Comments on: Nashville Considers Light Rail, but the City’s Unfit for It

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 07:04:53 +0000

It is a must, the best economic cities in this country and world have the the most developed mass transit systems. Look at chicago, new york, london, hong kong….

The bigger the tree, the bigger the roots….

If nashville does this, you are looking at major economic growth. even so, to get to that level, Nashville would need a direct rail to other major cities like chicago, memphis, atlanta etc….

For those who think its impractical now…. Your right, because its so small and not fully developed. So give this city the room for growth like we give the best to our children!!!!!

By: RichD

RichD — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 23:25:15 +0000

The article is definitely slanted against light rail. I would also encourage naysayers to light rail/trams to visit Charlotte or Atlanta and drive around during rush hour..it’s more like rush hours. Nashville has an opportunity to be so much more livable and urban at the same time.
First of all, purposely looking at “per mile” statistics is grossly misleading as the Music City Star services farther out areas. Secondly, the limited success of the Music City Star partially stems from it’s very limited service….at least add another am inbound train arriving around 8:45 and an outbound train leaving at 8:30 (current schedule does not encourage any commuter to stay in town , grab a drink or dinner other than Friday nights). Future light rail /tram should focus on south to north routes along South 12, 21st for example from green hills area towards downtown. And yes, the city must encourage residential and commercial development along the routes developed so that it is not a train/bus combo (most people would stick to their cars). If nashville does increase it’s density and develop light rail/trams, it is going to become another Charlotte or Atlanta….big ugly sprawl w/ horrendous traffic; nothing more than a big bland suburb. Learn from their mistakes.

By: Drewski

Drewski — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 03:49:38 +0000

I was in Nashville a month ago. Traffic is heavy throughout the day, and right now it’d be very disruptive to try to have, say, a streetcar line from Belle Meade Plaza to Downtown via Harding/ West End. For those who don’t know, Nashville had an official planning standard that didn’t allow for more than eight dwellings per net acre; the city’s own policies forced the low-density sprawl. This was only repealed in the last 10-15 years. MTA service is barely better than it was in the mid-70s, and ridership is about the same as it was then. Keep in mind that the city’s population has risen from roughly 450,000 then to almost 650,000 now. Nashville is a major trucking center, and the concept of slower traffic staying out of the left lanes of the freeway is a completely unknown concept, so freeway driving is no joy. Surface traffic is much heavier than it was 20 years ago, and Nashville is still evolving toward a more urban self-image. It is doing so, but it’s a process, and in a place where revenue comes from either sales or property tax, it’s not easy to find money to fund better service and break out of the chicken-and-egg conundrum. As it stands right now, you can’t even catch a bus to Franklin, or all the development out to Murfreesboro, or to Hendersonville, let alone Gallatin. The most obvious demonstration of improved service would be some kind of circulator connecting Vandy/Midtown to Downtown, running maybe every 10 minutes midday and 5 at peak, but no. This is arguably the most urban corridor in Tennessee, and a major improvement in bus service still runs into the traffic issue–it’s nothing unusual, at 7 PM on a weeknight, to see traffic backed up at a light to the previous traffic light. Nashville’s a very American city–it’s the kind of place that will have to create a deeply-subsidized system around which the city will grow.

By: jeff

jeff — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 01:02:31 +0000

This has it backwards: building light rail encourages dense development. And he time to build it is now, while land is still affordable, and before there is even more sprawl.

By: jb

jb — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 16:38:12 +0000

i know this post is old now, but i just saw it, so i’m going to go ahead and comment…

this post doesn’t make sense to me. Nashville is being criticized for having a $6.5 billion plan to build light rail. But the city currently has no plans to build light rail. There is a multi-billion dollar transit vision for the future. Light rail is being considered, along with a lot of other things. Funny that the post mentions improving the bus system when I have read multiple articles mentioning that the city favors BRT and improving the bus system before ever moving on to light rail.

Sure, commuter rail to Murf. and Hendersonville are being considered, but there is demand in those areas where there was/is virtually none in to the East in sleepy areas like Lebanon.

But this post suggests the city is going to try to build $6.5 billion worth of light rail in a matter of 10 or so years and do nothine else to improve walkability and transit–not true.

The author also suggests that the city first work on zoning and improving bus systsem before considering light rail. The city has already addressed zoning changes recently as suggested and the also just increased trip frequency during a severe recession with its new downtown circulator. Yes, more change needs to happen, but give it time.

The city doesn’t have a 10 or 20 year plan to build out light rail to catch up with peer cities. At this point it only has what would better be described as a vision to imrove transit with goals to spend billions of dollars on the overall plan.

The leaders of the city are well aware of the need to change the culture and make the city more walkable and dense for future transit to work–they aren’t completely ignorant. Give us a break.

For example, Toks Omishakin, the city’s walk-bike czar, for lack of a better term, recently stated his goal of building 50 miles of sidewalks and bikepaths over next five years and making sure that all citizens in Nashville have easy access to sidewalks, bikepaths and greenways.

That sort of infrastructure, along with better city planning and zoning, lays the groundwork for the success of future transit projects. And that’s exactly what the city is doing. This post completely ignores way too many facts about the overall plan for livability.

The city isn’t, “simply building a rail line,” and hoping things work out as the author writes in the reply above. That’s just ridiculous.

By: Max Wyss

Max Wyss — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 16:50:58 +0000

So, that means that there is essentially no difference between “Light Rail” and “Streetcar” (but don’t tell that to the politicians ). In fact, particularly in Germany and Switzerland, a given line may have streetcar sections (mainly within the centers), and dedicated right-of-way sections (between the centers), and even subway sections (in tunnels, signal controlled (with automatic train protection etc.)).

And, stops are where people are and want to go to.

By: dejv

dejv — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:49:33 +0000

The biggest difference between streetcar and light rail is stop spacing and level of segregation from other traffic. Technology is essentially the same, there are some tradeoffs like between minimum curve radii and maximum speed (but not really, vehicles for european standard 20 m minimum can be capable up to 80 km/h or 50 mph).

By: Don

Don — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:04:51 +0000

The Music City Star is a dog. It runs on a slow, curvy branch line and doesn’t provide single seat rides for enough commuters. You have to transfer to a bus to get to most of the employment centers. And, yup, those are old Metra gallery cars. They picked them up for a buck a piece (VRE in VA got some, too). They also picked up a few used Amtrak locomotives. That they managed to get the Music City Star going for a very low investment is probably the best thing about it.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:32:20 +0000

nicely written Yonah.

don’t be afraid to call a spade a spade: Nashville is not ready for rail investment. As you say, so much can be done with zoning and bus improvements (a can of paint for a bus lane, say) to prove that the residents of Nashville are even interested in commuting without a car. let’s wait for that before (very) limited federal funds are invested in anything.

By: Ocean Railroader

Ocean Railroader — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 04:27:53 +0000

They could try a rapid streetcar idea in that streetcar tracks would be cheaper to build then light rail and a streetcar wouldn’t be that much heaver then a bus. They could set aside lanes in the streets for the streetcars to run on with out getting in the way of cars.