Is Broad Street too fat? Perhaps a New Year's resolution is in order. Have you checked out the train station area plan? Let us know your input on these topics and more by joining in this discussion.
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Discussion:
Town Center
Topic:
Transit Oriented Development
The town center plan was prepared in response to the increase in commuter rail line service along the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield line. The plan is centered around this idea of Transit-Oriented-Development that in theory will provide a higher quality of life without depending on a car for transportation.
“Transit oriented development is the exciting fast growing trend in creating vibrant, livable communities. Also known as Transit Oriented Design, or TOD, it is the creation of compact, walkable communities centered around high quality train systems. This makes it possible to live a higher quality life without complete dependence on a car for mobility and survival.” (http://www.transitorienteddevelopment.org)
The question now becomes, if the Basketball Hall of Fame is only a 20 minute train ride away, if your hour long commute to work can be utilized as a time to reflect on your day without the hustle and bustle of rush hour traffic, or if you could jump on a train to visit New York City would you ride the train and for what reasons would you choose not to ride the train?
Let us know in the comments.
4 Responses
Michele vannelli over 9 years ago
Personally, the above series of questions (last paragraph), are all multi-faceted and ultimately, for me, pivot around cost. Other elements needing to be considered, aside from trainfare, are associated expenses at each end for train station parking (the closer the higher the rate), and cab fares. It's unrealistic to assume everyone's destination is located within walking distance of a station whether it be for work or pleasure (with perhaps the exception of NYC). Just a suggestion, maybe add these questions to the existing survey because resident feedback could lead towards a more realistic vision of Windsor train usage and its impact on our town and this town center plan.
Bonnie Karkowski over 9 years ago
I have lived in town over 45 years but have only used the train twice. As Michele has stated the cost of taking the train plus the added inconvenience and additional expense to get from train station to ones destination makes taking the car preferably in most cases. If train fares were to be reduced, there would be an influx of riders to compensate for the reduction in fees.
Dave Mourad almost 9 years ago
The commuter rail concept is long long overdue and it's good to see the prospect taken seriously. Indeed as mentioned above the classic "last mile" problem would need to be addressed on a system level. In addition to cabs, a circulator shuttle system and the opportunity for intermodal transit by supporting bike infrustructure on trains would make a final destination within reach of train stations without the need for additional single occupancy cars.
Aaron SMith about 8 years ago
Think the biggest thing, as Dave said, is making sure you implement bike infrastructure as well. From what I've seen, Windsor isn't very bike friendly, and if you really want a more vibrant downtown, that's something that needs to change!