Comments on: Washtenaw Transit Talk in “Flux”

By: Jordan

Jordan — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 00:28:25 +0000

Can someone give me a sense for why these studies are so expensive?

By: cosmonıcan

cosmonıcan — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 21:52:32 +0000

#’s 7 & 8: Tunnels?

By: Rod Johnson

Rod Johnson — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 21:51:13 +0000

Well, maybe we can hold out some hope for the monorail. :)

By: Andy

Andy — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 19:35:52 +0000

That’s a good point. It’s been a while since I had to drive the stretch of State you’re referencing (I try to avoid it, frankly) so that didn’t occur to me. North of Packard, you’d probably have to eliminate on-street parking; south of it, you’d have to eliminate the bike lanes. So you’re right, there would have to be some pretty aggressive engineering on South State.

My experience has been more with the northern segment(CC Little to North Campus), where you would, for the most part, have more flexibility as far as road width/number of lanes.

By: Rod Johnson

Rod Johnson — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 18:46:15 +0000

Andy, can you really see a dedicated lane coming into being on that route? Consider State between Packard and Stadium (not to mention by campus). Where would it go? I’m not saying BRT isn’t desirable, just that, practically speaking it doesn’t seem feasible.

By: Andy

Andy — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 18:03:27 +0000

RE #1, I can see where you’re coming from on every issue you cited except for the north-south BRT. The transportation challenges for the U and for the VA are getting too massive for the status quo (standard bus service) to continue. I think you’re going to see a lot of willingness on the part of the university to subsidize it, whether it happens through AATA or whether the U undertakes it separately. Local taxpayers are obviously going to want the U to pay for everything, while the U will obviously want the taxpayers to chip in as much as possible, so we’ll be in for some interesting tug of war.

By: Vivienne Armentrout

Vivienne Armentrout — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 16:00:58 +0000

Yes, AATA is now very good about supplying information, including docs, special websites, and meeting notices. It's all there if you have the time to take it in. I do have some concerns about the finances. As I noted in my recent blog post, [link] even if we do vote in a countywide millage, there will be a gap of funding between September 2012 and July 2013.

By: Edward Vielmetti

Edward Vielmetti — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 06:10:45 +0000

In comparison to the situation with Ann Arbor Public Schools busing issues, this is all relatively transparent, open, and public, and though it’s somewhat confusing I appreciate that it’s happening at all.

By: Jim Rees

Jim Rees — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:33:55 +0000

Rod, I had the same reaction. The advice to negotiate a short-term contract for airport buses seems particularly misguided. I’d be amazed if we had a regional transit authority any time in the next 20 years.

By: Vivienne Armentrout

Vivienne Armentrout — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:08:20 +0000

At the u196 meeting, Michael Ford had a cloud picture of all the pieces (including the Fuller Road Station, which I don’t think is included in this compilation) and he named it the “Ball of Confusion”.

Even for those of us following the issue(s), it is hard to take in. Congratulations, Dave, for getting it all in one place.