Are you tired of reading, talking and blogging about rail transit in the city of Columbus, but seeing no action? If the answer is yes then CbusRail.com is the place for you. I intend for it to become a grassroots organization that promotes rail transit in Columbus.
I recently started the site because I’m just plain tired of all the talk and I’m ready to put my time and money where my mouth has been. I also feel that we shouldn’t have to wait for the city or the state or the federal government decided someday that it is finally time for rail to be built in Columbus. I think we need to stand up and say its time to move our city into the 21st century. Without the support of the people we may never get what Columbus wants and needs.
Rail transit has the power to shape our city more than almost anything else can. Rail will create jobs, leverage investment and improve the overall economy of Columbus. Rail transit will improve the lives of citizens by making the streets less congested, taking away the stress of driving and parking, and adding the safety of rail travel (which is 80 times safer than driving). Rail will reduce our pollution and oil dependence helping the economy, environment and well being of residents.
Look to the site for continual updates, and in the future membership and meet-ups for everyone interested in adding rail in Columbus! Join the community and transform Columbus.
Thanks!
Joshua Lapp
josh@cbusrail.com
In Cleveland you can get off the train at the airport and you can take light rail around town. In Columbus you can’t do either from the train. Ridiculous.
John
I’d be happy if one could take a one-seat bus ride to the airport from downtown in Columbus:
http://xingcolumbus.wordpress.com/2009/12/12/should-port-columbus-cmh-have-more-transit-service/
Columbus gets more than enough state and federal money than it deserves, depriving other Ohio cities of capital improvements. When other areas of the state are in need, Columbus–city or government–does not care. So, there is absolutely NO SYMPATHY for your desire for a Columbus rail line. If Columbus does not stop choking the rest of the state to the point of destruction, Columbus will have much bigger problems than wishing for a rail line.
We do not need a rail line.
Care to elaborate?
I think we very much DO need a rail line for a plethora of reasons. The most important being incentives to invest in long term transportation corridors in Columbus, something this city currently lacks. According to the American Public Transportation Association every $1 invested in public transportation $6 are generated in economic returns. Instead of another paralyzed car-dependent sprawled American city Columbus could become a regional powerhouse and leader of the 7th largest state economy.
Yes, Ohio representatives are a self-absorbed bunch. The monies intended for the Columbus 70/71 split, for example, will not solve but encourage auto traffic congestion, and would be much better used to help our beleaguered outlying cities or to encourage park and rides. As Harvard historian Howard Zinn liked to point out, the Founding Fathers of constitutional fame happened to be 55 of the richest white male slave owners and mercantilists in the land. So let’s not fight over table scraps. If you want better public transit use COTA and save your money for personal interests. If you want better assignment of tax revenues and civic investment we need a political discourse not rooted in 18th century notions of individual rights gained from the king. They’re not mutually exclusive.