Comments on Tacoma Tomorrow: Tacoma Transportation News Roundup

I thought that Davita was on S. 15th anyway! Ther...

2010-09-02T11:59:34.757-07:00

I thought that Davita was on S. 15th anyway!

There's more going on here than just Davita. Recall that the AG's office was supposed to be moving to Pacific Plaza as well. There were also rumors of (haha) a grocery store there as well.

I agree though about the Davita lot. It would be better walled off than be yet another surface parking lot. That money would go to better use in streetscape and infrastructure improvements.

Good points Chris. If FTA likes it, and Davita li...

2010-09-02T11:10:39.282-07:00

Good points Chris.
If FTA likes it, and Davita likes it and stays downtown, and we don't have to have another surface parking lot on Pacific Ave........

I would have to consider that to be a net gain. It sounded like from the study session that Councilman Mello hasn't given in to Davita on the parking lot issue yet. I mean really, does Davita actually need a new street car stop and a new parking lot?

I react to the new stop a little differently. The...

2010-09-02T10:10:16.434-07:00

I react to the new stop a little differently. The stop demonstrates that the City is willing to put up money for further development of Tacoma Link. That'll look good to the FTA when we apply for funds - which will make the $350k look like pocket change.

We already have capacity issues with Tacoma Link as it is. I am hoping that we can find a way to retain the 10 minute headways using traffic signal preemption, like we had before the signal timing was implemented. More concerning to me, capacity-wise, is the presence of single track south of 19th.

I am generally concerned about the inability to couple the cars, but the cars would have to be modified anyway and other stations would have to be built out before we even consider that. Car coupling is something we won't have to worry about for a while.

Regarding the new light rail stop. On the plus si...

2010-09-02T09:45:41.238-07:00

Regarding the new light rail stop.

On the plus side......

Davita wants it.

On the minus side.....

It's gonna cost $350K.
It's gonna reduce capacity of the system substantially. With a 12 min headway vs the current 10 min headway, it'll reduce the number of trips from 6/per hr down to only 5/hr, a 20% reduction. How that'll work out to an increase in ridership is a mystery to me.

It's gonna eliminate the future ability to double system capacity by coupling two cars together. This stop just isn't physically big enough.

Oh well, I guess that when we get the ridership up enough that we need to double up the cars, we can always rip out this new stop.