorstep or your work's doorstep. Someone already mentioned how people would rather wait for a closer parking spot to a store than park further away just to avoid walking. If stops are closer to end points, the hassle of transfers can easily be accepted provided frequency of buses and trains are high. You can conceivably accomplish this with buses but you would need a whole lotta buses that make 500+ look small. Then you need a whole lot more drivers for these buses and mechanics to maintain them. All of a sudden, if you factor in all these details, it's not a whole lot cheaper. And let's not discount the fact that rail has always provided a far superior level of ride comfort compared to a bus. Does this sound manini? No, because if one takes public transit daily, that extra comfort makes it or breaks it for individuals who contemplate using public transit.
Let's just round it out to $10,000? That's some major fluffing there. Even you mentioned that visitors kick in a share. The estimate of $4,000 per individual is already over exaggerated much less $10,000. Oahu receives close to 7 million visitors a year. I really would like some official stats but I have a feeling the visitors' share isn't minuscule. You talk about losses of commerce during construction but you then don't credit windfall of commerce once the line is up.
Originally posted by TuNnL
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Originally posted by salmoned
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Originally posted by salmoned
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