EmX, short for "Emerald Express" is expected for debut between Eugene in downtown Springfield just before Christmas. EmX promises a bus every 10 minutes for weekly service (20 minutes on evenings and weekends). The 60-foot long diesel/electric hybrid buses from New Flyer Industries will transport people between downtown Eugene and Springfield in 16 minutes, versus 22 minutes over the current system.
EmX, which includes elevated platforms that allow riders to board without stepping up or down, real-time information reader boards when the next bus is due to arrive and "Queue Jumper" technology that gives buses a green light head start at intersections.
""It's going to save six minutes and even LTD says it won't increase ridership, so what needs to happen to make it a success?" Asked Don Clarke, who served on a lane county planning commission when LTD reveal its plans for EmX, "Eight-dollars-a-gallon gas?
His bigger fear, he says, is that EmX will prove a colossal white elephant in a community too small to support it. " "
at an estimated $24 million or roughly $2 million per mile for the 14 mile route between Eugene/ Springfield , with the additional Pioneer Parkway project in Springfield to begin in 2010 at a cost of $38 million... the entire cost of the project could easily pass the $1 billion mark by its completion.
" There has to be some other effective, convenient means of transportation other than the car," says Rob Bennett, owner of the downtown athletic column and former LTD board member for eight years. "It may be a bus today and rail tomorrow, but you need to get the right of way now. This is a 50-year decision." "
Edison Tennyson, transportation consultant and former Deputy Secretary transportation for the state of Philadelphia is usually a supporter of light rails and BRT systems. However, Tennyson acknowledges that Eugene-Springfield is too small for light rail and bus rapid transit is not a sensible alternative.
" Promote what you have and run it as skillfully as you can. Running a bigger bus that skips (some bus) stops to save time is not going to do any good. Don't waste tens of millions of dollars of capital for something you don't need. Says Tennyson. He would make more sense for LTD to adopt a "frequent service" model now used by many transit districts are cost the country. "
I agree. While it is nice to have new fancy toys... in this area it would make more sense in my opinion to buy more of the smaller BREEZE buses and equip them with traffic light priority at a fraction of the cost.
4 comments:
Again I ask the question. Who wants to go from downtown Eugene to Downtown Springfield in a hurry? Unless those are your final destinations you still will have to wait for a connecting bus that only runs every half hour. Mr. Tennyson makes so much sense it's almost scary. More buses, more convienent, more logical=more riders.
Examples like this show the necessity to rein in the amount of money sent to the Federal Government. I realize that the Federal grant money is hard to resist but my god what a waste. It would be cheaper to pay for a taxi to drive these riders.
I have lived in Eugene for over 50 years and it seems that in the last 20 years or so Eugene has tried to live like a cosmopolitan big city on a beer budget. Examples are the Hult Center with it's $8o,ooo curtin, the new library with it's $2 million robot sorter. I would object if these fantasies were financed by private money but it always falls back on us taxpayers to bail their pet projects out. The planners never seem to have enough money for the necessities. Always money to build hundreds of speed bumps, curb bump outs, and islands in the middle of the streets and never any money to fill a simple pot hole. How about some fiscal responsibility, is it too much to ask for?
I could not have said it better my self.
what I would like to know... how did a project of this magnitude get approved in the first place?
I agree with you...I would have rather seen the money go in for road repairs... public safety... and yes, [shudder] even to schools.
except for having a new "toy" and once again copying Portland... I don't see how this will pencil out.
since the roads had to be modified to accommodate the weight of these new buses, you just now increased the expensive road repair.
Personally, I think we should halt this project while were still ahead.
Sadly, they are already in the plan stage for another route of the EMX. Being as it is public transportation, you'd think the public would have the chance to vote on these money issues.
Most of the people I talk to don't even know what the EMX is! Once you explain it, they express opinions that range from puzzlement to anger. The biggest concern is if they will break down as often as the doubles do now. A bus that doesn't run isn't worth squat.
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