Actually, development of this sort has drawn shopp...

2010-12-09T07:53:42.428-08:00

Actually, development of this sort has drawn shoppers to the areas so treated. surveys in various cities--notably Toronto--showed that bicyclists, eg, spent more per visit than drivers, and of course you can park twelve bicycles in the space of one car, resulting in a net gain of potential buyers.

And transit vehicles, of course, need not park at all, but merely drop off dozens of shoppers, employees, whatever per stop then move on.

The experience of Hasselt, a city in Belgium, provides an instructive insight to the question of urban mass transit. Several years ago, burdened with ever increasing traffic, Hasselt faced the prospect of dipping into the civic coffers to build yet another ring road. But the mayor and town council thought a little outside the box, and decided to make all public transit in the city free of charge.

That's right, they effected a total subsidy of public transit.

The results were stunning: transit use went up by 800%; traffic dropped so dramatically that they not only abandoned the plans to build a new ring road, but closed down an existing one and converted it to a greenway and park; and business in the city center increased so much that, rather than losing money from the subsidy, the city found itself awash in tax receipts, enabling them to improve services for all while reducing taxes!

I think this could make Pacific Ave, Tacoma's ...

2010-12-08T15:43:25.543-08:00

I think this could make Pacific Ave, Tacoma's "flagship" street, become the poster child for our Mobility Master Plan.

That being said, I don't think it's realistic to consider this a primary means of drawing more business downtown. This improvement means many good things, but economic development is not one of them.

Economic development/growth is going to be promoted through other more fundamental types of improvements/investment. That includes things like our tax structure and also structuring incentives that make locating in downtown Tacoma a more competitive option relative to the alternatives (suburban strip-malls, office parks, and neighboring cities).

Comments on Tacoma Tomorrow: Architects proposing Road Diet, Cycle Track for Ta...

Actually, development of this sort has drawn shopp...

I think this could make Pacific Ave, Tacoma's ...