Regional transit in our future?

BoS David Slutzky in Sunday’s Daily Progress (no longer available):

“It’s definitely time for the county and the city to put their heads together and develop a cohesive transportation system,” he said. “If you wait 20 years and start thinking about it, it will cost you a lot more than if you start thinking about it now.”

I have heard many of the reasons that regional transit does not work: it is not fiscally viable, using eminent domain to take all the necessary rights-of-ways is neither reasonable nor practical, no mass-transit is successful or profitable (they are all subsidized) … but how can we make this work? With fuel prices rising (archived: 2012) again and that Virginians are more susceptible to oil shocks, now is the time to consider our future.

We seem to have a burgeoning grassroots effort with the likes of ACCT, MPO (archived: 2015) and now with a fairly forward-thinking Supervisor on Board, this thing may have legs.

RCG had an excellent post last May that goes into great detail about whether mass transit increases property values. As with everything, (from the referenced report (archived: 2024))

Of course, as with any infrastructure project – be it a transit system, a public park, a highway or a school – there may be negative impacts that reduce the location value for some people. Some people move away from highways to escape the noise and smog, and some people move away from playgrounds to escape the shrill voices of kids at play. But for the market overall, positive impacts tend to outweigh the negative impacts, increasing overall property values.

We should at least consider it.