Its odd but I belive that light rail wont be a success unless it connects
The Airport-The University-The Sports Stadium-Some Huge Shopping Mall that is built around the station-and a Huge Park and Ride next to a outerbelt freeway…
and of course downtown
Its also odd that some citys are building these lines and connecting none of the above.
Makes sense, the first stage of light rail in the Twin Cities connected the Mall of America “The Megamall” and the nearby airport to downtown Minneapolis and the Metrodome. Phase two will run from downtown Minneapolis, through the University of Minnesota, to downtown St.Paul. Well, at least it was going to until Gov. Pawlenty vetoed the bill with the funding in it…which is a little odd, since what he vetoed was based on his own proposal!! [%-)]
A perfect example. Someone in the know told me Atlanta’s MARTA bordings at the airport station is 10 - 12% of total boardings. Downtown Atlanta next busiest not even half as much.
“The Airport should be in any citys plans to build there first line”
OK, so what cities have followed the suggestion already?
Philadelphia (PHL) - Commuter Rail
Newark (EWR) - Commuter Rail and Amtrak via the people mover/monorail connection
San Fransisco (SFO) - BART
Cleveland (???) - Red Line (?)
Portland - MAX light Rail (Red line?)
St. Louis - LRV
Chicago (ORD) & (MDW) - CTA (Blue? and Orange?)
Minneapolis (MSP) - LRV
New York (JFK) - Air Train
Boston (BOS) - Blue Line Rapid Transit
Atlanta (ATL) - MARTA
Yes, the CTA Blue Line to O’Hare and the Orange Line to Midway.
Keep off the Blue Line if you have any plans for the rest of the day . . .
Phoenix has not and not Charlotte?
True, Charlotte, which is USAirways biggest hub and on the list of ten busiest airports in the US with more than 400 departures a day, has no plans to run it’s light rail to the airport even though the track and right of way on which our commuter rail train is going to run goes right across the end of one of the runways.
The logic escapes me.
Me, too. Transit should be about more than shuttling people to and from sports events.
You can also add Washington, DC’s Ronald Reagan/National Airport (DCA), which has its own Metro stop on the blue and yellow lines.
Baltimore’s BWI airport has a light rail terminal that is walking distance from the building. (The Amtrak/MARC station is a mile or two away).
San Jose (SJC) does not have light rail to the terminals, but there is a free local transit bus that connects with CalTrain (heavy rail - commuter) and the VTA light rail. Each leg takes maybe 10 minutes.
Los Angeles (LAX) - the 2-mile bus bridge to the MTA Green Line has been a point of contention since the line was opened in the early 90s. Local elected officials are looking into - again - getting funding for a rail extension into the airport - we’ll see if they succeed.
Boston’s Fenway Park is served by both the Green Line (LRV) and a Commuter Rail stop, and Commuter Rail special trains run right into the Patriot’s parking lot. Boston’s Boston Garden sits on a Subway line
Better yet, Providence’s T.F. Green Airport, a Southwest Airline Hub, is building a short bridge to the Northeast Corridor. Boston’s MBTA Commuter Rail will then be subsidized to extend service to Green Airport (they already serve Providence). Green Airport to Providence 10 minutes, Boston 1 hour.
The LA Green Line fails to connect at the other end also. It comes to within a mile or two of the Norwalk Amtrak/Metrolink station on the Orange County/San Diego line. It is truly the line that goes from nowhere to nowhere. And yet when I drive the 105 freeway beside it (usually at about 9 AM or 2 PM) there seem to be a good many people on the staion platforms. If they actually connected at both ends they could easily triple ridership.
Jack