The just unveiled City's plan did talk about T.O.D.( Transit Oriented Development) along the trolley line. This is the density needed for public transit to work. Will it work with only one line traveling up an down Fulton and on to Tower District . Probably not. It would need to canvas the entire city and /or suburbs/ valley to make the ridership high enough to justify the cost.
The city has made it legal to build mixed use developments and they are in the beginning stages of allowing adaptive reuse of old buildings. All of these things will help increase the density and 24 hours life needed to make a light rail work. Increasing the minimum density of developments would be very helpful but has met resistance from builders who are leery of losing money on a new type of development style other then the upper end single family house. The city is moving in the right direction as far as planning but incentives will probably be needed to get developers and investors to take the financial plunge.
I think the trolleys and light rails are old technology and there are newer and more advanced transit that can be built cheaper. This cost savings and the boon to the air quality maybe enough to persuade the private, public and local government to take a closer look.
Polic y Mandates
The just unveiled City's plan did talk about T.O.D.( Transit Oriented Development) along the trolley line. This is the density needed for public transit to work. Will it work with only one line traveling up an down Fulton and on to Tower District . Probably not. It would need to canvas the entire city and /or suburbs/ valley to make the ridership high enough to justify the cost.
The city has made it legal to build mixed use developments and they are in the beginning stages of allowing adaptive reuse of old buildings. All of these things will help increase the density and 24 hours life needed to make a light rail work. Increasing the minimum density of developments would be very helpful but has met resistance from builders who are leery of losing money on a new type of development style other then the upper end single family house. The city is moving in the right direction as far as planning but incentives will probably be needed to get developers and investors to take the financial plunge.
I think the trolleys and light rails are old technology and there are newer and more advanced transit that can be built cheaper. This cost savings and the boon to the air quality maybe enough to persuade the private, public and local government to take a closer look.