RTD
High Oil Prices Should Make RTD Revise FasTracks
By Daniel G. Jennings
Sky-high oil prices should force the Regional Transportation District should reconsider and revise key elements of its ambitious FasTracks transit expansion scheme.
The elements of FasTracks RTD should rethink are the proposed diesel-powered commuter rail lines to Denver International Airport, Boulder and North Denver and the bus rapid transit line to Boulder. RTD should reconsider bus rapid transit and diesel rail because buses and diesel trains run on diesel fuel which is made from oil. Since oil prices are skyrocketing, energy costs for those forms of transit will skyrocket as well. Bus transit will be hit with a double whammy, not only do buses run on diesel fuel, they also use rubber tires which are largely made from oil.
RTD decided to go with bus rapid transit and diesel rail because its leaders thought the district would save money by not utilizing light rail which requires the construction and maintenance of costly electric power lines. This strategy is now called into question because the money RTD might save by not putting in power lines could be eaten up by rising oil costs.
It is time for RTD to take another look at the Bus Rapid Transit and Diesel rail lines and consider light rail to North Denver, DIA and Boulder. Or at least electrified commuter rail lines like those in Chicago, New York, Philadelphia and Boston.
Bus Rapid Transit has another draw back it is limited in the number of it can haul. Buses haul around half as many people as light rail cars can and they have operating costs. They require more maintenance and more drivers because they can’t be connected together to create trains. The most a bus can haul is a few dozen people, a train can haul hundreds of people.
If high oil prices cause massive increases in transit use, the buses may not be able to keep up with the demand. And remember Denver’s population is expected to double or even triple in the next few decades. The buses may not be able to do the job, and they will cost much more to operate than light rail or electric commuter rail.
We must also remember that the costs of building light rail or electric commuter rail will be higher in the future than now. The sooner we build electric rail the less it will cost. The more electric rail we build now the more we’ll be able to expand it in the future to keep up with our city’s growth and increased demands on the system.
The question then is do RTD’s leaders have the guts to admit that they may have made a mistake by going with diesel rail and bus rapid transit? More importantly do they have the wisdom and foresight to correct that mistake before it costs us a lot of tax money?
By Daniel G. Jennings
Sky-high oil prices should force the Regional Transportation District should reconsider and revise key elements of its ambitious FasTracks transit expansion scheme.
The elements of FasTracks RTD should rethink are the proposed diesel-powered commuter rail lines to Denver International Airport, Boulder and North Denver and the bus rapid transit line to Boulder. RTD should reconsider bus rapid transit and diesel rail because buses and diesel trains run on diesel fuel which is made from oil. Since oil prices are skyrocketing, energy costs for those forms of transit will skyrocket as well. Bus transit will be hit with a double whammy, not only do buses run on diesel fuel, they also use rubber tires which are largely made from oil.
RTD decided to go with bus rapid transit and diesel rail because its leaders thought the district would save money by not utilizing light rail which requires the construction and maintenance of costly electric power lines. This strategy is now called into question because the money RTD might save by not putting in power lines could be eaten up by rising oil costs.
It is time for RTD to take another look at the Bus Rapid Transit and Diesel rail lines and consider light rail to North Denver, DIA and Boulder. Or at least electrified commuter rail lines like those in Chicago, New York, Philadelphia and Boston.
Bus Rapid Transit has another draw back it is limited in the number of it can haul. Buses haul around half as many people as light rail cars can and they have operating costs. They require more maintenance and more drivers because they can’t be connected together to create trains. The most a bus can haul is a few dozen people, a train can haul hundreds of people.
If high oil prices cause massive increases in transit use, the buses may not be able to keep up with the demand. And remember Denver’s population is expected to double or even triple in the next few decades. The buses may not be able to do the job, and they will cost much more to operate than light rail or electric commuter rail.
We must also remember that the costs of building light rail or electric commuter rail will be higher in the future than now. The sooner we build electric rail the less it will cost. The more electric rail we build now the more we’ll be able to expand it in the future to keep up with our city’s growth and increased demands on the system.
The question then is do RTD’s leaders have the guts to admit that they may have made a mistake by going with diesel rail and bus rapid transit? More importantly do they have the wisdom and foresight to correct that mistake before it costs us a lot of tax money?
posted by great one at 9:55 AM
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