What is the board's thoughts on SMART?

[pDigital32Dawg]

http://www.msstate.edu/web/media/detail.php?id=5717

This is great news for the future of MSU and Starkville becoming more integrated and future development. I'm hoping it will push the growth of Starkville even more

 

[Shmuley]

When mullens bolts, would love to take a shot at him ...

but can't see him staying in the west and going head up with daddy saban.

 

[thatsbaseball]

"Offered free to all riders during its first year". Talking about a charlie foxtrot ! They`ll need to triple the size of the University police force.

 

[FlabLoser]

Sure this is good for Vegas. But MDOT has no business in this. Bad use of state tax dollars.

JTRAN is a colossal money pit, and this will be the same. Who is going to pay to sustain it?

 

[passwordistaco]

They're not really comparable.

Sure this is good for Vegas. But MDOT has no business in this. Bad use of state tax dollars.

JTRAN is a colossal money pit, and this will be the same. Who is going to pay to sustain it?

JTRAN is a metro bus system in a low density major metro area. Most riders are 'captive riders.'

SMART would operate in a college town. Most riders would be choice riders.

Starkville's land-use has to take this system into account for it to be successful. The South does a really ****** job of aligning land-use, housing/development, and transit policy.

 

[RingN2012]

This is awesome for at least one reason. Starkville PD feasts on college kids, handing out DUIs like speeding tickets. There has been a whole lot more money than $2 million spent in fines and lawyer fees alone in the last 10 years, I'd be willing to bet. It will also make the town safer as well.

 

[gravedigger]

why is it good for a town but a bad use of state tax dollars? If after its been rstablished as a thing that is used for a year, and charged for after, why will its success have any thing to do with Jackson?

Unless you are completely ignorant of departments of transportation, you should know that its mission has everything to do with it

 

[rezdawg]

The title says 'Federal Grant', MDOT is just the middle man, no state dollars involved...

 

[godlluB]

Total waste of 17'in tax money.

 

[RocketDawg]

Not sure why it should use federal funds

Kinda smacks of pork spending. If Starkville/MSU want to do it and believe it's viable, they should pay the bill themselves. I can't think of any small town in the US that actually has a public transit system. And they call a bus system "rapid"? That's normally reserved for subways and light rail.

 

[QuaoarsKing]

People, you aren't a traitor to your precious ideology if you don't knee-jerk oppose every use of tax dollars for a good idea. This is good for Starkville and good for MSU.

 

[Shmuley]

Rez, don't fall for that ****. The feds may fund the majority of the upfront cost, but there is ALWAYS a back-side cost at the state and local level. ALWAYS. Operating costs, employment related costs, maintenance, upkeep, etc., etc., etc.

 

[champdawg.sixpack]

It will serve a select few.

 

[FlabLoser]

People, you aren't a traitor to your precious ideology if you don't knee-jerk oppose every use of tax dollars for a good idea. This is good for Starkville and good for MSU.

It would also be a "good idea" if Uncle Sam gifted every college town with free setup of a transportation system. And subways & rails to replace interstates and highways. And 3 solid meals for all the poor. And a free house for everybody that can't afford it. And a free Christmas bonus for every American. And and and....****, Uncle Sam is broke.

 

[FlabLoser]

Rez, don't fall for that ****. The feds may fund the majority of the upfront cost, but there is ALWAYS a back-side cost at the state and local level. ALWAYS. Operating costs, employment related costs, maintenance, upkeep, etc., etc., etc.

Nonsense. Don't you remember when Clinton put 100,000 extra cops on the streets. He kept us safe!

Don't you remember how the Feds shored up medicate my mandating that states shake the money tree and pick up the slack?

Ha

 

[Shmuley]

Don't remind me, flab.

 

[godlluB]

The city and MSU have already tried this once, and it was a failure. I dont' think I ever saw more than two people on a bus. Most of the time, empty buses just drove around town burning up diesel for no reason. This isn't good for anybody.

 

[SignalToNoise]

If it were a good idea, i.e. market demand, a private venture would have started and become very profitable already. It wouldn't take a grant from the feds to come to fruition.

So, I think it is a waste.

 

[patdog]

It doesn't make it any better use of taxpayer dollars if the money comes from the Federal, State or local government. It's all being paid for by all of us. And yeah, I realize that most of the money coming from Federal grants is being paid by taxpayers in other states, but at the same time we're paying for local projects in their states too. All government projects should be funded as locally as possible. Then each community could decide what level of government service they wanted to pay for.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

I worked for a few months at Stanford after earning my BA. One thing I really loved was that Stanford and the Santa Clara County Transit System were pretty integrated. Not only could Santa Clara buses stop at some places on the Stanford campus but Stanford also had a transit system that went between the college and Palo Alto. I often took the Stanford Shuttle from the Palo Alto train & bus station. I remember mentioning that to the SA President when he was talking to students about that when I was a grad student at MSU.

 

[johnson86-1]

I would have loved it when I was in Starkville

People, you aren't a traitor to your precious ideology if you don't knee-jerk oppose every use of tax dollars for a good idea. This is good for Starkville and good for MSU.

Nothing better than somebody else paying for your DD in a ridiculously inefficient manner.

But I'm not sure I'm pumped about wasting money on it now that I won't benefit from it.

 

[seshomoru]

They're spending federal dollars????!!!!

On a land grant institution???!!!!

 

[Spanky.sixpack]

It's a very good thing......

Is it a good use of tax dollars? That's debatable, but it doesn't matter. What many in this thread don't realize is that the money is GOING TO BE WASTED by our government. That's not changing. May as well have them use it in Mississippi and Starkville.

 

[pDigital32Dawg]

I want something to drive the area to develop more appropriately around MSU instead of placing everything down Hwy 12. I would imagine a transit system will provide some comfort to developers that there will be a dedicated route to areas that once were less trafficked by students. And as seen in earlier posts, it will provide some security to students that you do not have to live in the Cotton District just to avoid driving after a round at the bar.

 

[BehrDawg]

Sure this is good for Vegas. But MDOT has no business in this. Bad use of state tax dollars.

JTRAN is a colossal money pit, and this will be the same. Who is going to pay to sustain it?

No one rides JTRAN except for the homeless. The system in Starkville will have plenty of paying riders. When was the last time you saw a full JTRAN bus? I have never seen one

 

[thatsbaseball]

47%er /\/\/\/\

 

[seshomoru]

Congratulations on going to class...

the one day they discussed Classical Theory in Intro to Macroeconomics.

 

[thunderclap]

I have never understood why this country doesn't develop public transportation everywhere. Anyone who has ever lived anywhere else knows what I am talking about. Great to see Starkville do this.

 

[SignalToNoise]

I realize it is popular to be an internet hardass on this board -- myself included -- but I have read much more into economics than just showing up to the first day of macro.

Congratulations on being a jackass!

 

[seshomoru]

Same here and thanks

 

[esplanade91]

Well, taxpayers' money aside, I love this. I sold my car because I moved cross country and I figured I didn't need one because I live in the Cotton District while I'm at school and I have a roommate with a car.

I walk or ride my bike to class every day of the week, and I love it, but sometimes I have to scrounge for a ride when it rains or I'm running late.

I'm also at the mercy of my roommate when it comes to Walmart.

Raining and Walmart are the only issues, and outside of that I am successfully living in Starkville without a car.

The parking problem has gotten so bad, and hopefully this allows parents to send their kids to school without a vehicle.

..... That being said, one campus shutte running to the Cotton District instead of having what seems like 10 orange route busses would be much more feasible, less of a burden on taxpayers, and more desirable for students (it would take me right to Montgomery). The last time I was at Ole Miss (women and stuff) I noticed that their campus shuttles ran during the day to and from commuter hotspots (ie apartment buildings, the square, popular "house" areas like the cotton district). I don't see why we don't have the same program.

 

[Yellowfin]

I think SMART is a tremendous idea. With a growing student enrollment, I am all for using a bus system to take some of the commuter cars off of Hwy 12. Plus, I don't think anyone wants to pave more of campus for parking. You can forget a parking garage, simply costs too much. If you hae a better idea on how to get commuter students to campus, minimize traffic congestion, and keep campus from becoming one large parking lot, let's hear it. You cannot get more conservative than me, but this is an intelligent use of tax dollars.

 

[saltslugs]

Too spread out. Not enough interest. Tends to be used by "undesirables". Doesn't pay for itself. Etc...

It always seems good on paper, but it wont' work. Three years and then it will be greatly contracted if not totally abandoned after generally being a waste of money.

 

[thunderclap]

It works in thousands and thousands of places. I get that America is laid out for the automobile and gas stations, which is part of the problem, but that doesn't mean it won't work.

 

[BoomBoom.sixpack]

^This.

There already IS a fm solution to getting lots of people with cars to a central location: huge parking lots/garages and congested roads. If you don't want that, then you have to 'waste' money doing it another way. Yeah, it will cost some money, but how much will a parking garage and widened roads cost?

 

[dawgs.sixpack]

outside of the south, there are plenty of "desirables" that use public transit.

 

[TimberBeast]

People, you aren't a traitor to your precious ideology if you don't knee-jerk oppose every use of tax dollars for a good idea. This is good for Starkville and good for MSU.

Spoken like a true lib.

 

[rugbdawg]

Great News

I lived in Boulder for three years when going to school. Everyone rode the bus to school and work. Buses ran until 2 am in the morning. So, as long as you left the bar a half hour before closing, you had a ride home. Those buses were packed.

 

[NTDawg]

I agree. We turn it down and some other state gets it.

 

[saltslugs]

We live in the South.

I doubt you can name a town of our size in the South that has successfully integrated public transportation. What you need for public transportation to work: (1) A town that hard to drive/park in, (2) People who don't have access to a car and/or (3) High population density.

You don't have any of these in Starkville. Who exactly do ya'll think will be using this public transport? Could you have imagined routinely using a bus in Starkville, knowing that you can easily drive anywhere? Sure, it will be used occasionally by students (most of whom have cars and disposable income) and during game weekends and what not, bu there's just not adequate demand in general.