(07-14-2018, 02:48 PM)jeffster Wrote: This is some sort of priority that the city/region needs to move up somehow. Really, there should be two crossings, in my opinion, but at least one close to Food Basics.
You'd have thought the geniuses who planned all this in the first place would have thought of this scenario. But alas, the elite don't disappoint.
I think, for now, a good alternative would be is to have a shuttle bus doing a loop in that area. Though I imagine that would be fairly expensive, even if you limited the hours, you're looking at probably $250,000/year still at least. I base that on an assumption of 12 hours a day for 5 days, and 10 hours for Saturday and Sunday, so 80-hours per week, which is 2 FT employees, plus bus expenses. Or alternatively, they could have an on-demand type of taxi service with some sort of micro-bus, privately run.
That sounds like an uncalled-for potshot at those who were doing the planning. As Canard writes, those who were planning were probably not familiar with the situation on the ground. This is why we do public consultations these days (and part of the reason it takes longer to build infrastructure here than in less-democratic countries). Unfortunately, certain demographics are used to not being consulted (because they usually aren't), so it takes effort from the whole of society to be inclusive.
I do agree that there should be a solution sooner rather than later. Shuttle buses and micro taxis sound like a good way to spend a bunch of money without necessarily getting good results. Would you want to wait for a shuttle bus? How do you call the micro taxi? Perhaps it would be less expensive to just pay for a crossing guard.