In today’s Bee, intrepid transportation reporter Tony Bizjak interviews new RT manager Mike Wiley. In the interview, Tony asks Mr. Wiley about his dreams for RT–including the Monorail!
A: My wild thought is I want to make sure transit is a core service that everybody can depend on, whether they choose to or not. I know that’s not sexy, like running a monorail.
Q: What, no monorail?
A: I don’t care about the mode. I just want everybody to be able to use the system. To me, we need a backbone of frequent service within reasonable walking distance.
Now, as a member of the media, Tony can’t come out and say that he’s 100% for the Sacramento Monorail! Expansion Project (SMEP), but I’m sure, as a right-thinking Sacramentan, he’s on board. Now, if we can just get Mike Wiley on the same page, we’d be set. And once that Monorail! is up and running, we can start on our new campaign, Fan Boats!
In other transportation news, the downtown I-5 rehab project is set to be completed in a much shorter time span than originally predicted. Of course, contributing to the new shortened timeframes is freeway wizard C.C. Meyers and his team of magical construction elves that can somehow finish an entire freeway overpass in the time it takes others to build a club sandwich.
Basically, the construction, slated to last as long as 300 days, may now be completed in 60 days. However, this might create even worse traffic than expected for this short time period. I’m all for it though. It’s like getting that band-aid ripped off your leg in one violent tug, rather than the previous plan which seemed like leaving the band-aid to fall off on its own while being kicked in the crotch repeatedly for about a year. That’s what it seems to me at least.
The Sac Rag 
What about hydrofoils for our rivers, canals, sloughs, and streams?
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Mr. Wiley is talking about rickshaws: A) Talk about backbone. 2) Not sexy (unless its enclosed and you have your honey in the back). C) Walking distance? EVERYTHING is walking distance in a rickshaw! 4) Environmentally friendly (‘cept the poop in the streets of course, but you get ’em a bag and they just empty it at the end of the day). What more could you want!? Plus, if done right, solves the “homeless people not working” problem at the same time.
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I would ride light rail if I thought it was safe. I hope that is in his plans..making it safe so everyone [those who don’t have to but choose to] would be more willing to use it.
While in Portland, I’ve used their light rail system and it is wonderful. It is used by lots of people and it is safe, fast, and convenient..and it is eco-friendly.
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Making the light rail safe?!? What- you want to charge people MONEY to ride it, thereby keeping the riff raff out? Or worse yet, have THE MAN station agents (aka “Police”) on each car to spy on riders? Ridiculous.
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C.C. Meyers for Mayor!
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Light rail to airport is apparently “not about light rail to the airport… It’s about serving the downtown railyard.”
WTF!!!???
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Light rail in Sacramento is safe, fast, and convenient…and it is eco-friendly. Portland’s light-rail system works pretty much the same way. They have three lines where we have two, and theirs run a little longer (4:30 AM to midnight) and in their downtown they have streetcars and we don’t, but in most respects they work exactly the same.
Portland also uses the same fare system as our light rail system, and I consider it pretty unlikely that they have police on every car.
So, I’d ask you, Melly: What makes Sacramento’s light-rail system different than Portland’s?
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+1 on wburg’s comment
Do you mean safety as in crashes and the like, or safety regarding other patrons? There’s a difference between being safe and being surrounded by people you likely would not invite over to your house for dinner (which kind of goes along with having a growing and diverse population.)
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I consider myself riff raff, I don’t consider myself better than anyone else. BTW, I have often invited down & out people over to dinner which included kids from the orphanage I worked at, hitch-hikers, and homeless folks and their kids. I appreciate Sac for its diversity..it’s the one thing about Portland I don’t like, lack of it.
It was not I who suggested a cop on every car..that IS ridiculous.
In my “former life” here in Sac, I worked exclusively with the homeless. They were scared shitless to ride light rail. They were often robbed, teased, and sometimes beaten. I heard it over and over from a diverse population of moms, dads, kids, grandparents…and since they had to use light rail, they said they’d only do it before dark.
That’s what I am talking about and that is why I made the commment. When I used it in Portland, it was after a night baseball game, the cars were packed, and everyone seemed to be having a great time. That’s all.
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The problem with sacramento’s light rail system is that it has 18.5% more hobo than portland.
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I am eagerly awaiting Lynn’s input on this!
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Me too! I bet she’ll give us all a lesson on what the seats are made of or what type of trees are planted at various stops.
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Wow, Plumwin & Adamant both on the same day! We’ve missed you two! 🙂
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Melly: Thanks for responding–I tend to respond to several people at once when I jump in on a thread like this, sorry if you got nudged by it.
I work with the homeless too, and don’t get a lot of negative comments about light rail. I also ride light rail and buses pretty often (several times a week) and they can get pretty crowded–commute hours, obviously, but I have been on evening trains on the weekend and there are people on the train then too. Generally it seems pretty safe to me.
Having security is important to people’s peace of mind, but it seems like a lot of people’s fears about public transportation are more perception than reality.
Like that guy who shot at a guy’s car, then got on light rail, then got arrested (last week.) Think about it: He shot at the guy who was in a car, putting the driver’s life in danger. On the light rail he stashed his shotgun and apparently didn’t bother anybody, and because he appeared on a video monitor he was caught BECAUSE HE GOT ON LIGHT RAIL. People’s responses to this incident? “Oh dear, light rail is totally dangerous, I’m staying in my car!” Even though it was the person in the car who was shot at–and if the perp hadn’t taken light rail he wouldn’t have been nabbed.
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I have seen more instances of people being bullied on light rail by a security guard than by a passenger.
The one time I witnessed a problem with a passenger, he was a drunk asshole who was harassing his lady, and when she went and hid behind some other passengers, he turned his attention to another male passenger. The riders ganged up on the perp (verbally, not physically) and forced him off the train without his lady and called the police. I was proud of my fellow riders that day.
My biggest complaint about riders is that they leave their trash, mostly fast food containers. I am hesitant to point this out, but I personally notice teenagers are the worst offenders.
I ride almost every day at all hours.
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Well I am just going to have to get on light rail myself and stop relying on heresay. I will do it soon and report back. I’ll try it on the weekend, a weekday, and at night…to get a bigger picture.
I’ve been wrong many times in my life..this could just be another one of those times.
Signed,
Riff Raff
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if we don’t hear from melly again, we’ll know that the hobo’s got her.
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