Agenda - 02-05-1990 - Laserfiche WebLink

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13 Letters To The Editor is a real danger that the opponents of pub- Support Triangle Express' lie transportation may succeed in reducing the scope at the rail system to the point I was appalled to read your editorial of where it 14111 not be able to attract rider- Oct 3 attacking the proposed—Triangle Ex- ship.Thus,I recommend full and unequivo- press"rail system by dubbing it"...an- cal support of the-Triangle le Express"by all other idea to pull the rug from under Due citizens and legislators who care abort the ham's economic future" long-term future of the Triangle metropoli- T'here are absolutely no data to justify tan area. ELLEN'COIF this opinion.In fact,all of the available data lead to just the oppns,ite conclusion.Look- ing ahead,not only at the next decade,but at the next century,Durham's economic fu- ture will depend on the development of ef- ficient,attractive and safe alternatives to automobile transportation. The'Triangle Ecpress"sounds as if it could be the first step in this director.For every person who uses the rail system there will be one less car on the highways. one less pa.-icing space used and a little less Li 2ht rail works pollution in the air.Good public tt-ansporta- lion would greatly increase economic and Once again our good friends at the. social opportunity for young.poor and state Department of Transportation handicapped citizens have plundered the truth. In what has I strongly support the proposal by Jim become a familiar and discordant re- Clark president of Save the Water,to de- train, they tell us that the Triangle le is velop a rail system lininrtg Durham.Rs• g Leigh,Cary and Chapel Hill.However,there With disdain they a point even larger With disdain they point to even larger urban areas where they imply light rail has failed. A planning engineer for the state says. 'Studies done on such sys- tems in Miami, Dallas and the [San Francisco) Bay area show ridership is much less than expected.. ." But the Bay Area Rapid Transit has operated at near-saturation levels. Dal- las has yet to begin construction of its system. And, as anyone with even a cursory knowledge of light-rail activity knows. Miami utterly botched its sys- tem. Bus systems classically serve as feeders to the rail stations. Miami dismantled its entire bus system cannibalized it. really, in a misbegotten effort to fund the light rail. The use of these examples to influence our judgment is scandalous.At the least. it is a mark of stunning ignorance.At the worse,it is the hand of callous deception. Light rail is succeeding around the country.Buffalo and Portland are prom- inent recent success stories. It is suc- ceeding where there is foresight and clarity of thinking. A review of the literature is in order. ROSS ALLARD Cary