Link to one — really, just one — example of me launching a personal attack, rather than a criticism of their arguments and policy prescriptions.

You’ll probably find one — I’m not perfect — but once you go through some, I think you’ll find out how off base your comment is.

Sound Transit does open their projects up to bidders. That’s how contractors win contracts for the various parts of our transit system!

And this package includes big increases in bus service in the near term as well as light rail for the long term.

I’m not belittling them. Their system worked. It just can’t work here, because we aren’t top-down, and that is a requirement for their planning methods.

Also, do you realize what sort of costs are associated with getting started with Telecommuting? Ongoing costs are lower than the costs associated with in-office employment, but the starting and capital costs are high enough that you create a situation similar to the one you’re proposing will happen with light rail– lack of support due to delayed results.

Now, with your mention of projects running up against overruns and being late, have you noticed that a lot of recent rail projects have come in under the wire and a lot of recent bus projects have incurred heavy overruns? My key example is Valley Metro, Phoenix, Arizona’s light rail system. They faced several problems like cracked steel but are still on time and on budget.

Don’t forget that Metro is currently charging 0.9% sales tax and their Transit Now! Initiative is taking FIFTEEN YEARS to be completed with a ridership increase of only 40-50k.

On the other hand, asking taxpayers to fund very expensive projects with projected completion dates over a decade away is extremely unlikely to get support. We all have seen that the initial projections are always overrun on cost and completion, and that the usual result is more expensive, delivered late, and without all the promised features. The result is that we taxpayers have lost any confidence in the local governments’ (any of them) ability to deliver on their promises, and promises made for things 10 years out are fantasy at best.

Toronto is also planning for 5 new spine light rail lines. It’s also one of the few cities that did not get rid of its streetcar networks, and look, its a place that people often list as most livable.

As to all the BRT points, Curitiba is quite a remarkable place. They, like the Orange Line in LA, are at capacity. Why not just do it right and with electricity the first time? Why waste people’s time and money.

Thanks.

Can he help us find the mystery bus service Metro is implementing?

Except that the enemies of transit want to use it as a cudgel so you need to tear it down instead of turning their arguments back at them.