transit now nashville

Here's a good article about Nashville's mass trans...

2009-12-31T03:46:31.402-08:00

Here's a good article about Nashville's mass transit green job possibilities, with analysis by Dr. Sekou Franklin at MTSU.

"Nashville and its 6th Congressional District has the potential to generate some 15,000 new jobs, per the national report issued by PERI."

"Moreover, according to the MTSU professor’s Tennessee-related study, mass-transit investment is an area ripe for development when it comes to creating environmentally sound practices. Such green investment, Franklin notes, can lead to far-reaching outcomes that ultimately reduce unemployment and raise the overall standard of living for lower socio-economic households. ...asserting that a renewed commitment to mass transit in Middle Tennessee is an area that would provide a significant and sustainable return on any green-economy investment."

http://www.newswise.com/articles/green-economy-can-aid-environment-reduce-poverty-says-prof

Anyone have thoughts on how Tourism Development Zones style tax structures, currently proposed to fund a new Convention Center, might be put to better use to help fund local mass transit?

Great post and comments. James, happy to have you...

2009-12-23T06:11:42.941-08:00

Great post and comments. James, happy to have you weigh in on financing whenever you like. Shoot me a line at clippard@me.com.

Cliff

Jay great post. Sorry for the cheesy 8th grade ess...

2009-12-22T19:36:49.082-08:00

Jay great post. Sorry for the cheesy 8th grade essay format but I wanted to add some thoughts to your posting. In my opinion, the three biggest improvements to transit oriented development (TOD’s) would be the elimination of Euclidean zoning districts, discontinuance of the use of Institute of Transportation Engineers manuals for traffic studies, and gas prices.

Probably most significant change that would assist transit is single use zoning districts (commonly called Euclidean after the landmark court case Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Company: which made it legal to establish zoning districts). These single use zoning districts are the framework of all suburban development. You can’t just improve our downtown’s and activity centers with functional and flexible building types if people go home to suburbia. The masses aren’t willing to give up their beloved cars when they need them to satisfy their insatiable cravings to drive around suburbia on the weekends. Furthermore, many “developers” (I use the term loosely) are married to Euclidean zoning districts. Their prototypes (i.e. Starbucks, McDonalds, Banks, etc) are easily plopped down in a square that has been parceled off and then they blow and go. No design necessary.

The ITE (Institute of Transportation Engineers)…where do I start? This organization is completely clueless when it comes to vehicular transportation. They publish the handbooks used for calculating trip generation and distribution. These (fitted curve) demand models are the science for traffic studies (the document used to predict the vehicular impact of a development). These instruments fail to demonstrate the simple fact that the more capacity you create on a road, it simply allows people from farther away to drive on it. So basically these “studies” tell us that when you add trips (cars) to a segment of road or an intersection, the level of service goes down…. Well no kidding my 3-year old could tell you that.

Gas Prices….A bad word in cities like Atlanta, Tampa and many others. This one is simple. If gas prices go up to $9.00/gallon like they are in Europe, people will be flocking to transit faster than they can lay track. It’s simple economics. If it costs $90/week to drive to work and you can ride for $50/month (like in Boston), it’s a no brainer. When I rode the Music City star in the summer of 2008 (a time when gas prices were approaching $4.00) the ridership doubled almost overnight. No exaggeration.

Another important element of transit is financing for municipalities but I will save my MBA rave on that for another day. Perhaps the fine folks of “Transit Now Nashville” will throw me a vine and I can soapbox the topic on a rainy day. Until then, let’s call it a day.

A good friend of mine once said, “If you are an urbanist you would also equally be a ruralist” (yes I know ruralist and urbanist are made up words but he said it not me). After so much thought and contemplation, it’s so true! I could make a political career for myself out of this position.

James

Jay - I'd ask you to carry the discussion a bit f...

2009-12-20T09:35:01.082-08:00

Jay -

I'd ask you to carry the discussion a bit further and explain why Nashville's new Downtown Code is going to improve the parking "landscape". Am I understanding the DTC correctly that it is completely removing all parking requirements for buildings? If so, I need to think about that a bit more and what impact that's going to have on development (and property values).

Thanks!

So I was going to take the 56 downtown and switch ...

2009-11-03T07:42:28.473-08:00

So I was going to take the 56 downtown and switch to the 4, but the 56 never showed and we waited for 30 minutes. At this point, we would have missed the transfer to the 4 so we drove. Fail!

If that link doesn't work, then try a Google searc...

2009-08-29T14:02:00.591-07:00

If that link doesn't work, then try a Google search for the article's title:
'Green Economy' can aid environment, create jobs

It was published at economictimes.indiatimes.com also.

The story starts with the recognition of a 150 billion dollars national investment in a "green economy."

MTSU assistant professor of political science, Dr Sekou Franklin, analyzed a 12 stage study by the Political Economy Research Institute, which included Tennessee.

They agree that "a renewed commitment to mass transit in Middle Tennessee is an area that would provide a significant and sustainable return on any green-economy investment..." among other positive outcomes, including "the potential to create nearly 15,000 new jobs in his [Dr. Franklin's] region alone..." and "a variety of "clean-energy" jobs that require only a high-school degree or less, including roofers, electricians, insulation workers and sheet-metal workers, among other occupations."

Here's a good new transit article relevant to Nash...

2009-08-26T11:00:56.492-07:00

Here's a good new transit article relevant to Nashville (cut & paste to browser):

environmental-expert.com/resultEachPressRelease.aspx?cid=23745&codi=60980&lr=1

MTA is working very well for us as far as getting ...

2009-08-20T09:05:38.118-07:00

MTA is working very well for us as far as getting our middle schoolers across town and back. The Music City Central is clean, well-marked, and safe.

I think there is still great potential to reach more magnet school children and their parents. MTA just saves us a ton of time, hassle, fuel, and wear and tear.

This is great! Portland has been planning this fo...

2009-07-13T11:02:50.710-07:00

This is great! Portland has been planning this for THIRTY YEARS. If Nashville expects to grow, we need to start planning for transit like this right now!

Apparently, it's not a done deal yet but close.

2009-05-12T15:01:00.000-07:00

Apparently, it's not a done deal yet but close.

The Easy Ride program is not going away, TDOT will...

2009-05-07T07:40:00.000-07:00

The Easy Ride program is not going away, TDOT will be managing it beginning July 1st and as far as I know, there will be no changes. Business as usual.

The program is being picked up by TDOT and will co...

2009-05-07T07:35:00.000-07:00

The program is being picked up by TDOT and will continue.

NASHVILLE MTA included this video with the listing...

2009-04-28T09:23:59.105-07:00

NASHVILLE MTA included this video with the listing on Google Maps for Music City Central: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&q=music+city+central+station&near=Nashville,+TN&fb=1&split=1&gl=us&ei=pCT3Sb_eDKGNtge81NSkDw&cid=4703775348572775694&li=lmd&ll=36.18219,-86.776886&spn=0.038172,0.068836&z=14&iwloc=A&iwd=1&dtab=0

I believe it is really two routes, one that is jus...

2009-04-25T08:53:31.360-07:00

I believe it is really two routes, one that is just a continuously served box route (blue) and the other that has less frequent service running along an axis with a button hook (the red section).

Can someone explain the flow of this one? It seems...

2009-04-25T08:10:25.292-07:00

Can someone explain the flow of this one? It seems discontinuous to me. Nice concentration of assets though.

Thanks to everyone who made the Downtown Circulato...

2009-04-23T21:22:14.853-07:00

Thanks to everyone who made the Downtown Circulator Charrette happen, it was a lot of fun!

Like to add your blog to the links on ours at:http...

2009-04-03T08:19:48.745-07:00

Like to add your blog to the links on ours at:

http://jacksonvilletransit.blogspot.com/

Nice piece on Jacksonville BTW, we have one more project and it might leap-frog all the others. Watch for the return of the Jacksonville Traction Company - REAL streetcars and perhaps, real soon.

lightrailjax
BOB

At 860,000 people, Wake County (Raleigh) North Car...

2009-03-16T17:13:56.752-07:00

At 860,000 people, Wake County (Raleigh) North Carolina is nearly a quarter million people larger than Nashville Davidson and rapidly approaching that of Mecklenburg (Charlotte). At over 1.6 million people, the Raleigh, Durham, Cary CSA is more populated in only 8 counties compared to the 13 county CSA around Nashville. Add the fact that the Raleigh/Durham/Cary CSA is growing much faster and it's easy to see that Raleigh is not going to be the "sleeper" city/metro in the South much longer.
The Triangle is larger, more densely populated and faster growing than the Nashville CSA. It's also larger and faster growing than Memphis, Jacksonville, New Orleans, Richmond and Birmingham. It's path is most similar to the Austin, TX metro in growth, migration and industries. Yet, the Triangle is still more populated than even that Metro area. I think Raleigh is largely overlooked for 2 reasons: 1) The cluster of cities nature of the CSA prevents any one city from being overly dominant in the metro area and therefore "off" the radar screen (Raleigh proper is about 385,000 and rapidly growing) 2) The US Census Bureau in all its infinite wisdom decided to split the former Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill MSA into two parts: Raleigh/Cary and Durham, even though the cities of Raleigh and Durham physically touch and cross each other's county lines and share the CSA's major employment center/ Research Triangle Park.
As the CSA grows, Raleigh's share of the growth is expanding at a more rapid pace as is Wake County. This will eventually result in the City of Raleigh being more visible in charts and graphs of populated places. Until then, it will remain the awaking and growing giant of the Southeast.

This "stimulus" bill is simply a spending bill to ...

2009-02-10T13:05:08.138-08:00

This "stimulus" bill is simply a spending bill to assure liberals will control government for the the next 30 years.

You should all be ashamed for taking advantage of a national crisis to grab more power. But then, you are liberals; that's what you do.

Follow up to Post from Smart Growth Network - News...

2009-01-13T05:13:59.862-08:00

Follow up to Post from Smart Growth Network - News Headlines - January 2009

President-Elect Obama Pledges to Rebuild America's Infrastructure
"We start 2009 in the midst of a crisis unlike any we have seen in our lifetime," a crisis reflecting "an era of profound irresponsibility that stretched from corporate board rooms to the halls of power in Washington, D.C." and requiring congressional passage of his American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan possibly in the next few weeks, said President-elect Barack Obama in a speech at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, assuring the nation that the plan "won't just throw money at our problems," but will "invest in what works" -- in sustainable energy, education, health care and infrastructure.
http://www.smartgrowth.org/news/article.asp?art=6946&state=52

I'd like to see the owners of this blog set up a c...

2008-12-04T11:49:59.025-08:00

I'd like to see the owners of this blog set up a companion page on Facebook. Might be able expand the grassroots network rapidly that way.

Need to organize now to apply pressure to the TN State Legislature when they come back in 2009.

Liza Joffrion

Other cities are voting on referendums this fall t...

2008-10-27T09:22:40.447-07:00

Other cities are voting on referendums this fall to significantly expand their transit systems, far beyond what Nashville has done. Take a look at all the referendums this year related to transit at the transport politic.

Although conquerable, one difference between the t...

2008-10-09T17:22:54.192-07:00

Although conquerable, one difference between the two areas is that they're fairly linear, while we're a hub and spoke. We need to make the same progress that they did though.

FYI--This is a CMR contract project, as you define...

2008-09-12T19:38:43.007-07:00

FYI--This is a CMR contract project, as you define below.

Music City Central, Nashville's new facility, is a...

2008-09-12T18:45:06.249-07:00

Music City Central, Nashville's new facility, is a CMR contract.