Mid City and Regional Rail

As anyone who lives in Mid City, I constantly dream that one day I can be independent of my car. However, there is a chicken and the egg complex. As a person living in an area that can easily be sustainable, what form of mass transit is needed first? Short distance? Or long distance? One without the other still requires a car.

The point of the question relates directly to the New Orleans/Baton Rouge rail. While I'm obviously a heavy supporter of the rail. I have many issues with the background planning for the project. One of the fundamental reasons will be the location of the station. Memorial Stadium, while central, isn't convenient. Non of our current transportation systems are centered on that specific location. Nor is this location heavily populated in the immediate area. So every person taking the train will be required a commute. Our current bus system would have to dedicate a special route specifically for the station, which would require a transfer and therefore over an hour bus ride to the average citizen. So most people will be arriving by car (I-110), with lots of cheap parking. This isn't even mentioning the people arriving to Baton Rouge. The train station, like the bus station, would have no immediate destinations nearby. Requiring further transfers for people out of town.

Another fundamental problem with the train will be cost. A ticket will more than likely be $40 r/t. LA Swift offered the same round trip at a cost of nothing, and now at $10. The ridership is still low. People say they will use a train instead of bus, but when it comes down to it, the same amount of convenience is offered on both. It's all a perception. Even if new rail lines are laid (which probably won't happen), its almost impossible that "high-speed" will ever be achieved on a short-run, multi-destination trip. So we are probably looking at a two hour ride between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. 

Being from the Midwest, we had a daily Amtrak train to Chicago that operated from downtown to downtown. The ride was 2.5 hours, 120 miles, at $40 (similar to the proposed New Orleans route). The station was located within a half mile of a 40,000 person university, had a high transit ridership, and the destination city of Chicago was much less automobile reliant than New Orleans. Yet the train was barley used.

My point isn't suppose to be cynical. Although it is. My point is personal fear. Investing all of this time, money, and effort into a single-line destination train might be the downfall of further investment. There isn't any long range vision. It seems to be forgotten that we already have a rail line connecting New Orleans to Houston. Yet no discussion on improving that service has taken place. While Baton Rouge could possibly be connected to Houston, it couldn't physically include Lafayette and Lake Charles (two of our large metro areas). So I wish this discussion would look at the long-term ramifications of a comprehensive regional rail study, instead of just a commuter line between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. If we are only looking at a commuter line, than we need to look at other short term transit options which is completely different from the regional, high-speed rail being discussed. In order for a commuter line to work, it needs to be well connected - a truly multi-model transportation network. There are three levels to this type of transit. Local bus service, light rail, and commuter rail. Small steps need to be made in each to succeed. Focusing all our resources on one level is as failing as focusing all our transportation money into the automobile.