I'm pretty sure it would be successful. And I would say that a light rail line (or similar type transit) between Downtown EL and Downtown Lansing is inevitable, it's just a matter of when. Although I would say it should start at the CATA station and do the Capitol/Lenewee/Grand loop then continue down Michigan. Where is the MSU transit center at? That would seem to be a logical turn around point, except I don't know if it's close enough to Grand River.

I agree that the Grand River to Michigan Ave corridor holds the best potential for improved and enhanced CATA service, but I'm not sure the capital costs of building light rail infrastructure would be justified. Bus Rapid Transit or some variety of a streetcar would, I think, make more sense -- either would require significant;y less start up costs with the same possible increase in service/ridership levels.

(Even an express bus during rush hours that made fewer stops between Meridian Mall and the Capitol would be a nice improvement over the short-term.)

This topic has been coming up more and more in local circles. Any service improvements, however, will hit the back burner for who-knows-how-long if the CATA millage fails. Get out on November 4th and vote "yes".

Once the millage is secured it is my understanding that CATA needs one of those infamous "earmarks" to pull together the planning funding to do a bona-fide feasibility study of the corridor.

I am certainly no expert, but I believe the FTA website covers most of it. I don't think it's just about a magic number, but how you rate compared to other projects across the nation applying for the same pot of funding. But again, I have a limited understanding of the FTA process.

E. Lansing sounds like they're on board for light rail. That's a good thing...it's been nice hearing all the regional cooperation lately, with that things can really start happening with regional cooperation. Things like light rail will ONLY work with this kind of partnership.

http://capitalgainsmedia.com/inthenews/rail0310.aspx

I didn't think this was worth its own thread at this point, so a rail thread I thought was best for now. They are looking into a high speed rail service between Lansing, Detroit and Ann Arbor. It would incorporate distribution systems for hydrogen gas and fiber optics. It's not mentioned here, but it seems an obvious next step would be Lansing to Grand Rapids. Not sure how this would impact Lansing's airport, but it's definitely good they're getting serive to NY and DC.

http://www.wilx.com/news/headlines/41327852.html

Grand River and Michigan Avenue Corridor is the best place for a rail outside of Detroit. The Cata #1 route would be the best candidate in the State. If they do a study and find that a rail would be to expensive to install or that it would interfer with traffic to much, they might want to study Dayton Ohios Trolley Buses. Trolley buses are fast, green, and they could be a good alternative to a streetcar. If installing tracks and tearing up the streets is unacceptable then a trolley wire with a trolley bus would do the job. If you have the trolley lines up, the number 1 could run as it is because that route has large steady ridership.

Hopefully, they would run it from 5:00am until 2:00am seven days a week. If they did that you would develop dependency in the corridor. That area is ripe to run like New York or Chicago.

Huh? Detroit actually has two competing light rail proposals both very much on schedule to be built. In fact, DDOT is in the environmental study phase (to begin construction sometime next year) and the privately-funded one could get started this year. Perhaps, you haven't been following them too closely.

I saw that, and was intrigued. They never exactly identify what they mean by it. I also hope that we get the money to buy the 66 new buses, or whatever they said.

Two things:

1.) When I saw the proposal for a solar/hydrogen powered rail line to Detroit, I wondered why they would propose such a pie-in-the-sky plan. We'd really be fine with a diesel or an overhead-wire electric train like the Acela train in the Northeast. I'm sure a system like that would be much cheaper.

2.) Ironically, Lansing had a very extensive streetcar system before World War II. The Westside and Genesee neighborhoods grew out of that network. The small clusters of storefronts along Saginaw stand where the streetcar stops used to be. You could pick up some groceries as you stepped of the streetcar and walked a few blocks to your home.

The streetcar system also connected to a larger, statewide interurban network that took you to every other major city, like Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Jackson, and Ann Arbor/Detroit.

Just last year when the city was doing construction on Washington Ave, they found the old streetcar rails buried under the pavement. Of course, the rails got in the way of repaving the road, so they tore them out.

I think the plan is dubious, at best (there website is, and has always been, a complete joke, which really raises questions about their seriousness). But, if it's not going to cost us anything, I don't see why we shouldn't give them the easements to test it out. BTW, it's not a Mag-Lev. It's a whole different technology.

BTW, speaking of the old streetcar system, does anyone know where I can find a map of it? I used to have a very small map I found somewhere on the web, but don't have it anymore.