Mass Transit
In a first-of-its-kind grassroots effort, local non profit organizations recently met to work on solutions to the need for more mass transit in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties.
Das was there, along with many others, including former Presidential candidate and vice chair of Amtrak, Michael Dukakis, who came out to speak about the Central Coast's growing traffic problems.
To view the video, please go to:
KEYT-TV: Mass Transit
Das was there, along with many others, including former Presidential candidate and vice chair of Amtrak, Michael Dukakis, who came out to speak about the Central Coast's growing traffic problems.
To view the video, please go to:
KEYT-TV: Mass Transit
Labels: bus service, mass transit, train service, transportation
Posted by Malcolm on
3/05/2008
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2 Comments
In consideration of improving mass transit and reducing traffic congestin in Santa Barbara County, Ventura County, and the coastal corridor to West Los Angeles, several planning elements must come together. The proposal for a "transit center" in the present downtown Carrillo and Chapala area must dovetail with a real "transit center" at the Amtrak bus station.
Realistically, a regional "transit center" is best situated at the current Amtrak station site, with convenient MTD bus service to both downtown and the Amtrak stations. There have been criticisms that the site of the Amtrak station is too small but the city appears to have enough money to subsidize an oversized "transit center" in the downtown. If tens of millions of funds exist to subsidize the downtown proposal, why not purchase surrounding properties adjacent to the Amtrak station, enlarge the transit center and modernize it?
I commute twice a week to Los Angeles for work. There is no convenient bus or train service that makes it possible to get to work destinations in Ventura, Thousand Oaks, or West LA at times when people normally commute to and from work. Amtrak stops at every city station, resulting in train rides of 3 to 4 hours to get to LA--by the way, West LA cannot be reached by Amtrak--and 6 hours to get to San Diego. The train trips are exhausting and lengthy.
Express services and efficient rail to major transit hubs, such as the one in Thousand Oaks and beyond are a critical requirement. Trains with local stops meet the need of some commuters but fall far short for those of us needing express service for our employment.
Amtrak operates a public service that is enormously outdated and obsolete, a dinosaur, at best. Even modest improvements require new ideas, less consideration for developer profits, and courageous leadership. In short, it requires a major overhaul with the public interests being given priority.
The Europeans figured out light rail decades ago, with efficient rail throughout Europe, crossing national boundaries. Trains run on time, the cars are clean and inviting, there are an abundance of schedules and the costs to commuters are reasonable. Our transit systems are an embarrassment, by comparison.
Some good points. The difficulty is that current bus customers are mostly coming to and from the downtown, so to move the transit center down to Amtrack would add minutes on most people's trips.
But we are determined to make more of a regional transit "center" down there.
As for current service, to LA its a problem, but to Ventura County have you ever tried the Vista Bus Service? I do it one day every other week and its fast (40-45 min) and cheap ($2).
I would say our regional transit system is pretty pitiful compared to Europe's, but our local MTD system is faster, cleaner, and more convinient than any system in a comparable sized City. Try it; it works!
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