Larry Geller’s Disappeared News blog took on the issue of rail with an interesting slant:
Although the commercial media have framed the transit issue as Rail/No Rail, that’s not the core problem. The problem is that we have no part in planning our own communities, including, but not limited to, how and where we live and work and how we get about.
Honolulu’s proposed rail transit fails to meet our needs because the rail planning process was tightly controlled and designed to ward off real community participation and discussion in favor of a predetermined plan adopted behind closed doors on the basis of political considerations.
Larry compares Honolulu’s planning process, and it’s rail plan, to that of Portland, Oregon. I hope Larry doesn’t mind this extended excerpt. And I hope you’ll go back to the source and read Larry’s complete original version.
Contrast Portland’s “common-sense” policy with Honolulu, where wide streets like King Street feature uncontrolled crosswalks that take their toll in death and injury year-in and year-out. It seems that pedestrians must die and make the news before a traffic light or pedestrian-crossing warning lights are installed on this island. (Just getting hit by a car isn’t enough—to do any good, your sacrifice has to make the front page.)
This is 1960’s thinking. It was a time when the automobile represented both the economic future of the country and spurred the growth of cities into their surrounding suburbs. People suddenly could live in a different place from where they worked. A network of interlocking highways and cloverleafs overlaid the map of city after city. Honolulu put in the H-1 and H-2 freeways, but never took the next step—ultimately seeing the folly of endless sprawl and switching to keep the city livable by limiting development and incorporating transit into urban planning.
The e2 Transport video was about more than pedestrians. It described how a visionary governor, working with advocates and advocacy groups, put together a plan for urban revitalization and preservation of farmland and suburban areas. The result is that Portlanders today have the benefit of an extensive, expandable transit system that enables people to do without commuting by car to work. The choice of transit modalities also created a new retail prosperity along the transit lines.
In place of urban blight, kids are playing, people are working and shopping, they’re going to church or to downtown events and hopping public transit to get home after enjoying dinner out and perhaps a couple of drinks.
Honolulu’s “urban planning” and its transit plan in particular do not derive from citizen participation, and we’ve been short of visionary leadership as well. Whatever developer wants to pave over farmland gets the green light to do so. The current dispute over whether rail should proceed is only possible because it is a fight among politicians and ideologues. Before this phase of the battle, the City Council wavered over the route (Salt Lake, Nimitz, Dillingham, etc.) based on the whim of city councilmen, not as a result of careful and inclusive urban planning. Pure politics. Little common sense.
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I will go comment on Larry’s blog too. But he raises some spot-on points. I’ve been involved in the “Complete Streets” campaign regarding the multi-use aspects of Waialae Ave. And it has been so divisive, instead of inclusive. The car drivers vs. the bike riders. Merchants vs. the pedestrians. Instead of envisioning what could be (shared transportation corridor) it’s been about the status quo and really not listening to the concerns of the COMMUNITY. It really has been the Rail debate on a small community level.
I think the conflicts noted during the Waialae Avenue discussions point to the need for more education.
The developers get what they want with their campaign money. Their consultants and the Honolulu City Hall employees subsequently set up the process to make sure “it conforms with the law”. That’s all.
Everything land-use is packaged and tailored to developers’ wants and needs. Public input, if any, does not mean a thing.
They did that with rail during Mufi Hannemann administration.
They are doing that now with the Transit Oriented Development TODs for the rail stations under Peter Carlisle. It’s the for the future of Hawaii you know. BS
Rail was approved by the skin of its teeth because of a strangely worded question and the way blank ballots were handled. Not an auspicious start. Then the first action was to launch an expensive PR campaign which was more speech than conversation. Then came the serial morphing of justification from traffic relief to economic stimulus to jobs program to transit oriented development to a “vision of the future” concept. Along the way grubby details were uncovered, an odd vendor selection process transpired leaving a bad taste and we are now told that nothing can stop the rail, not even the will of the majority.
At this point the public conversation has become a repetitive recitation of the same pro/con points and impassioned arguments generally devoid of facts. The Mayoral election has become a referendum on rail.
Overall, a very dismal effort at building consensus and support for a massive expenditure of public funds. More and more I hear people saying that all they want is what they thought they voted for – less traffic congestion.
Funny enough I’m not against rail, per se. But my goodness that is a lot of money for which we seem to get so little even if everything goes well.
Seen these lately?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSNhbXFxwDg
http://honolulu.politics.government.blogs.civilbeat.com/post/17630150335/rail-lawyer-hosting-fundraiser-for-mayor-carlisle
Is Wayne Yoshioka, Transportation Director crazy enough yet?
http://www.kitv.com/news/hawaii/TheBus-changes-starting-this-Sunday/-/8905354/14419032/-/sgnpriz/-/index.html
Oregon also was the first US state to adopt the initiative and referendum process for citizens to introduce or approve proposed laws or amendments to the state constitution directly. Roughly half of US states do so now (primarily the less culturally rigid western states).
Hawaii is absolutely not among those states, by any means.
If Hawaii were one of those states, Nothing would get done here.
Look at the poor state of many of Hawaii’s public schools. Look at our weird ban on gambling. Why do you think these odd problems exist? Because our culture is melded with lack of individual responsibility that goes back decades into the plantations.
More meetings is a bogus non-solution for those who lost the vote to stop rail when Mufi was in charge.
“Community participation” in Hawaii: meetings where politicians sit for hours, let people speak their minds, then go ahead with what was planned anyway. Rail is supported by people on the leeward side and opposed by people on the windward side who don’t want to pay for it. Insisting on further “community participation” means dooming the project by infinite delay.
If you want to change this process, you basically have to turn Hawaii upside-down. This is not going to happen. Feel free to reject this.
But Hawaii is not Oregon. Larry refers to this.
Where I disagree: Expecting all of the hard-working busy people to get more involved in their community — especially when “family” comes first, paycheck comes next –is not realistic.
Either rail happens or it doesn’t. I think it will happen.
And I think it will not be as massive as a drama as some claim, much like the restriction of fireworks on Oahu and other wise changes.
“The choice of transit modalities also created a new retail prosperity along the transit lines.”
This is one of the mistakes, IMO, of the current design. Elevated rail means stops are very expensive to build, and thus there will not be a lot of them. They also won’t facilitate easy entry/exit to the train.
I’ve used at-grade rail through downtown Portland and San Jose, with frequent stops that make getting on and off the train very easy. This made it very easy for people to get to shops and restaurants along the train routes, both for people coming in from outside the downtown areas as well as for those getting from one part of downtown to another (e.g., a lawyer trying to get from her office to court and back, as well as those wanting to go out to lunch).
Mufi’s elevated rail will provide none of those benefits, nor will it encourage those who need to regular travel within the downtown area (e.g., the lawyer mentioned above) to leave their cars at home.
Like RG, I’m not opposed to rail per se; in fact, I was a proponent early in the process, before I realized I was wasting my time and effort providing inputs to the planning process.
Mufi once spent about 20 minutes trying to explain to me why it didn’t make sense to implement policies to encourage increased bus usage now as a way to increase train ridership.
“The choice of transit modalities also created a new retail prosperity along the transit lines.”
New retail properity for who?
Whose properties is the Mayor Carlisle and Honolulu City Council condemning to build more retail prosperity?
Who is building this retail properity?
Who is prospering and who is not?
The problem with using at-grade rail is it takes up space on the roads, space which we don’t have. It also stops traffic each and everytime the train is in the area. It is nice to read comments from locals who have actually used some form of a light rail system, rather than have so many complain about a system that they may have never used before. Fear of the unknown? Trader Joe’s, In and Out Burger, elevated rail, etc. the old saying is, if they build it, they will come and they will and always do…
No community involvement in planning? I guess you missed the meetings involving hundreds of people who have been planning for the areas around the transit stations since 2007. For more info, visit the sites documenting the process at http://honoluludpp.org/planning/TOD/NBPlans/NeighborhoodPlans.pdf
Community involvement? You’re kidding me. They use us as pawns.
They orchestrate the whole show. It’s not involvement of ideas or planning. It’s show and tell and the public are the pawns.
Observe carefully the dynamics of the meeting.
I have observed the dynamics of some of these meetings. I have seen a lot of citizens sitting around tables talking about what they like and don’t like about their communities with staff planners and consultants taking notes.
I have seen those planners and consultants come back to follow up workshops with draft plans that represent their reaction to the input from the citizens and then listen to the citizen comments on what they like and don’t like about the plans.
I have seen a sincere effort to have a conversation with the community about what the future for that community should be.
I urge you to take advantage of the opportunity to participate in those planning processes that are currently underway.
I think you will find that there is a sincere effort to hear all viewpoints and try to find a consensus on what should be in the plans and implementing regulations for those neighborhoods.
I am actually with Taxpayers on this one.
I reviewed those same Web sites before posting my above comment. I noticed a lot of presentations posing as community participation. again, politicians sit for hours, let people speak their minds, then go ahead with what was planned anyway.
Just because your voice is heard does not mean you’ll get your way.
I would love to see this process improved in Hawaii, but diving into it right now —- after rail construction has broken ground as planned —- just stalls change on Oahu for another 10-20 years while thousands of people and their kids waste more of their lives in Hawaii sitting in boring cars. Poor decision. Poor management.
All the meetings do have presentations so that everybody has basic information about the transit system, the station, and the process for adopting plans for the areas around the station.
However, those presentations are followed by lengthy small group discussions that provide input to the plans, and then, after the draft plans are prepared, provide review and comments on those plans.
The claim that traffic will stop behind a tram is also questionable.
Start at Waianae (where Mufi’s train will never go). There is plenty of space on Farrington for a tram (or something like it) and car traffic as well. After that, it depends on where the thing is put, etc. If on Hotel, there is no traffic at all. If on King Street, it’s wide enough. And it can go all the way to UH, which again, Mufi’s train will never do. There is nothing preventing part of the line from being elevated, by the way, if that’s what’s best.
On the wall of the Manoa Starbucks is an old picture of a tram making its way into the valley. It’s inconceivable that Mufi’s train will do that. Another plan could serve the school kids who currently are dropped off by car. Bus? Tram? Whatever, the point is, we can figure it out. Mufi/Carlisle,Caldwell/Cayetano/Slater cannot do the job for us.
The current Honolulu plan is a dead-end for a variety of reasons. Note that Portland just expanded their line, will get federal funding and will spend just millions, not billions, to get the accessibility they want.
The main point of my article is that the people need to plan. Who knows what we will choose. Most likely, we will aim at least in part to reduce traffic. Accessibility is another objective. Guided by consultation with knowledgeable planners and architects, we can probably achieve not only a better quality of life, but create a guiding principle that could be applied on into the future, and not limited to transit planning only.
Entrance and exit for elevated railway stations works just fine in Vancouver BC. If you can get to the second floor in Nordstrom’s by elevator, escalator or stairs, you can get to the train. There really is no difference.
And you are right that you will not jump on and off the train to go to the restaurant up the street two blocks. For that, you will have the local circulator bus that brings people to and from the train stop. The train is designed to move people quickly between stations about 1/2 mile apart.
Portland’s system is a hybrid which has the Max running on an exclusive separate railway outside the central city at speeds of 40 mph, and then running more like a trolley on the streets in central Portland where it has to stop for red lights and be operated by drivers to avoid hitting cars and pedestrians.
If you want a tram for Waianae, there is no reason why that cannot be added as an extension to the rail backbone in the same way that Portland added its trolley through the Pearl District as a feeder to the Max system.
The rail system is meant to provide that high speed backbone that provides for commuting between Honolulu and Leeward Oahu.
Trolleys, feeder bus systems, shuttles, pedestrian paths and bikeways linking neighborhoods to each of the stations on the rail line are definite possiblities that complement the high speed service provided by the backbone.
“high speed” being about 25 mph as planned.
Add to that, stops at every mile!
http://www.VoteBen2012.com for sanity!
More data:
Top speed: 55 mph
Average speed (including station stop time): 27 mph
Capacity of 318 passengers (two-car trains)
Total fleet of 80 vehicles with approximately 68 train vehicles in operation during peak travel periods by year 2024 (or we can sit and bicker for another 50 years while the other world embraces growth and change)
Tim // May 30, 2012 at 6:17 am
More data:
Top speed: 55 mph
Average speed (including station stop time): 27 mph
Capacity of 318 passengers (two-car trains)
LOL. We need a chiropractor at every train station. High speed 55 mph – station stop time is not zero?
This is one hell of a whiplash ride.
Stop Go
Stop Go
x 21 stations
LOL.
So at what point is the excessive cost of the rail project a factor on the potential bankruptcy of the city and county?
When is the rail affordability price tag too much to handle for Oahu taxpayers Lopaka?
$7 billion? $8 billion? If the city adds more extensions to the backbone, add billions more in build cost…
Let’s add to the $5.2 billion project cost, an additional $1.4 billion for proposed westward rail extensions going ewa, then add in $1.4 billion for proposed town rail extensions going Waikiki/UH Manoa-
This Totals $8 billion dollars, then add in rail operations and maintenance costs of $1.5 billion thru year 2030 (see city financial rail plan) for just the 20 mile rail scheme, (add $1 billion for o&m on extensions),
This totals over $10.5 billion dollars as a bill for Oahu taxpayers on maybe 30 miles of rail from Kapolei Aulani to Waikiki/UHManoa.
$10.5 billion is just the total on a full 30 mile rail buildout of the approved route w/extensions without cost over runs or delays.
Bottom line is that if Oahu taxpayers let the city spend $10.5 billion on rail so that 6.5% on Oahu who use public transportation (TheBus riders) can have a second “option”, this could potentially destroy the city’s economic future and stability for other essential city needs (fire, police, amb., safety, roads/buses, water, rubbish, sewers, parks, etc…)
A famous local mayor once said:
Do we need rail?
Can we afford rail?
Can we afford to maintain rail?
At $10.5 billion dollars for a 25mph “high speed service” on a rail/bus system?
Sounds like a nightmare.
You’re missing the point. The more it costs, the better for the people promoting this project (politicians, engineering and construction firms, and construction unions). This is called stimulus and economic development. Only the taxpayers lose.
The first 15 mile increment of Portland’s Max was built in 1986 for a cost of $214 million. Much of it runs on existing railroad right-of-way. To compare with Honolulu’s cost of building the first increment, please apply 26 years of inflation.
Ozawa, Connie P., ed. (2004). The Portland Edge: Challenges and Successes in Growing Communities. Island Press. p. 19 reports that Portland spent about $3 billion since 1984 in expanding its system. (Once again, to compare with Honolulu, each of those expenditures would have to be inflated to 2010 dollars.)
You’ve got a political system in which elective office is the road to personal wealth. A tradition of undemocratic, centralized, even absolute government power. A tradition of miserable public education. It’s not remarkable that the biggest island boondoggle to date will be a train that will haul people from a remote suburban Slobovia to a noisy, dirty, congested and perpetually under construction shopping center that any resident in his or her right mind stays away from at all costs.
If the city truly wanted to improve public transportation ridership and usage on TheBus, it should be free, I repeat, free for all local residents to ride free of charge. Make tourists pay if they so choose, and improve the current bus system and add a few buses and new routes.
Oh yeah, scrap rail, and fix all the thousands of potholes on the city roads and the county could save three or four billion without the steel on steel to empty fields zoned Ag land.
Save billions of dollars with free TheBus rides for all Oahu residents.
(btw…local residents currently pay about 70% of all annual bus costs of about $180 million)
The city is in the process of cutting bus services around the island. You would have thought they would waited to cut bus services.
You obviously believe in a free lunch.
Who do you think is paying for all the free rides you want to offer?
Operating the train for the long haul commute rides is a lot cheaper than running express buses for commuters because the train are operated remotely without drivers.
High speed being traveling from Ewa to Ala Moana Center in 42 minutes during rush hour, despite stopping at all the stations in between.
More data:
Top speed: 55 mph
Average speed (including station stop time): 27 mph
Capacity of 318 passengers (two-car trains)
LOL. We need a chiropractor at every train station. High speed 55 mph – station stop time is not zero?
This is one hell of a whiplash ride.
Stop Go
Stop Go
x 21 stations
LOL.
At-grade rail has to stop traffic at various points because cars have to cross the road and when a train is coming you cannot naturally cross. Cars have tried this in Salt Lake City and Phoenix and not won the battle. Those accidents may have happened because the drivers thought they could get past in time or simply ignored looking both ways when they crossed most likely on a red light too.
If you use the Hotel Street analogy for at-grade rail , cars CROSS Hotel Street all the time.
While it is regularly pointed out that the cost of building rail in Honolulu may end up higher than estimated and the ridership may turn out lower than estimated it should also be noted that travel times by rail may be longer than estimated as well.
The end to end 42 minute inside rail transit vehicle travel time is a forecast and not guaranteed. It may take 42 minutes, or it may take minutes longer. The city does not go out of its way to explain this.
Additionally, users of other rail systems such as Vancouver’s Skytrain experience extended service delays of 30 minutes or longer multiple times each year. The rail is probably less subject to delay than cars or regular buses, but rail will not get people to where they need to be “on time, every time.” Even if you do your part by always getting to the platform on schedule, rail will make you late for work from time to time.
“will make you late for work from time to time.”
Exactly like the H-1. Exactly.
except on the H-1, late can mean 1 hour late.
“rail will make you late for work from time to time.”
It’s already started; I’ve been stuck in traffic several times due to the creation of potholes in training on Kamehameha Highway as part of the train project.