Friday, March 21, 2008

11th Hour Paranoia

This morning's Virginian-Pravda brings us the latest installment in Norfolk State University's (NSU) 11th hour paranoid campaign over the light rail line that would pass by their campus.
http://hamptonroads.com/2008/03/council-prods-nsu-end-rail-impasse

First, Norfolk State has already signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) over the rail line. Did someone delete the word "honor" from NSU's vocabulary?

Second, a couple of Hampton Roads Transit's (HRT) bus routes have long run on the periphery of NSU's campus. Any horror stories there?

Third, students could commute to school on the light rail line. Old Dominion University (ODU) encourages it's students to use transit, offering a semester-long ODU bus pass.

Fourth, what about non-students attending events there? I've taken the bus (Route 9) to see football at Dick Price Stadium before. With light rail there, I'd take the train in.

The bottom line: any changes to the light rail plan at this point require the approval of the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). I doubt the FTA would endorse anything that would mean fewer riders on light rail.

1 comment:

Michael Ragsdale said...

Utter nonsense. Especially when the 9, 13, and 18 go by campus (with the 9 especially) all the time. Many NSU students use the 9 and I'm sure you're right when you say many would use The Tide. I wish they would honor their previous commitments.