Report: Red Hook Streetcar Network Too Costly
Streetsblog and The Daily News have stories that explore how a DOT study says a proposed streetcar system in Red Hook would be costly and difficult to implement. Streetsblog notes that the study says the streetcar line would “only create 1,822 new daily transit riders” but cost around “$176 million, with another $6.2-7.2 million in…
Streetsblog and The Daily News have stories that explore how a DOT study says a proposed streetcar system in Red Hook would be costly and difficult to implement. Streetsblog notes that the study says the streetcar line would “only create 1,822 new daily transit riders” but cost around “$176 million, with another $6.2-7.2 million in annual operating costs.” There’s still going to be a public meeting about the study in May, but its suggested “short-term improvements” for improving transit in the area include revamping the intersection at Mill Street and Hamilton Avenue to increase and improve access to Red Hook; possibly making service changes to the B61 line and adding new bus shelters; and putting in a pedestrian refuge on Clinton Street and Centre Mall. Meanwhile, the Daily News has this quote from Red Hook Civic Alliance Co-chairman John McGettrick about how Red Hook transportation could quickly be improved: “An alternative they could do in the immediate future would be to provide bus service to Manhattan via the Battery Tunnel.”
DOT to Red Hook: No Streetcar For You [Streetsblog]
Red Hook Trolley Would be Folly [The Daily News]
Photo by sillygwailo.
A few years ago the MTA announced that they were going to implement bus service to Manhattan from red Hook thru the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. This was one of the justifications they used to raise fares. Soon afterward then they cut the budget and this proposed route never got off the ground.
So this is far from a new idea. How hard can it be to add a new, relatively short bus route? How much would this new route really cost? Its got to be cheaper than light rail – or is it?
ENY — You can fuck off too. It was apparent that Minard didn’t understand that trains were to move people. They are “cutesy trolleys” just for lookin’
Los Angeles has a system of “little short buses” run by the city in different neighborhoods to complement the regional service run by the county transit authority.
The seem to work out well in some areas, while in other areas you can tell they were put in just to make a connected constituency happy.
They do have the advantage of being relatively easy to setup and change as needed, compared to longer bus routes where a change in one middle section can have impacts on other neighborhoods along the rest of the route.
little short buses.
What is wrong with little short buses?
The B61 can be horribly crowded during peak hours, and due to it’s long circuitous route, often be strangely missing from both directions at random times. The Smith-9th drawbridge gets stuck open once in a while.
Also it has minimal ridership during late night hours.
Mini buses could fill in those rough areas. Especially if it’s route simply looped to the Carroll Street and Smith-9th stops. The train – which is where most riders are typically headed to/from.
Though 90 percent of the time we just skip the bus and get off at Carroll, walk down 1st Place/Summit St/BQE foot bridge/Hamilton (same street). Through the park at the Battery tunnel exhaust building, then down Van Brunt. A pleasant, and very direct, mile and a half jaunt.
“By Minard Lafever on April 21, 2011 1:14 PM
tyburg blows an elder hippie gasket.”
Now that was pretty funny.
tyburg blows an elder hippie gasket.
I’d subscribe to that podcast.
🙂
Tybur Brownstoner comments, as read by Samuel L Jackson