The Star Tribune recently debunked the myth, spread by the county, that Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is going to be the short-term savior of all the traffic woes that the South Metro currently experiences. Unfortunately that isn’t stopping city councils, like Apple Valley’s, from hinging their future growth prospects on yet another project that is nothing but a band-aid.
BRT has long been touted as light rail without the track or light rail on rubber and this is exactly what the MVTA wants everyone to equate this to–the ever so popular light rail which runs from the Mall of America to downtown Minneapolis. Unfortunately not only is Bus Rapid Transit nothing like the light rail it’s no different than what we already have and it’s not going to show up for at least another three years. Sure, they’re wasting tax dollars building new transit stations while douchebag Will Branning’s pleas for cash fall on deaf ears, all while backing traffic up on 35W to add unnecessary and expensive toll lanes which few will use but why couldn’t they have spent twice as much money and just laid down the track? Because the fiscal conservatives thought that this would be a better idea.
But you’ll probably say, “woah Bill, aren’t you a fiscal conservative?” Yup, I sure am and that’s why I’m against BRT. To me this is nothing but a bunch of bullshit to quell the questions of the constituents who want light rail service but will never see it due to the cost. So instead of spending twice as much money to lay down a bunch of track, the county and the MVTA decided that it would be better to lie to everyone and fool them into thinking that by building a bunch of transit stations, adding a bunch of expensive buses that do exactly the same shit as the old ones but look like trains, and making direct routes to the Mall of America instead of downtown so people could switch to the train that it would make everyone happy. Well Dakota County and the MVTA, you’re not fooling everyone.
Sure, Shari Bellows from Lakeville doesn’t know her ass from third base about what BRT really is but why should she? She rides the 477 like everyone else and ends up downtown in 35 to 45 minutes. With BRT her trip would take even longer (I have previously estimated that it will add at least 20 minutes to the commute) but that’s ok because the buses look like something from the future and tell you useless information like how much faster you’re traveling than the cars that you’re whizzing past. Oooh shiny. Hope that $133 million was worth it.
But that’s not all! Now cities like Apple Valley are hopping on the BRT bandwagon, hoodwinked by the county and MVTA who have fooled them into thinking that it’s somehow different than the current bus service we already have. Apple Valley has gone so far as to ask for federal dollars to become a “model transit city”. Unfortunately for Mayor Mary and her crew, they don’t know the first fucking thing about how that works and their “shovel-ready” projects including the ever so beautiful ghost town still being called Apple Valley Central Village is about as far from ready for anything except 1000 trees as it could possibly get.
Apple Valley doesn’t have the marketing power behind it that the MVTA and Dakota County do because their plan to become a model for transit is affectionately named “Plan, Grow, and Prosper”. I really think that Mayor Mary should spend less time watching Star Trek’s latest theatrical release and more time concentrating on explaining why the city fucking blows in just about every single area imaginable including harboring some of the South Metro’s baddest motherfuckers.
My favorite part of the plan? Apple Valley Square and Times Square would be rebuilt with even higher densities–nothing like packing in even more horseshit chains and taking away more green space. Oh but they’ll add in more transit options. Sure they will Mary. I promise that I won’t be holding my breath for the MVTA to do anything of the sort. In fact, I guarantee you that after plunking down $133 million for their BRT project, which according to the Star Tribune article could very well fail causing other planned BRT deployments to stop in their lack-of-tracks, there will be no money any time soon to add anything like better transit options for anything for a long time to come. What will you do then Mary?
I’m tired of the bullshit being fed to the public by the county and the MVTA. I’m glad that the Star Tribune was open and honest with the public that BRT is nothing but an attempt to dress up the same old, same old in new shoes and call it something it’s not. It’s time for Will Branning to step the fuck down from his post which created this mess after apologizing to everyone for being a lying, completely worthless asshole (hey Jeff, that one was for you). After that, Mayor Mary and her group of cronies should step down and apologize to the Apple Valley residents for wasting even more city staff time on another pointless and shortsighted project that will never come to fruition.
What do you think about the claims that Bus Rapid Transit was marketed to purposefully fool the public into believing that it was something more than it is? How about Apple Valley’s attempt at becoming a model transit city just so they can get an influx of federal stimulus dollars to attempt and fix their failed redevelopment efforts in the Central Village? Whatever it is that you feel go ahead and comment on as I’m sure that Mayor Mary, Douchebag Supreme Will Branning, and the rest of the tricky assholes over at the MVTA would love to hear what you have to say.
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May 28th, 2009 at 10:33 am
Makes perfect sense. People were fooled into thinking that the suburbs were a good place to live, so why not try it again?
heheh :)
May 28th, 2009 at 11:10 am
Wait, so we might get a Chili’s?!
May 28th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
I think I made my view pretty well known way back the last time we talked about this, but just to recap, I dont see any way that any type of bus service, even a cool acronym like BRT can ease traffic woes.
I was very hopeful that some of the infrastructure stimulus being promised would actually be dollars to move this entire country forward with a true attempt at viable public transportation. You can imagine how disappointed I was that instead we get crap like BRT.
Spend the money now, or spend it later, but at some point you either accept that sprawl and traffic are going to increase all the time, or you bite the bullet and lay down rails.
May 28th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
We moved away from trains and went to buses and now while the rest of the world is going back to the trains, Dakota County and the MVTA is still stuck in the past that we want to forget.
May 28th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Yeah – BUT – they are not the only county with it’s collective head in a continuously shady spot.
For years there has been a proposal for commuter rail to run from Hastings to St Paul. Most of this would be Washington County (so are they the most to blame?) and it really sounds like a great idea. That line is referred to as the Red Rock Corridor. It would be so-o-o-o-o easy, because it would run on existing rails!!! It doesn’t need land, easements, huge sums of money, — nope – nothing like that.
But in their infinite wisdom, and because the politicians think that the Central Corridor would buy them more of the urban vote, that project “slid” in front of the Red Rock Corridor. And now – to appease the folks that may ride from Hastings to St Paul, the DOT has decided to sample potential commuter rail rider-ship with EXPRESS BUSES!!! Yeah – that’s what I said – EXPRESS F-ing BUSES!!! Like that is the same thing.
I don’t know – maybe it’s me . . . if you asked my bride, she would say, “Yeah, it’s you!”
But it isn’t!
Cheers
Irving
May 28th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
I’d love to see more transit, but the Cedar BRT is a bad idea. Rail would be terribly expensive, no doubt about it, but I think I’d almost prefer that over a system that costs half as much but doesn’t do anything. Like Chad says, that’s probably the only serious way to make a dent in traffic.
Of course, the Dan Patch line could help alleviate traffic on 35W, and I would think for a lot less money than rail along Cedar would need, but there’s been some stiff opposition to it.
May 28th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Nothing like the great buses driving thru downtown Hastings. Wait until the new bridge comes so it will at least be safe for buses.
May 28th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
Tim,
The opposition is fucking ridiculous too! Not only are they denying Dan Patch rail, they’ve also passed legislation that bans people from even discussing it in the government. WHAT THE FUCK?
Just because it’s going to roll through areas that may not want it (wah, get over it) does not mean that the government should be allowed to ban even discussing it.
May 28th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
Yeah, that ban on even talking about it is what gets me. It certainly doesn’t make the opposition look very credible if that’s what they need to resort to.
May 28th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
I am currently watching the Apple Valley City Council meeting where Dakota County came in to do a PowerPoint presentation on BRT. While I know some in the county have read the above post, my very valid objections obviously didn’t get to the person who needed to see them.
Instead of boring you with an entirely new post on this same subject, I’m going to highlight some more of the lies and problems with BRT as it was presented at the Apple Valley City Council meeting tonight:
1. They claim that the Cedar transit way will bring people TO Apple Valley instead of out of it.
This is great in theory but it will not happen just because there’s a line from Minneapolis to Apple Valley. There are no jobs worth working in Apple Valley along this line and there are no plans (as evidenced by the glossed over discussion but lack of any concrete proof to the contrary) to increase any sort of “feeder” bus service. A lot of “if” and “when” but nothing that says it will happen any time soon.
2. The county claims BRT is here now rather than waiting 10, 15 or even 20 years for it to come to fruition.
Yeah, great, the line is there but the feeder service is not nor are the businesses necessary to draw more people into Apple Valley from other areas. Funding will not be made available any time soon being that it took forever to get the $133 million they have now, nevermind the additional funds necessary to get more service to actually get people to the stations from their homes/businesses that aren’t on the lines.
3. They continued to lie about the BRT vehicles and purposefully confuse them with LRT.
* The vehicles are “unique”, “futuristic”, and “rail-like” (LIES! They are just like any other bus no matter how much you try to change that perception!)
* They talked about BRT while showing pictures of the Hiawatha trains and displaying stats about its ridership.
4. Light preemption is only being *considered*.
I thought that was the entire point of this. To not only add dedicated (or semi-dedicated) lanes but to preempt the lights so that buses can get priority through the traffic. Obviously another thing that they’re scaling back in their continued fleecing of the public about BRT.
5. They claim that there will be service between Burnsville, Apple Valley and Lakeville.
Funny, there is no discussion about hooking up with Hastings where the Dakota County center is. This is the place where they MANDATE that you attend jury duty (not having a vehicle is apparently not a hardship to get you excused even though the per diem doesn’t even cover the cost of the cab) but they have absolutely no transit service from here to there.
6. BRT will originate in Lakeville before heading to Apple Valley.
Buses will be full by the time they get to Apple Valley and thus until enough BRT buses are purchased, Apple Valley residents will get the shaft.
May 28th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
Not to go on a tangent, but having the county seat still be in Hastings is so pointless. It really ought to be moved to someplace more centrally located. It’s not the 19th Century anymore and we don’t use steamboats to get around.
May 28th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Tim,
They just built that fucking monstrosity out there to continue to hold court in that area. While there are courtroom facilities in Apple Valley, they aren’t the size of the bullshit they built in Hastings. There’s absolutely no way that they’re ever going to move that anywhere else.
That said, if they’re going to mandate that you have to go to jury duty even when you don’t have a car, then they should either raise per diem rates to cover the cost of a cab ride from every part of the county or have transit options to get you there on time.