ORBT - Omaha Rapid Bus Transit

[guy4omaha]

I would like to see the ORBT that takes the 18 jump off of 72nd and make One stop right in the heart of Aksarben Village.

[LetsBeReal22]

I would like to see the ORBT that takes the 18 jump off of 72nd and make One stop right in the heart of Aksarben Village.

We could call it OBT

[ita]

With the first round of public meetings for MetroNEXT OMetro is focusing on community input on potential BRT routes. There are a couple that are unexpected like the north/south beltline routes. Heres the map showing the routes with opportunity to leave a comment.

https://platform.remix.com/map/1d9f7112 ... 6.08437,11

Are these informal proposals? Love the Maple street to Med Center part. Some would understandably not like that it doesn’t do the direct route to downtown, but ending the Maple street route near the Med Center gives you access to Dodge street and that ORBIT route.

Yes, the remix is suggestions for future ORBTs. You can add your own right on the map. You still have one more chance (Tuesday the 30th at noon) to give live feedback during an OMetro presentation.

I understood the routes to have been predetermined by OMetro. The Remix map is merely for the public to put comments on the routes. I think it will be open until tomorrow, so if you have something to say about these proposed routes, type them in asap.

[nebraska]

Metro to extend free ORBT fares to fall

Due to delays on ticket machines at stations, we’re extending free fares on ORBT to fall! These machines will be a part of our future contactless fare system, with smartcards, mobile pay, + online account management. [twitter]

[jjjjhskr]

Metro to extend free ORBT fares to fall

Due to delays on ticket machines at stations, we’re extending free fares on ORBT to fall! These machines will be a part of our future contactless fare system, with smartcards, mobile pay, + online account management. [twitter]

Sweet!

[GrandpaaSmucker]

I was driving past a Orbit bus yesterday and it ran over a big white sheet of plywood and it churned it and blew it out from under it right in front of me and I ran it over. No damage but note to self to watch out for that a little closer when passing the Orbit.

[GrandpaaSmucker]

Driving past the East bound Orbit station on 90th & Dodge yesterday I couldn't help notice the memorial flowers placed on the station where a guy had died when his car struck it earlier in the week. Am I the only one that thought when I first saw one of those Orbit stations that it was a dangerous idea building solid structures that close to the road? It did not even take a year before the first person was killed hitting one of those stations. There will be more guaranteed. I think the station there on 90th where this happened should be moved now. That is a bad spot with cars coming over that hill in 3 or 4 lanes doing 40 miles an hour or better. You just about know that the city or the bus company will be getting sued now for putting that bus station there. I think the law suit has a good chance of winning. They need to move that station before anyone else gets killed there.

The details have been kind of sketchy and sparse but it sounds like it was around 4 AM in the morning and two cars going East side swiped each other and flipped over skidding down the hill with one of the cars ending up against the Orbit station concrete wall with a dead man inside. As we see here those stations are hard core dangerous road hazards.

[omahacacher]

The driver who caused the accident was drunk. If he was sober, there wouldn't have been a fatality. Stay sober, stay alive. Not the fault of the station.

[GrandpaaSmucker]

The driver who caused the accident was drunk. If he was sober, there wouldn't have been a fatality. Stay sober, stay alive. Not the fault of the station.

I would have to assume you did not catch much of the news on this. The 63yr old man who was found in an upside down car hung up on the concrete wall on the East end of the Orbit station was pronounced dead on the scene and was not the one drinking. A 28yr old man who survived the crash because his car did not hit the station was the one that was drinking.

All that is neither here or there and has nothing to with the fact that the city created a dangerous condition along side a busy roadway that has now gotten someone killed in less then a years time.

[jag42]

The driver who caused the accident was drunk. If he was sober, there wouldn't have been a fatality. Stay sober, stay alive. Not the fault of the station.

I would have to assume you did not catch much of the news on this. The 63yr old man who was found in an upside down car hung up on the concrete wall on the East end of the Orbit station was pronounced dead on the scene and was not the one drinking. A 28yr old man who survived the crash because his car did not hit the station was the one that was drinking.

All that is neither here or there and has nothing to with the fact that the city created a dangerous condition along side a busy roadway that has now gotten someone killed in less then a years time.

"....the city created a dangerous condition ...."

Wow. No. The drunk driver created the dangerous condition.

[Busguy2010]

Uhh, both cars likely flipped because they hit the curb, so isnt that a dangerous condition. The guy could have been killed before his car laid to rest at the foot of the ORBT station. Focusing on the ORBT station as the main problem in this accident is out there.

[GrandpaaSmucker]

Uhh, both cars likely flipped because they hit the curb, so isnt that a dangerous condition. The guy could have been killed before his car laid to rest at the foot of the ORBT station. Focusing on the ORBT station as the main problem in this accident is out there.

The unfortunate reality here is this is going to happen again. What we have here is part of the highway system morphing around 90th & Dodge into a regular street. The 63yr old man who tragically lost his life was coming from Waterloo. It is likely he was going to work at 4AM in the morning. Coming from Waterloo at 4AM he might of been the only one out there so you know he was doing 55 at least as he passed Westroads. When traffic is down you are going to have cars coming in off the freeway at high speeds. That Orbit station is sitting out there on that hill in a precarius position just waiting to collect cars as they loose control coming down that hill. To attempt to meat out blame to the curb or a drunk driver or just the Orbit station would be misrepresenting the truth. It was a combination of all those things and wet roads and high speed and more.

We can't easily control the weather conditions or the speed of the drivers or who is drunk or many other things but we can control where those Orbit stations are located. At the least they might want to redesign that concrete wall on the East side of the station so that out of control vehicles can not get collected up on it. That concrete wall at that station is a foot thick and it makes for a fast and hard stop when you are doing 50 or 60 miles per hour.

[S.O.Boy]

Driving past the East bound Orbit station on 90th & Dodge yesterday I couldn't help notice the memorial flowers placed on the station where a guy had died when his car struck it earlier in the week. Am I the only one that thought when I first saw one of those Orbit stations that it was a dangerous idea building solid structures that close to the road?

If you are trying to get onto Dodge, they obstruct oncoming traffic as well.

[Busguy2010]

Maybe the ones at WB 49th and WB 42nd are an obstruction, but there are probably also no right turn on red signs there. Most all of the ORBT stations are on the outbound side of their respective intersections.

[Omaha Cowboy]

Interesting article just popped up in the W-H-

“Metro Transit will study 24th Street through South and North Omaha for a possible new ORBT bus rapid transit line or other major upgrades in bus service.

The study also will consider 30th Street as an alternative to 24th Street for the portion of a potential ORBT line north of Dodge Street.

Metro leaders chose 24th Street from among 15 earlier identified corridors to be the focus of the next major transit project in Omaha.

Metro CEO Lauren Cencic called 24th Street a “critical community connector, linking services, jobs, housing, recreation, education and a multitude of other destinations.”

“Based on community feedback and engagement, numerous virtual public open house meetings we had and a pretty rigorous screening process we had, we’ve identified that next corridor for us to focus on,” she said.“..

The complete W-H story link:

https://omaha.com/news/local/govt-and-p ... 07746.html

Ciao..LiO…Peace

[ita]

Interesting article just popped up in the W-H-

“Metro Transit will study 24th Street through South and North Omaha for a possible new ORBT bus rapid transit line or other major upgrades in bus service.

The study also will consider 30th Street as an alternative to 24th Street for the portion of a potential ORBT line north of Dodge Street.

Metro leaders chose 24th Street from among 15 earlier identified corridors to be the focus of the next major transit project in Omaha.

Metro CEO Lauren Cencic called 24th Street a “critical community connector, linking services, jobs, housing, recreation, education and a multitude of other destinations.”

“Based on community feedback and engagement, numerous virtual public open house meetings we had and a pretty rigorous screening process we had, we’ve identified that next corridor for us to focus on,” she said.“..

The complete W-H story link:

https://omaha.com/news/local/govt-and-p ... 07746.html

Ciao..LiO…Peace

To piggyback off that article, here is Metro's official release: Metro identifies 24th Street as next transit priority corridor

I am sure this announcement is not a surprise to most of you all, but it is exciting to hear officially that the 24th/30th street corridor will be the next spine for BRT.

My understanding is that there is definitely some push and pull regarding BRT along 24th street, particularly in North Omaha. On one hand, I've heard it is the most used line, so if you're considering demand, the 24 would be the logical next step. On the other, I have also heard concerns that, in addition to space constraints for dedicated bus lanes, riders and some in the community are worried about the spacing of stops. They don't want BRT if it means they lose traditional service, specifically proximity of bus stops, ala the Dodge BRT and Route 2. As such, I am not surprised they are keeping the door open for a North 30th to South 24th BRT route versus a BRT route only on 24th.

[Busguy2010]

There's a lot more stuff going on on 30th IMO. That said, I never liked the idea of running BRT down 24th since they did the road diet. Had they kept the door open for dedicated bus lanes, I'd feel differently. I can't imagine the outcry by all the people who regularly get stuck behind a bus while driving down the stretch of 24th that is now single lane all the way from Q to Leavenworth. I'd prefer to just keep the 24 and make it enhanced bus.

[Omaha Cowboy]

Interesting article just popped up in the W-H-

“Metro Transit will study 24th Street through South and North Omaha for a possible new ORBT bus rapid transit line or other major upgrades in bus service.

The study also will consider 30th Street as an alternative to 24th Street for the portion of a potential ORBT line north of Dodge Street.

Metro leaders chose 24th Street from among 15 earlier identified corridors to be the focus of the next major transit project in Omaha.

Metro CEO Lauren Cencic called 24th Street a “critical community connector, linking services, jobs, housing, recreation, education and a multitude of other destinations.”

“Based on community feedback and engagement, numerous virtual public open house meetings we had and a pretty rigorous screening process we had, we’ve identified that next corridor for us to focus on,” she said.“..

The complete W-H story link:

https://omaha.com/news/local/govt-and-p ... 07746.html

Ciao..LiO…Peace

To piggyback off that article, here is Metro's official release: Metro identifies 24th Street as next transit priority corridor

I am sure this announcement is not a surprise to most of you all, but it is exciting to hear officially that the 24th/30th street corridor will be the next spine for BRT.

My understanding is that there is definitely some push and pull regarding BRT along 24th street, particularly in North Omaha. On one hand, I've heard it is the most used line, so if you're considering demand, the 24 would be the logical next step. On the other, I have also heard concerns that, in addition to space constraints for dedicated bus lanes, riders and some in the community are worried about the spacing of stops. They don't want BRT if it means they lose traditional service, specifically proximity of bus stops, ala the Dodge BRT and Route 2. As such, I am not surprised they are keeping the door open for a North 30th to South 24th BRT route versus a BRT route only on 24th.

The good news, and it’s great to see, is that there really appears to be a commitment to expand the OBRT..from our urban core areas out..It’s taken awhile, but it looks like the city is really stepping up in looking to improve and enhance our public transport options..Let’s hope this trend continues…

Ciao..LiO…Peace

[Busguy2010]

I really thought theyd start with the 18, which was metro's second busiest route (TBH, might be the busiest now, even over ORBT) that serves Aksarben, 72nd street, and Ames. It was the one route throughout the pandemic that didnt retain any service reduction through the entire pandemic or "post"- pandemic.

[GrandpaaSmucker]

I really thought theyd start with the 18, which was metro's second busiest route (TBH, might be the busiest now, even over ORBT) that serves Aksarben, 72nd street, and Ames. It was the one route throughout the pandemic that didnt retain any service reduction through the entire pandemic or "post"- pandemic.

Oh yeah the first North to South Orbit should be on 72nd. They should also someday have a North to South Orbit on 24th and 120th too. And here is an abstract thought for the geniuses planning all this. How about just using regular sized Orbit buses at first until the ridership is up enough to demonstrate a real need for a big Orbit bus. It serves no good purpose having double sized buses running up and down Dodge Street that are only carrying 3 or 4 people I do apologize for talking common sense I know that is frowned upon.

[buildomaha]

I really thought theyd start with the 18, which was metro's second busiest route (TBH, might be the busiest now, even over ORBT) that serves Aksarben, 72nd street, and Ames. It was the one route throughout the pandemic that didnt retain any service reduction through the entire pandemic or "post"- pandemic.

Oh yeah the first North to South Orbit should be on 72nd. They should also someday have a North to South Orbit on 24th and 120th too. And here is an abstract thought for the geniuses planning all this. How about just using regular sized Orbit buses at first until the ridership is up enough to demonstrate a real need for a big Orbit bus. It serves no good purpose having double sized buses running up and down Dodge Street that are only carrying 3 or 4 people I do apologize for talking common sense I know that is frowned upon.

Grandpa your common sense is…well common sense, right now.

[Busguy2010]

There'd be nothing wrong with running regular buses painted in the ORBT livery until the demand requires the bigger buses. But all along, the idea was to create excitement around ORBT, and the articulated buses are fun and cool and were new to the region. Not even KC has bendy buses. They were built and delivered in 2019, and I think they were expecting to need the extra capacity, then BOOM pandemic. That pretty much ruined all potential excitement around ORBT. The buses were paid for and delivered well before the pandemic. Any future ORBT routes could just run regular buses painted orange, but that's be pretty disappointing to walk it back like that. I think it will take several years for ridership to even get back to what it was in 2019, let alone high enough to fill the big buses. It's all just been pretty disappointing, but I 100% blame it on the pandemic.

[yard salad]

I really thought theyd start with the 18, which was metro's second busiest route (TBH, might be the busiest now, even over ORBT) that serves Aksarben, 72nd street, and Ames. It was the one route throughout the pandemic that didnt retain any service reduction through the entire pandemic or "post"- pandemic.

Oh yeah the first North to South Orbit should be on 72nd. They should also someday have a North to South Orbit on 24th and 120th too. And here is an abstract thought for the geniuses planning all this. How about just using regular sized Orbit buses at first until the ridership is up enough to demonstrate a real need for a big Orbit bus. It serves no good purpose having double sized buses running up and down Dodge Street that are only carrying 3 or 4 people I do apologize for talking common sense I know that is frowned upon.

I have some friends who are similarly frustrated whenever they see a big bus with few people, and I get it; we all want an efficient and cost-effective transit system, but I imagine the operating costs of a bendy bus vs a short bus are about the same in the long run (e.g., the payroll of the bus driver), so it makes sense to plan for capacity especially during the opening stages of a big project where funding is much easier to get.

[jjjjhskr]

Just took Orbt from downtown to the Blackstone District. It was packed - some people were standing due to not enough seats. It was really good to see.

[ita]

Just took Orbt from downtown to the Blackstone District. It was packed - some people were standing due to not enough seats. It was really good to see.

Ometro has said that orbt is seeing good ridership on weekends, but it's nice that forum members can validate that claim.

[Omaha Cowboy]

Just took Orbt from downtown to the Blackstone District. It was packed - some people were standing due to not enough seats. It was really good to see.

Ometro has said that orbt is seeing good ridership on weekends, but it's nice that forum members can validate that claim.

Yes, this is definitely some positive news..

Let’s hope the trend continues …

Ciao..LiO…Peace

[Doctor Fate]

Just took Orbt from downtown to the Blackstone District. It was packed - some people were standing due to not enough seats. It was really good to see.

Ometro has said that orbt is seeing good ridership on weekends, but it's nice that forum members can validate that claim.

Yes, this is definitely some positive news..

Let’s hope the trend continues …

Ciao..LiO…Peace

I know that light rails generally more quickly create density, but I'm sure that as infill begins to happen along the ORBT route that there will be more ridership during the week.

[riceweb]

I know that light rails generally more quickly create density, but I'm sure that as infill begins to happen along the ORBT route that there will be more ridership during the week.

I'm actually a bit skeptical of the amount of investment that a light rail line would generate vs ORBT. An enormous reason there's new investment in these areas is that we're simply allowing the market to build what the market is demanding: density with minimal setbacks and minimal parking requirements in fashionable neighborhoods. We should be careful not to determine that the tail wags the dog here. We've been increasing density all throughout the 680 loop for years now without any certainty of increased transit investment.

I'm not saying don't invest in transit, but don't make a faulty assumption that density is ONLY created when there's adequate transit.

I'd favor supporting transit investment in terms of quality of life, inclusiveness, etc. rather than purely in terms of investment dollars.

[Doctor Fate]

I know that light rails generally more quickly create density, but I'm sure that as infill begins to happen along the ORBT route that there will be more ridership during the week.

I'm actually a bit skeptical of the amount of investment that a light rail line would generate vs ORBT. An enormous reason there's new investment in these areas is that we're simply allowing the market to build what the market is demanding: density with minimal setbacks and minimal parking requirements in fashionable neighborhoods. We should be careful not to determine that the tail wags the dog here. We've been increasing density all throughout the 680 loop for years now without any certainty of increased transit investment.

I'm not saying don't invest in transit, but don't make a faulty assumption that density is ONLY created when there's adequate transit.

I'd favor supporting transit investment in terms of quality of life, inclusiveness, etc. rather than purely in terms of investment dollars.

Yeah, I wasn't trying to imply or assume that density or investment is only going to occur because of mass public transit.

What I am saying is that in the studies I have seen, the data shows there was a increase in how quickly investments were made along the transit lines (BRT or rail). For example, in the late 90s and early 00s not much was going on in Salt Lake City. Then the Trax Blue Line was built that ran north-south from Draper to Downtown SLC, within the next 10-12 years two more light rail lines and a street car were added. Along those lines in the last 20 years has been $8 billion in investment, including 6 high rises of 250+ feet and several new to market major retailers and employers.

My thought is that Omaha is already seeing that as indicated by Jay Noddle on Grow Omaha a couple weeks ago. He said the area from downtown to UNMC will be unrecognizable in 7 years. That "unrecognizable" factor is going to happen no matter what because things are always changing for better or for worse. But good public transit can expedite positive change. Maybe without ORBT it would take 20 years instead of 7.

[riceweb]

My thought is that Omaha is already seeing that as indicated by Jay Noddle on Grow Omaha a couple weeks ago. He said the area from downtown to UNMC will be unrecognizable in 7 years. That "unrecognizable" factor is going to happen no matter what because things are always changing for better or for worse. But good public transit can expedite positive change. Maybe without ORBT it would take 20 years instead of 7.

And on that note, we should make sure ORBT investments don't take 10 years to rollout. If there's such clear benefit, let's clear the roadblocks that are holding up these projects. I'm 99% sure the city is only rolling out ORBT to the extent that we get federal money, and the reason it takes years to build a line is because we're complying with federal standards and budgetary timelines. I'd love if we could, as a city, just freakin' execute on an important project without the feds. Basically, we're saying as a city, ORBT is so important, we're unwilling to spend our own money on it. And that just doesn't make any sense. Let's put our money where our mouth is and make timely investments.

[GrandpaaSmucker]

My thought is that Omaha is already seeing that as indicated by Jay Noddle on Grow Omaha a couple weeks ago. He said the area from downtown to UNMC will be unrecognizable in 7 years. That "unrecognizable" factor is going to happen no matter what because things are always changing for better or for worse. But good public transit can expedite positive change. Maybe without ORBT it would take 20 years instead of 7.

I smell B.S. That area ain't going to amount to jack anytime in my life and I still got 15 years! Mr Noodle is a salesman and a promoter. Most all of the development downtown is nothing but corruption gone wild. Lets build a million dollar park and then lets tear it down and build another million dollar park. Tear down the library and move it. Build a new arena and tear the old one down. This round of TIFFS on the house. Lets build a new youth prison and use 10 million of Covid stimulus money for it. Omaha citizens are getting their pockets picked and the short end of the stick by the corrupt developers and politicians that manipulate the government that fosters and continues to allow this self defeating cycle to persist.

The only ones winning are the promoters and crooked politicians. Sorry.

[TitosBuritoBarn]

My thought is that Omaha is already seeing that as indicated by Jay Noddle on Grow Omaha a couple weeks ago. He said the area from downtown to UNMC will be unrecognizable in 7 years. That "unrecognizable" factor is going to happen no matter what because things are always changing for better or for worse. But good public transit can expedite positive change. Maybe without ORBT it would take 20 years instead of 7.

And on that note, we should make sure ORBT investments don't take 10 years to rollout. If there's such clear benefit, let's clear the roadblocks that are holding up these projects. I'm 99% sure the city is only rolling out ORBT to the extent that we get federal money, and the reason it takes years to build a line is because we're complying with federal standards and budgetary timelines. I'd love if we could, as a city, just freakin' execute on an important project without the feds. Basically, we're saying as a city, ORBT is so important, we're unwilling to spend our own money on it. And that just doesn't make any sense. Let's put our money where our mouth is and make timely investments.

I used to administer federal fund allocations for an MPO. Most major projects of regional importance have federal funding involved. It’s hard for anyone to build anything big (or small even) without them. Local governments typically don’t have deep enough bank accounts for anything with a significant price tag like this. Really you want federal funds than vice versa because it means the money isn’t coming from local coffers and thus isn’t a significant local tax burden. Though to prove commitment to a project, a local government usually has to put up between 10% and 30% of the funding for the project.

[GrandpaaSmucker]

Some city official was on the news saying the recent downtown flooding disaster was just a rare 100yr event ......and the city is not going to do nothing......and it would cost a bazillion dollars to fix anyway. That line don't sound like it is coming out of the same side of the mouth as the lines about how they are going to fix downtown up and get street cars and buses and blah blah blah.

People could of got killed down there but that is not what is important. Its all about the money.

That video a man shot in that elevator filling up with water downtown was played on every news cast across the country and then some. That wasn't good pub.

[riceweb]

I used to administer federal fund allocations for an MPO. Most major projects of regional importance have federal funding involved. It’s hard for anyone to build anything big (or small even) without them. Local governments typically don’t have deep enough bank accounts for anything with a significant price tag like this. Really you want federal funds than vice versa because it means the money isn’t coming from local coffers and thus isn’t a significant local tax burden. Though to prove commitment to a project, a local government usually has to put up between 10% and 30% of the funding for the project.

And in that process, the cost tends to increase significantly. To install the first ORBT line, we had to take down heavily used pedestrian walkways near schools in order to qualify. Why on earth was that part of the federal requirement??

I don't think relying solely on federal grants is leadership. Leadership involves some sacrifice, and when you're simply applying for any and every grant and making your decisions based on which grants you receive, you're not really taking an active role in the future of your city, all you're doing is waiting on federal government handouts. What's worse is that this means our entire city government plan is dependent on which party majority is running the country.

We probably end up spending the same amount of local money compared to building these things on our own, and we lose all say in how the projects must be built and operate. It seems like there's gotta be a better infrastructure-funding model.

[Louie]

I used to administer federal fund allocations for an MPO. Most major projects of regional importance have federal funding involved. It’s hard for anyone to build anything big (or small even) without them. Local governments typically don’t have deep enough bank accounts for anything with a significant price tag like this. Really you want federal funds than vice versa because it means the money isn’t coming from local coffers and thus isn’t a significant local tax burden. Though to prove commitment to a project, a local government usually has to put up between 10% and 30% of the funding for the project.

And in that process, the cost tends to increase significantly. To install the first ORBT line, we had to take down heavily used pedestrian walkways near schools in order to qualify. Why on earth was that part of the federal requirement??

I don't think relying solely on federal grants is leadership. Leadership involves some sacrifice, and when you're simply applying for any and every grant and making your decisions based on which grants you receive, you're not really taking an active role in the future of your city, all you're doing is waiting on federal government handouts. What's worse is that this means our entire city government plan is dependent on which party majority is running the country.

We probably end up spending the same amount of local money compared to building these things on our own, and we lose all say in how the projects must be built and operate. It seems like there's gotta be a better infrastructure-funding model.

Which walkways got the kibosh?

[TitosBuritoBarn]

I used to administer federal fund allocations for an MPO. Most major projects of regional importance have federal funding involved. It’s hard for anyone to build anything big (or small even) without them. Local governments typically don’t have deep enough bank accounts for anything with a significant price tag like this. Really you want federal funds than vice versa because it means the money isn’t coming from local coffers and thus isn’t a significant local tax burden. Though to prove commitment to a project, a local government usually has to put up between 10% and 30% of the funding for the project.

And in that process, the cost tends to increase significantly. To install the first ORBT line, we had to take down heavily used pedestrian walkways near schools in order to qualify. Why on earth was that part of the federal requirement??

I'm not sure what you're referring to there but I feel there's some context missing. What crosswalks? Where? What schools?

I don't think relying solely on federal grants is leadership. Leadership involves some sacrifice, and when you're simply applying for any and every grant and making your decisions based on which grants you receive, you're not really taking an active role in the future of your city, all you're doing is waiting on federal government handouts. What's worse is that this means our entire city government plan is dependent on which party majority is running the country.

We probably end up spending the same amount of local money compared to building these things on our own, and we lose all say in how the projects must be built and operate. It seems like there's gotta be a better infrastructure-funding model.

Orbt and Metro aren't services run by the City of Omaha. They, or Metro at least, are a regional service that extends to various suburbs of Omaha and into another state and are run by the Metropolitan Agency for Planning (MAPA), the region's metropolitan planning organization (MPO). MPOs develop regional planning efforts to assist with planning and systems coordination of a core city and its suburbs, particularly in the realm of transportation. And here's the thing: they are a federal mandate. You can't not have an MPO and they are almost entirely funded by federal funds. Let me be clear: every project of regional significance uses federal funds. Every. Single. One. They are not "federal government handouts" and we are not lacking leadership. This is, simply, a major component for how transportation is funded throughout the country. The airport will use federal funds, the NDOT will use them for interstate improvements, 15% of Metro's annual revenues are federal funds, the 180th street bridge is using them, etc. Often, if it's not a low-traffic neighborhood street, federal funds are involved.. in every city.. in every state. Different MPOs are distributed different federal funding programs based on need determined through a collaborative effort between the feds and the region, but is largely based on population. Federal restrictions really aren't that substantial. The Surface Transportation Program is a big federal fund source that everyone gets a slice of. That program has few federal restrictions and allows for the MPO to make up tighter restrictions for themselves if they wish through regional planning efforts (they do so because the cost of projects is usually higher than funds available so the funding programs end up being competitive). In contrast CMAQ funds are distributed only to metro areas where congestion and air quality are significant issues based on federal air quality standards. Granted the funding for ORBT was a little different in that it used TIGER funds which is competitive at a national level rather than a regional level, but if Metro were to look to acquire funding through funding streams that go through MAPA, they're still looking at federal funds with federal restrictions.. as well they would not likely receive nearly as much money because the purse is not as deep.

For the region to be independent of federal funds, you're looking at roughly a 50% to 60% increase in all transportation components built into the various taxes you pay including your property taxes, motor fuel taxes, motor vehicle registration fees, use taxes, and sales taxes, income taxes, etc. Oh and a helluva a lot more airfare taxes. It's not feasibly, politically, or economically realistic, if not impossible, for the region to fund projects like these completely on our own.

[jjjjhskr]

or maybe we could keep more of our $ and use them to support these programs without needing to increase taxes. Nebraska is a net donor of $ to other states (we put in to the fed govt more than we get back. Most of the net $ gaining states are in the south.

[ita]

ORBT will start charging fares on Oct. 1 with mobile app

Jeffery Robb
Metro transit’s new ORBT line will start charging a ride fare Oct. 1.

Metro announced Friday that it will collect ORBT fares through the Umo Mobility app. An ORBT ride will cost $1.25 with a 25-cent charge for a transfer.

ORBT has been free since it started last November.

Now fares will run through the Umo app. Riders can manage accounts and load money online or through the app, Metro said.

[Busguy2010]

Been a while since I've ridden the bus. I can see they're taking great strides in offering this form of payment. I just hope this doesn't become the primary form of payment, because I love how if I have to, I know I can grab the random dollar that's been sitting on my dresser for a year, and grab a quarter out of my coin jar and get to where I need to be with no fuss of downloading an app and getting a card.

Sounds like that will be the only way to pay on ORBT, but the rest of the buses will still have cash fare. I wonder if you can board a regular bus for 1.25, buy a transfer and use it to board ORBT... I'd hope so.

[jjjjhskr]

Spent the last 2 nights in Burlington, Vermont )pop less than 50,000) It has a very walkable downtown and buses are free. They block off 4 blocks downtown with shops, bars, restaurants, etc a a pedestrian walkway and it is very active. Lots of street performers everywhere and a lot of fun to just hang out.