According to several Arlington progressive activists Fairfax and Arlington County transportation planning staff members have admitted that they did not review bus alternatives to a streetcar system that have been placed in service since 2007. Those include the Las Vegas Deuce double deck bus, Las Vegas ACE articulated bus, the new London double deck bus, various new city buses, and other bus transit vehicles placed in service over the last several years..
Arlington and Fairfax County transportation planning staffs also did not perform an adequate assessment of a streetcar system's environmental costs. Dominion will be burning coal (much of it mountaintop coal) and using nuclear reactors for decades to generate electric power for Northern Virginia. About 99% of Dominion's electric power is generated by energy provided by nuclear reactors, and by burning fossil fuel and biomass, according to Dominion's own data.
Ted - 22204
30 comments:
Less than 1% of Dominion's power comes from non-nuclear and non-combustion renewable sources.
Yupette, I enjoy your blog (although I often disagree with the viewpoints).
If county staff truly did not evaluate all alternatives, that is not a good thing, since it would lead to suboptimal decision making.
Here's my broader point:
Isn't the problem with bus connections that it is really easy to cut back services? Meaning: today there is political support for mass transit, but how about in 10 years? If you have a streetcar, it is not possible to de-invest. With a bus service, it is trivial to stop driving the buses.
- GB
The Pike corridor's population is increasing. And County Government is spending a lot of money promoting a 'car free diet'. Did you see the booths at the County Fair?
What's happened over the past 5 years is the buses have been redesigned to appeal to riders and hybrid technology has improved to make buses less polluting and more efficient.
As for political support, once the Pike is gentrified the Elitist decision makers will not want buses at all, because they have decided that buses (all buses) are for poor people and minorities. No more poor people and minorities on the Pike, no more buses.
Pike transit is not about transportation. It's about resegregation through gentrification by Elitist decision makers.
You got that right, Anon.
So soon compressed natural gas fuel cells will be powering buses, just as hybrid CNG engines power buses today. And the streetcar will be powered by electricity from burning mountaintop coal. But we can't go with the fuel cell buses because the developer-dominated elitists want to use streetcars to drive the middle class and minorities out of the Pike Corridor so it can be a party zone like Clarendon for people here on TDY and interns. Pretty appalling but understandable - another Clarendon but worse.
The media let them get away with it. That's you, $ara$ota $cott.
Also Ja$on $pencer.
Also $teve Thur$ton.
GB again.
Well, anonymous, you wrote that the population is increasing and the county government is spending a lot of money on promoting a car free diet.
That is the case now. But how will it be in 10 years?
My point is: infrastructure such as the powerlines and the tracks for streetcars show a serious commitment to mass transit. It would be very expensive to stop using them. Buses are much cheaper to replace or divert to other communities, if the county or the state start pushing for more lanes for cars again.
County has an Elitist commitment to streetcars, not to bus transit on the Pike. County will allow Pike bus transit to deteriorate because the County Board equates buses with minorities (check out what they said about buses at the last County Board meeting). County Board wants minorities and ethnics out of Arlington. County Board wants lots more people driving on the Pike because they are building lots more parking spaces under new buildings on the Pike. More to come. Buses will go away because the County Board (and their successors) want them to go away. It's not about transit or transportation, it's all about ethnically cleansing the Pike corridor.
For the $200 million saved by going with articulated buses you can get fantastic articulated buses.
Track and overhead wires are unnecessary and a huge expense to maintain.
Any we really don't need to be paying multi-million judgements out for streetcar accidents.
They want the middle class out too. There will only be 13 one-bedroom apartments at Arlington Mill (which the County owns) for single persons at 40% of AMI, meaning you have to make at least $30,000 to live there. That's before paying for utilities and whatever else you would be charged for.
GB - not logical thinking that if the corridor's population is increasing buses would be removed from the corridor.
Only serious commitment the County Board has is to more racism and elitism.
No fooling, Mary Hynes and Barbara Favola spent $2 million moving DHS to across from Ft. Myer because they didn't want poor minorities in Clarendon.
Yuptartds don't like or want buses, they like and want lots of upscale autos and SUVs. Also expensive bicycles, scooters, and mopeds. And streetcars.
As for the middle class, Arlington's elitists want them to keep driving home to Dale City, Centerville, and Sterling in their 10 year old Civics and Corollas, just like they do now.
What can you expect from 'planners' who want to impose new urbanist bu!!sh!t on Arlington while they live in suburban enclaves that haven't changed in 50 years?
Ten years from now? I predict that, assuming a streetcar system is constructed on the Pike, the same old Metrobuses and ART buses will serve minorities but the streetcar system will be a premium transit service that minorities will be discouraged from using, if there are any minorities left on the Pike in ten years.
Know who the Pike is being 'planned' for? Zimmy's 20-something children in 2017.
GB - If you check out the videos about the Las Vegas ACE articulated bus you will see that the LV transportation planners also meticulously planned the streetscapes along the ACE bus transit routes. So it's an excellent all-around transit system.
And would cost $200 million less than Zimmerman's Stupid Growth streetcar system.
Las Vegas made a serious commitment for articulated bus service to actually transport casino workers, tourists, residents, and it works for everyone.
Time to dump the Regime that's controlled Arlington for more than 30 years.
Anonymous said: "Time to dump the Regime that's controlled Arlington for more than 30 years."
Exactly! The same ole party and the same ole people, every single election. The developers must be "taking care" of them very well, or the "board" has the pictures on somebody. They are poster children for term limits.
We are being urbanized to death by 50-something 'planners' who live in classic Fairfax County suburbs and will retire in 5 or 10 years and move to a Mayberry.
I can see it now, Lance Spandex runs the town traffic light on his $5500 racing bike in Mayberry while visiting his country cousins. Here comes Barney Fyfe....there goes Lance.... into the Mayberry Jail.
Anonymous wrote: "We are being urbanized to death by 50-something 'planners' who live in classic Fairfax County suburbs and will retire in 5 or 10 years and move to a Mayberry."
Isn't that the truth! They'll have lots of coin in their bank accounts from all the "gifts" and "donations" from their developer buddies. Meanwhile, overdevelopment, traffic, etc. in Arlington get more out of control each year. I'll be old enough to retire in 10 years, and unless we get some real government that gets this mess under control, I hate to think what Arlington will be like in 10 years...50% rich "limo liberals" in ultra neighborhoods, 45% yuptards in "hip" condos in the R-B corridor, 3% "affordable housing" so the 50% l.l.'s can "feel good about themselves", and 2% just struggling to pay their property taxes and live in the homes they worked for years to pay for or inherited from their parents when they died.
"I can see it now, Lance Spandex runs the town traffic light on his $5500 racing bike in Mayberry while visiting his country cousins. Here comes Barney Fyfe....there goes Lance.... into the Mayberry Jail."
LOL - excellent. I can see "mister" Fisette now, all with his snazzy hip Lance wannabe outfit and his fancy expensive bike....straight into the pokey where he and the rest of the crooks on the so-called "board" belong!
Local media allow it to happen.
I know that Mitt's first name is really Willard. What's Jay's real first name? Gentrification Jay, Giveaway Jay, Gourmet Jay?
His first name is Gerald.
Goodbye suburban Arlington. Hello urban nightmare.
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