THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 21, 1996 TAG: 9604190030
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
I read with interest your recent editorial supporting the need, as evidenced by a million-dollar study, for a light-rail system to service the core traffic area between the Naval Base and the Oceanfront via downtown Norfolk.
Mass transit (public transportation) does not operate in a vacuum. It is very important to underscore that traffic count is only part, perhaps even the least-important part, of the equation. There are many interdependent factors, any of which has an impact on the others, that must go into the equation and must be considered.
Reasonably successful mass-transit systems - Frankfurt, Germany, is an excellent example - serve areas of relatively high population density, both residentially and commercially. These average densities are manyfold the average density of the local area. If it is hoped that a rail system, light or otherwise, is to be successful, we are going to have to rethink our coded density. Are we, as a community, ready to accept that and other changes necessary to make the proposed rail system successful?
It comes down to a matter of convenience - convenience being predicated on a number of factors (cost, timing, service frequency, routes, etc.) reflected by the needs of the individual citizens. Any mass-transit system, to be successful, must be more convenient than the transportation systems it competes against. The system (mass-transit, airplane, boat, automobile or bicycle) which provides the most convenience - in other words, most appropriately responds to the customers' needs - is the one that will attract the customers' support.
Current relative factors are geared to make the car the most-convenient mode of transportation (try riding a bike or walking from Norfolk to the Oceanfront). The current focus and goal is to move people around the area via the automobile rapidly and safely. To do so, we keep expanding highway capacity.
If we want mass transit, at least so that it does not become a large sinkhole to which money must be forever poured, we are going to have to focus on making mass transit the most-convenient transportation mode by making the automobile less convenient.
LEAH S. RYAN
Norfolk, april 15, 1996 by CNB