The wheels of the bus go round and round. But so do the wheels of the train. And the trolley. The question is, which set of wheels works best?
Experts have found a myriad of transportation options. On Friday, Oct. 18, a panel of experts presented the most promising possibilities for Columbia Pike during a Transit Forum at the Sheraton National hotel sponsored by the Columbia Pike Revitalization Organization and Arlington County.
"Overall I was extremely pleased with the turnout," said James Hamre, the Transit Program Coordinator for Arlington County’s Department of Public Works. He estimated about 150 Arlingtonians attended, more than doubling the organizers’ goal.
"This is really a story about what you should ask of transit," said Greg Baldwin, a speaker at the forum. A successful transit system "serves the community on its own terms," said Baldwin, an expert on light rail, rather than trying to mold the community’s activities.
Several residents expressed concerns over the power source for light rail. Baldwin assured them that there are many options for powering rail cars, including electrical wires above and below ground.
Baldwin and others on the panel of experts also said that overhead wires do not have to be an eyesore, as some audience members feared. Streetcars on St. Charles Street in New Orleans, for instance, use wires carefully placed to blend in with surroundings and similar plans might be used along the Pike.
<b>"BUS RAPID TRANSIT,"</b> are the key words for the Pike, according to one of the panelists at Friday’s forum.
Sam Zimmerman (no relation to County Board chair Chris Zimmerman, who served as moderator of the forum) has studied bus rapid transit systems around the world. He emphasized that the common perception of buses as noisy, visually unappealing gas-guzzlers is out of date. New vehicles can be designed to fit the look and feel of a community, and contribute minimally to air and noise pollution, he said.
Some people were not convinced of the advancements made in bus rapid transit. "It’s still a bus," said Mike Clancy, Zimmerman’s Republican challenger in the November election, who attended the presentation as an audience member. "The goal is to bring the businesses, and I think they want to see light rail."
After the presentation, Chris Zimmerman said he had not yet decided whether to support light rail or bus rapid transit. "I really see advantages and disadvantages for both," he said. But whichever option is chosen, he wants it to meet certain criteria: "Low-floor vehicles, big windows, good comfortable waiting areas, low-noise, low- or no-polluting."
<b>COST VARIES GREATLY</b> depending on which options are chosen
But it is difficult to discuss with seemingly endless details to consider, Hamre said: rail versus bus, self-powered vehicles versus wire-driven vehicles, curbside stops versus median stops, underground wires vs. renovation of above-ground utilities--it would be impossible to determine now what the final project will look like.
"The least expensive bus rapid transit option would be between 30 and 40 million. The most expensive full blown light rail project all the way to Seven Corners could be all the way in the $400 million range," he said. But he stressed those figures do not imply every light rail option would be more expensive than every bus rapid transit option.
Money for the project could come from several sources, but Hamre says the most practical source of funding would be the Transportation Tax referendum. "We believe that a project can be delivered to Arlington County for the amount of money that’s in the referendum, or less," he said. If the referendum does not pass, funding could be more difficult to obtain and would certainly take more time.