Irvine Transit System

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What are people's opinion about the Irvine transit system that is being proposed? Would you be in favor or against mass transit in Irvine?





<a href="http://www.ocregister.com/news/million-system-park-1809200-irvine-city">www.ocregister.com/news/million-system-park-1809200-irvine-city</a>





Streetcar-bus line to serve Great Park, Irvine Spectrum

By SONYA SMITH

IRVINE WORLD NEWS

<p>A financing plan for a $280 million transit system for the Great Park area was unanimously approved by the City Council Tuesday.</p>

<p>Now, city officials are looking to the California Transportation Commission and the Orange County Transportation Authority for money for the project.</p>

<p>"This is a very important piece of (the city's) transportation," said Mayor Beth Krom.</p>

<p>The five-mile-long combination streetcar and bus system would link the future Great Park, Irvine Spectrum, Irvine train station and the Lennar Corp.'s housing, commercial and educational development that will surround the Great Park. Operations are expected to cost $7 million each year.</p>

<p>"The guide way is something that will be good for the park; bringing people to the park without using cars and parking lots," Lead Great Park Designer Ken Smith has said.</p>

<p>The preliminary funding plan suggests that the money come from the following sources:</p>

<p><strong>To plan and build the system:</strong></p>

<p>•Proposition 116: $121.3 million </p>

<p>•City of Irvine/local sources: $25.6 million </p>

<p>•Renewed Measure M funds: $98.2 million </p>

<p>•State Highway Account: $40 million </p>

<p><strong>To operate and maintain the system:</strong></p>

<p>•Fares: $3 million </p>

<p>•Renewed Measure M funds: $3.6 million </p>

<p>•Advertising revenue: $400,000 </p>

<p>The Proposition 116 state funding is $121 million that was first allocated to the city in 1990 for a transportation system near John Wayne Airport. The money was rerouted to Centerline in 1999 – a light-rail line that would have stretched 11.4 miles across Irvine, Costa Mesa and Santa Ana; that was rejected by voters in 2003.</p>

<p>To use the Centerline money, the city must obtain state approval to reallocate the funds while finding a matching $121 million and another $38 million to build the project.</p>

<p>Councilman Larry Agran said that the Great Park system is an important first step in building a city-wide system of various types of transportation.</p>

<p>Council members Christina Shea and Steven Choi both expressed a concern Tuesday about having a combination of streetcars and buses. But, city staff assured the council that plans for the transit system can be modified.</p>

<p><strong>The proposed system would:</strong></p>

<p>•Have 3.4 miles of streetcar track in the Great Park portion. The Spectrum portion would have 1.6 miles of bus route. </p>

<p>•Mostly have street-level stations, except for an elevated portion near the Irvine train station. </p>

<p>•Have wait times of 10 to 15 minutes. Service would be available between 5:30 a.m. and midnight, seven days a week. </p>

<p>•Have nine stations, including: The Double Tree Hotel, Irvine Spectrum, Irvine Technology Center, Irvine train station and the Great Park sports complex. </p>

<p>•Include trees on both sides of the streetcar route to minimize the intrusiveness of overhead electrical wires. </p>

<p>•Add a lane for the bus system on each side of Alton Parkway. </p>

<p>•Have an estimated 5,000 riders each day, with 6,500 during peak demand. </p>

<p>•Provide service to a growing population. Population within four miles of the system is expected to grow by 38,676 residents and 118,755 workers before 2030. </p>
 
<p><em>>>Irviners won't touch mass-transit with a 20ft pole.</em></p>

<p>Well, they say that, but do you know how many nannies, housekeepers, construction workers, and gardners I see getting off the bus in North Irvine each morning? Those folks just choose not to see mass transit.</p>
 
I would love it if it's like the L in Chicago or nicer. Mass Transit is so great b/c you can go out, have a good time, and not have to worry about getting into any trouble really...well unless you piss off the conductor.
 
<p>As a heavy user of the bus systems in both Santa Cruz and San Francisco counties, I find the OC system difficult to use and, for the few times I seriously looked into it, three times slower than driving. </p>

<p>The SF system could be figured out by looking at the map that was posted with bus frequency at each bus stop. Santa Cruz ran on a hub and spoke system. You took your bus to the hub, then caught the next bus to either the next hub or the needed spoke. Maps were readily available at the hubs and elsewhere. OCTA requires A LOT of advance planning to get from point A to point B.</p>

<p>I was thinking of taking OCTA to work, but it would take me 1:10 to accomplish on OCTA what I can drive in 20 minutes. </p>
 
I'd love to see OCTA made more effective. I'll bet that it could be remediated to meet the majority of the street-car goals for a lot less than $280MM.
 
<p>As I have expressed on these forums before, I strongly support mass transit -- the benefits are myriad and often much greater than one would think. BUT, you've got to do it right. And that usually means doing it regional. If I read this correctly, we are looking at 5 miles of track/route, total. Not exactly regional.</p>

<p>I agree with Eva (trying not to put words in your mouth) that light rail would be more appealing to Irvine residents. Of course, light rail costs a lot more.</p>

<p>Finally, I'd be interested to know how quickly the streetcars would travel. The final version of Centerline (only about 9 miles) was FUBAR because large parts of it would have run at street level AND stopped at stoplights -- kind of defeats the purpose of riding a train, might as well ride a bus. Mass transit becomes attractive when it is faster than driving; as pointed out by Eva, OCTA is way slower.</p>
 
After reading the article, I'm not very clear on how much these streetcars would be mixing it up with traffic. Are there any other web pages on this proposal?
 
i don't get this thing...so these street cars stops aren't within walking distance from most homes in irvine. so is the city going to build giant parking lots next to each of these 9 stations? i guess i am asking: who are the intended riders, people who live in irvine and want to go to the great park or the spectrum, or people who live outside of irvine and who need to come into irvine daily?





if it's the first, then it's gonna flop per what i said. if it's the second, then are there really that many jobs within walking distance from these 9 stops to generate 5000 riders each day? even if you assume 5000 really means 2500 people because they all ride round trips. are there really going to be 2500 people who have either no cars or will choose street cars over their own cars? it just sounds like a lot of money for not that many people...
 
<em>"The five-mile-long combination streetcar and bus system would link the future Great Park, Irvine Spectrum, Irvine train station and the <strong>Lennar Corp.'s housing</strong>, commercial and educational development that will surround the Great Park. Operations are expected to cost $7 million each year."</em>





Seems like Lennar is benefiting from this proposal...
 
Lennar flexing political muscles to benefit it's project? I'm shocked.





Pay $1M for a balloon, get $280M for a light rail project. At least some form of leverage still works for Lennar.
 
I just want something that will take me to John Wayne. . .I am literally ten minutes away but cannot get any public transit and have to pay to park 5 miles away from my residence.
 
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