There’s more in my brain about this bus situation in Reno, as there always is. Here’s the gist of my argument: the 4th Street Station transit center project is and has always been not the best idea. Now one thing it is, it is an idea. And it’s certainly not the worst idea.
Anyway, there still needs to be a transit center. Reno still requires a place downtown where buses can congregate, and though I suspect buses can continue to use the existing CitiCenter facility for a while until the economy improves (and I get the inkling the ballpark district developers aren’t chomping at the bit to turn shovels just yet).
Still, we probably all want the ballpark developers to feel like the deal they signed onto is the deal they’re getting. And we all want to see the ballpark district develop. And at some point, CitiCenter will in fact every single day be terribly inadequate, which I’m sure it already is at times.
So what to do? Well, let’s start by addressing the fundamental issue: ain’t no money in the operating budget. 6.7Mil in the hole. Man, that has got to hurt. But the transit center is $37Mil. So we’re looking at 1/6 the cost of the transit center.
If memory serves, the trench covers cost $10Mil per. I’m not going to go to the place where I ask how it is that a parking lot with some bathrooms is supposed to cost 37 million dollars. Instead I’m going to look for ways out of this current crisis while still giving Reno a transit center.
Here’s an idea: Cover the third block of the trench between Arlington and West Streets. Build a terminal building with facilities on the middle block. Put up some shelters, landscaping, benches. Get the price way below $37 million, say, $20 million. Operate bus service for at least 2 years on the money saved.
There is 854 feet approximately of frontage for buses at CitiCenter. If the trench plaza were opened as a transit center, there would be 1/3 of a mile, double the size of the current CitiCenter, and if the third block were covered and opened, there would be just a little under a half a mile of frontage for buses. Add #1 stops on Virginia Street and you have a transit corridor that is roughly equivalent in frontage to the 4th Street Station.
RTC should be thinking outside the box on this one. We already know that the ballpark developer isn’t crazy about Evans turning into a transit corridor. A transit center in a good downtown can take many shapes and a corridor would work for Reno. The corridor is set right in the middle of downtown. A transit system is not just a collection of stationary facilities – it is primarily moving vehicles. If those vehicles arrive and depart with sufficient frequency and schedule duration as to be worth riding, people will show up to board them.
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