NFTA: Getting Us There (and a Poll)

Seems to me they should complete their "Transit Service Restructuring & Fare Study" before they make any monumental decisions to extend or not extend the LRRT.

"With no money for new land and no fare increases in sight, Meckler believes the sale is the NFTA's only option."

Or, since you don't pay taxes and are a public authority, sit on it until the NFTA can find real leadership. The region's leadership has a dangerous case of Myopia.

Well here we go again. This is reminiscent of when the NFTA had a chance to buy the Westinghouse factory at the Airport for future expansion. They backed off after being intimidated by Paul Snyder, who bought the building for a song. The rest is history. Years later, the NFTA bought the factory from Snyder for 3 times what he originally paid. With all the land in the Southtowns , how much could they really get for it, in a recession economy. This may come back to bite them , and it would not be the first time.

Well from a strictly short term management point of view...the southtowns doesnt have the density for a light rail connection and it is unlikely to meet federal requirements to get built.

However, that doesnt rule out commuter rail which would run on the same tracks nor should we rule out the future simply because of the present.

At the very least, the light rail should be extended to Lackawanna, South Park, the Botanicals and the Basilica, especially since any new convention center is going to be somewhere in the First Ward between South Park and Ohio.

I believe that someday Lackwanna will be folded into Buffalo and I also believe that the cultural amenities at South Park, Botanicals, Basilica make it an ideal place for the Southtowns to gather for a ParkNRide facility into the city.

Personally, I resent this choice every having to be made by the public...it takes focus off the Airport, UB and Niagara Falls Corridors.

I think the NFTA should be barred from selling such right of ways.

sit on it... there isn't any development waiting to happen, they are not going to get that much money from the sale and the cost of LR \ mile is greatly dependent on the COST to acquire property.

We can extend light rail much cheaper than other cities because there are so many underutilized railroad with very little land acquisition needed. It would be a shame to let the future potential slip away for a short term cash grab. Something that wont really help the NFTA keep the books balanced for long. What happens next year or the year after.

They need to look for long term changes in the services they provide (simpler, fewer, more efficient routes that real capitalize on the light rail capacity they have and stop looking for a quick fix here or a rate hike there...

I'm uncertain where this land in NFTA's ownership is but at minimum I hope the NFTA maintains some sort of glimmer of hope to extend the metro out along the outer harbor.

Who could possably want this land? It cant be worth anything... If the NFTA needs more money they should look into cutbacks at its usless police force. The NFTA needs to have more public input and at least try and expand is light rail. There is no reason that we should not have a real transit system by now...

Or at least make some meaningful changes to its Bus routes... It needs to show that it can manage the system. Right now the system is completely full or legacy crap. Stuff that is left over for no real reason.

An 8 Main that run parallel to the subway, a 29 that goes from nowhere to nowhere. An 81 that no one has heard of and I haven't ever seen a person on, a 13 that goes between two subway stops.

While at the same time you have routes like 23 \ 3 \ 20 \ 12 which are constantly full.

but perhaps this stretch is not as usefull to the long term need for light rail expansion. One of the counter points from that same public meeting was that any conenction to the southern tier would perferable travel along the waterfront. Something I also feel would be more productive than this ROW..

BUT that can only be truly determined through a real master plan \ vision for the system. Something the NFTA doesn't seem to offer the public.

When I was studying LR expansion in Buffalo I also looked at this ROW but felt it would a wiser to use others instead of this one. One can see my ideas on an expansion here:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=115736043256615441006.00044eb528193e33bf877&ll=42.924755,-78.896942&spn=0.373074,0.871353&t=h&z=11

It's never wise to eliminate options for public transit extensions. No progressive city would do sell a light-rail ROW based on short-term budgetary considerations alone. The world has changed a lot since 2001, and is likely to move even more in the direction of sustainable transportation in the next few decades. Who is to suggest that funding for transit that was unlikely in 2001 will not be very likely in 2030? It is doubtful that the sale of an oddly-shaped rail corridor, with no land use plan in place, would add more value to the First Ward than the long-term prospect of direct transit connectivity with downtown and Hamburg and Orchard Park beyond. I stood at the old Orchard Park train depot recently, knowing there was a clear shot from the village to downtown. The opportunity is obvious. The absence of long-term planning and stewardship at the NFTA is troubling.

It's never wise to sink tons of money into light rail when it won't ever be anything but a money sink. Dreaming that light rail could ever be more than a curiosity in Buffalo (like almost every American city) is wishful, at best.

The future of mass transit in America, such that it is, is bus rapid transit, not expensive rail boondoggles that get no ridership and cost taxpayers money year after year into perpetuity.

And I say this as a boy who loved his trains, and rode them all over Europe a few years back.

When Buses \ BRT can show the same ridership numbers, efficiency and capacity that LR can then we should think of it as viable. But when the 6 mile stretch of LR gets 26k people a day. To get that same ridership you have to combine the top 6 bus routes and travel many many more miles, in more polluting and noisy vehicles.

I cannot believe what I am reading...the antipathy of so many people.

Orchard Park, East Aurora, Hamburg, Ellicottville, Jamestown they may not get served by light rail but they do need to be served by regional transportation and COMMUTER RAIL is an excellent possibility. Even Niagara Falls is scheduled to have COMMUTER RAIL before they get a light rail extension. Lets face it...High Speed Rail isnt going to any of the aforementioned places and regional bus transit is pathetic....if it exists...people just dont want to ride buses.

Regionally...the rust belt city that is the most successful is Pittsburgh. Reactivating the Pittsburgh Rail Line should not be ruled out.

Lastly, lets just look into our past locally. Who would have thought 10 years ago that Buffalo would have Globe Metalurgical re-open to make Silicon for Solar and Chip Manufacturers, who would have thought we would get a Solar Cell Manufacturer, Geico or Yahoo! Who would have thought Buffalo State and UB would expand their campus and downtown would be a new center for excellence in Life Sciences. YET ALL OF IT IS HERE NOW!

Now lets just look into our future locally! Isnt it possible that UB could open 2-3 new off-campus research Centers for Excellence. New Convention/Conference/Hotel Center is very likely nearterm and so are any number of corporations choosing Buffalo now that we are a center for Material Sciences, Life Sciences, Energy, Banking, Transportation/Logistics, Insurance and more.

No...Light Rail may not go to the Southtowns....but COMMUTER RAIL is highly likely!

Our region has economic centers and economic engines of growth...and the more we capitalize on uniting those regions...the greater we become....what must it take for the NFTA to see that they continually fail their role as an institution for the benefit of our region.

Just wait till gas exceeds $5/gallon and stays there. Rail, whether commuter or light, will start looking VERY attractive.

IMO - Larry Meckler needs to go. He has absolutely NO foresight. I remember listening to him at the transportation meeting at Medaille and all he wanted were buses, buses, buses and what did he get, buses, buses, buses. There was never any mention about trains or light rail from his mouth. The CRTC and CTRC were both at this meeting trying to fight for light and high speed rail and people like Jerry Nadler (from downstate) pushed us aside and did not want to hear anything! This will be another negative and BAD decision for Buffalo.
Again this is my opinion.

NFTA now means that
Nothing's Feasible at This Agency.

There should be extensions of the Metro Rail up to Niagra Falls, to UB North, to the airport/Cheektowaga, and to Southtowns. It makes sense and surely it will come with a large price tag but in the long run it will be worth it and I think used heavily if it is done right.

The federal govt has criteria for many factors, including about how much more effective an LR line would have to be compared to improving a bus system (and they won't be impressed by the "Snif, sob, but cool people won't ride buses!" argument). The feds also require significant local funding, which would be be difficult considering the stagnant local tax base around here, the already high taxes not leaving much room for new taxes for fund LR, and NY state's long term fiscal disaster.

Regarding local and federal funding for constructing and operating more light rail around Buffalo, it very well might be true that "nothing's feasible" here any time soon. Should the NFTA pretend otherwise simply to pander to rabid fans of LR among Buffalo residents and former residents ? Maybe they should.

There's not much money waiting for the NFTA if they sell now...or possibly ever. There are all kinds of possibilities for these properties if they remain in public hands. In private hands, it's doubtful anything would come of this besides some ill-conceived ideas or just more pole sitting. If the NFTA needs a cushion, they should trim routes with poor ridership.

Who appoints the NFTA Board?