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When I am doorknocking people ask all the time, "How can you be against light rail, have you ever ridden the train?"
I need to qualify what my brochure says.
I am not against the train, in fact, I ride the Hiawatha Line every opportunity I get. However, I do not think such magnificent machines have a place in inner city neighborhoods.
For a while, and it may not yet be out of the question completely, a light rail was being considered to go down or under either Blaisdell, Nicollet, or First Ave. It seems to me to be either crazy to send a high speed train down a narrow right of way or prohibitively expensive, depending on whether above or below ground.
Trains need space. Going to or coming from the airport or the mall is one thing, but going down Washington Avenue through the campus is another. The Hiawathia Line is very efficient until it gets to the Dome, and then it crawls through traffic like big electric caterpillar.
Yes, trains are great things. If you think the Hiawatha Line is successfull, I anxiously await the Northstar Line to start bringing people in from St. Cloud and beyond! Let's cross the river with the Hiawatha Line and get it into Burnsville and Apple Valley! How about a 150 mph (or faster) train to Chicago? And cargo, the goods of trade, we need to transfer some of the load from the trucking industry to railroads. These are applications that work for fast trains.
I just think our precious Metropolitan tax money would be better spent on more comfortable buses and transit lanes for those buses. Maybe there needs to be more lateral lines rather than the spokes that radiate out from downtown.
With the variety of jobs I have had there has been only a very few, only two or three instances, where using public transportation has made sense - and I have had a lot of different jobs in my life. I am sad to say that single occupancy vehicles might be here to stay for while. Maybe they will have to be electric, maybe diesel, maybe natural gas or propane instead of gasoline, but people have to get work even if they live at 26th and Grand and work on a dead-end road in New Brighton.
I tried riding a bicycle to work in Roseville once. In my late fifties it was too far. But the worst of it was that it added another hour and half on to my already long ten hour day. Even if was only four days a week, it was not something I could ever do year round. The things I do to make money are not done in every neighborhood. I am not alone in usually having to travel far to find suitable, well paying employment.
Light rail is comfortable, fast, and efficient, but not in my opinion well-suited for every transportation application.
The fact is that it is our mobility - very much an American privilege - that allows us to be so successful and blessed.
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