My View: Gov. Scott was right on high-speed rail

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2.
Although we don't share Rod Thompson's overall pessimism about high-speed rail, the Sarasota-Manatee Transit Group agrees that the Tampa-Orlando plan was the equivalent of making the frosting before the cake. This particular project was neither well-planned nor embedded in well-functioning transit feeder systems. We are equally concerned about Sarasota County's $100 million-plus Bus Rapid Transit plans. What we are missing in Thompson's column, though, is some kind of constructive proposal, other than the implicit suggestion of many transit-spending critics that everybody should be forced to use cars. In these times of lean budgets and high unemployment, taxpayers, employers, commuters and job seekers are demanding cost-effective solutions. In the case of Sarasota, this means more efficient use of existing resources, bundling bus service on higher-frequency routes that cover the main north-south and east-west axes. It should also include the incremental re-introduction of passenger rail to Tampa. Bringing existing rail tracks back to 1960s shape and operating hourly commuter service with 21st century diesel shuttles on them can be done at the fraction of the cost of building and maintaining third and fourth lanes along I-75 — something that will inevitably come up as an ever-growing number of commuters increasingly clogs our only north-south artery.
Johannes Werner, Sarasota-Manatee Transit Group
Johannes Werner
Fri 18th Nov 2011
at 11:16pm

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