{"id":244127,"date":"2011-01-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-01-09T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/coalition-wants-sandag-to-get-on-board-with-public-transit-priority\/"},"modified":"2011-01-09T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-01-09T08:00:00","slug":"coalition-wants-sandag-to-get-on-board-with-public-transit-priority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/coalition-wants-sandag-to-get-on-board-with-public-transit-priority\/","title":{"rendered":"La coalici\u00f3n quiere que SANDAG se una a la prioridad del transporte p\u00fablico"},"content":{"rendered":"

Por Christy Scannell | Reportero SDUN<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Coalition<\/a>
\nMove San Diego and the California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG) have joined forces to make public transit a higher priority in SANDAG\u2019s 2050 Regional Transportation Plan\u2014and they are seeking help from Uptown residents and businesses.<\/p>\n

Move San Diego and CALPIRG linked as the San Diego Regional Coalition for Transit Solutions in June. As SANDAG\u2019s transportation plan is finalized over the next nine months\u2014strategizing allocations of more than $100 billion for transit and freeway improvements over the next 40 years\u2014the coalition wants to secure increased funding and consideration for public transit, said Elyse Lowe, Move San Diego\u2019s executive director.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are targeting a group of stakeholders and working toward a specific goal for investment, planning and implementation for transit,\u201d she said. \u201cWe want them to sign on to a specific platform and commit to meeting with SANDAG\u2019s board of directors to influence the 2050 plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lowe said public transit has been woefully underserved in the draft plan, which continues to be revised.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey didn\u2019t have goals for frequency in transit service,\u201d she said. \u201cSo [the coalition] said let\u2019s get transit at 10-minute frequencies. Now it\u2019s in there because we advocated for it. Shorter waits provide a more attractive transit option and get people out of their cars.\u201d<\/p>\n

SANDAG\u2019s lack of attention to public transit, Lowe said, is especially concerning because the organization\u2019s last transportation plan was called \u201cTransit First.\u201d Plus the new plan will be subject to state greenhouse gas emissions performance measures, which weren\u2019t required in the previous transportation plan.<\/p>\n

Lowe anticipates the final 2050 plan to reflect the need for reduced emissions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect that some of those freeway projects (in the draft) will be reduced,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The coalition also has been successful in securing additional dollars for public transit in the plan. Previously, SANDAG recommended $700 million for options, such as biking and walking improvements, but the coalition\u2019s lobbying efforts ultimately led to a $2.58 billion allotment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a substantial increase,\u201d Lowe said. \u201cSome people thought that was too much money for bikes. But we had many people speaking out for it. It was our voice that let those elected officials be comfortable
\nwith that decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now the coalition is working to reverse the 2050 plan\u2019s priorities from freeways as a primary push to public transit as the initial advancement. In December, the SANDAG board voted to include a $4.5 billion expansion of the I-5 freeway in the 2050 plan. Meanwhile, the $43 million Mid-City Rapid Bus project\u2014which would traverse Uptown on its way from San Diego State University to downtown\u2014is floundering due to public disagreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re going to spend billions of dollars expanding the I-5 but it won\u2019t save any time (for drivers),\u201d Lowe said. \u201cPeople should be making a way bigger deal about that than a bus route that will provide resources for Mid-City people.\u201d<\/p>\n

While some say the Rapid Bus would not lead to a reduction in parking and street congestion, particularly
\nalong the Park Boulevard corridor, Lowe said the benefits far outweigh the inconvenience.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a real battle. Years ago when this project was first proposed it included dedicated lanes and would have been a lot faster. But people couldn\u2019t get over the loss of some parking spaces for the bus to have its own lane,\u201d she said. \u201cIn the community process the project has been reduced so much that now people say they don\u2019t want it all. But if we want to become more transit-friendly and get out of cars, we have to say yes, it\u2019s worth it. It\u2019s absolutely worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lowe said a successful Rapid Bus line will garner support for light rail\u2014hailed as a better transportation
\nsolution by some community leaders\u2014in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe eventual plan is for light rail to be where the Mid-City RapidBus is,\u201d she said. \u201cBut you\u2019re never
\ngoing to get light rail unless you demonstrate that the transit corridor can support it. [Light rail] takes
\n20 years to design and plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

A project within the 2050 plan that Lowe said the coalition supports is the so-called Kearny Mesa
\nGuideway\u2014previously the Uptown Spine\u2014that would create a fast transit system from downtown through
\nHillcrest into Mission Valley and ending at Kearny Mesa. While the details are still sketchy, she said
\nthis is the kind of idea that will improve quality of lifefor a wide swath of people, but it will require removing
\nsome of those parking spaces community members cherish.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would have transit priority lanes for buses only and there will be impacts,\u201d she said, predicting that
\nproject will face the same public outcry the Rapid Bus has undergone. \u201cIn San Diego we want transit
\nbut we don\u2019t want to give up anything that deprioritizes the car. It\u2019s not a win-win situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lowe said she is aware of the community interest in bringing back Uptown\u2019s iconic streetcars but that
\nwhile they are in the 2050 plan, they are not slated for implementation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think streetcars are fun. They are an attractive choice for people taking really short trips, although
\nthere is nothing really fast about them,\u201d she said. \u201cBut there has been no money set aside for them at
\nall. SANDAG is depending on local businesses and communities to pick up the tab. They have zero (SANDAG)
\nfunding attached to them.\u201d The bottom line, Lowe said, is that the coalition agrees with a number of SANDAG\u2019s initiatives in the 2050 plan\u2014the organization conducted its own comprehensive look at the region called the \u201cFast Plan\u201d\u2014but there are still too many discrepancies yet for comfort. She said the coalition will continue to advocate for more dollars and time devoted to public transit, and they welcome those who want to join their effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will be working with all of the 18 jurisdictions in San Diego to advocate for smart growth and smart
\ntransit. If people want to come out and help us we\u2019d like to bring our partners to our meetings,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople who don\u2019t want to take their cars should really speak up about having walkable, livable communities. They should be speaking out and writing letters to the editor that say we want money to go to more than freeway expansions. San Diego needs to be a safer place for biking, walking and connecting
\nto transit.\u201d<\/p>\n

To find out more about the San Diego Regional Coalition for Transit Solutions, go to sdrcts.wikispaces.com.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Christy Scannell | SDUN Reporter Move San Diego and the California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG) have joined forces to make public transit a higher priority in SANDAG\u2019s 2050 Regional Transportation Plan\u2014and they are seeking help from Uptown residents and businesses. Move San Diego and CALPIRG linked as the San Diego Regional Coalition for […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1287,"featured_media":244128,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Coalition wants SANDAG to get on board with public transit priority","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-244127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1287"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}