Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Opposition to Bus Rapid Transit in the East Bay

My East Bay correspondent offers this on the proposed BRT scheme there:

Opposition to BRT in the East Bay: http://bbtop.org/

CA Bicycle Advocates, AC Transit, UCB, and the Sierra Club want to impose this boondoggle BRT bus scheme on busy Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley and Oakland by reducing all seven miles of busy Telegraph Ave (and some other main arterials) down to one lane in each direction, including eliminating about 70 existing left turn lanes or pockets.

Smooth traffic flowing, highly functional Telegraph Ave. now has up to 75,000 ADTs at some intersections, such as Ashby Ave. in Berkeley and 51st St. in Oakland.

If the anti-car public transportation bureaucrats and their eco-crackpot BRT supporters have their way and change the well designed and needed traffic service level of Telegraph Ave., the ridiculous reconfiguration design will render a sizeable area of South Campus Berkeley and North Oakland into a dysfunctional, gridlocked, air polluting and hazardous nightmare.

This link is to the website of Berkeleyans For Better Transportation Options (http://bbtoporg/), an active and vocal group of well-informed residents & merchants opposed to the insane AC Transit BRT scheme. They've managed to successfully get a proposition---Measure KK---on Berkeley's Nov. 08 ballot that will require the approval of Berkeley voters before any more significant street reconfiguration or closure schemes. Lets hope it passes!

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1 Comments:

At 9:06 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Your East Bay "correspondent" is making shit up.

ADT on Telegraph is 20K, not 75k. The proposed lane reconfiguration has more than sufficient capacity to accommodate those traffic volumes.

Moreover, the project would ADD new left-turn pockets at all the major intersections. Thus, even without the bus lanes, this project vastly improves safety on one of the most dangerous arterials in the East Bay.

Measure KK (which would negatively affect every other bus improvement -- not just BRT) is opposed by virtually every single councilmember, the League of Women Voters, Sierra Club, and many other reputable civic organizations. Your argument is not bolstered by describing these organizations as "eco-crackpots".

 

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