Thread by @mikeboos

Journey with me as I read Peter Shawn Taylor's latest light rail diatribe. #wrLRT

Somebody bitter Trump hasn't won a Nobel yet?

The fact you're still using that tired "mall-to-mall" cliché means you do.

One thing can't accomplish more than one purpose. Watch as PST shows us one thing can't even accomplish one purpose. Logic!
Got that? While the Ion may look like a public transit system, folks who know better tell us its ability to move people is a secondary matter." src="/images/1px.png" data-src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D-oVHgAXkAE0sdP.jpg">

Or you could, you know, talk to the developers themselves, who all are saying light rail is part of the reason they're building here.

If anyone knows anything about lacking rigour, it's PST.

For instance, at least three of the largest projects downtown right now are starting from scratch, not old brick-and-beam.

Sure, if you're going to compare us to Toronto or Vancouver. But we're well above average when you compare with other communities of our scale.

PST conveniently omits the fact that Regional Council opted to underfund and spread the Regional Transportation Master Plan thin. They are carrying out the five year business plan over seven years. Meaning the 28 million target comes in 2023, not 2021.

Of course, no one else is arguing we shouldn't be evaluating light rail on its ridership. The thing is, we can't start doing that until we've actually started operating service.

Trust this Koch brothers-funded think tank to give us an objective perspective on transit.

To be fair, there have been a lot of development-focused streetcar projects lately in the US that suck at providing good transit service. But our light rail system, operating along the busiest transit corridor with minimal traffic delay, does not fall into this category.

Did Doug suggest this one?

Half of GRT's ridership is non-students, but they don't really count, do they? After all, they're people who take transit.

$20 million a year to carry a third of the ridership of a $100 million a year transit system? Sounds like a good deal to me.

Rest assured, PST would not rush to call light rail a failure if there was early indication of trouble... Nope, can't say that with a straight face.

Have a little pity for Peter Shawn Taylor. He's forced to live in a city with light rail, something he's compared to having a disease.

Oh, and the 2017-202̶1̶23 business plan assumed a 2018 launch date for light rail, so...