Posted on Tue, May. 06, 2008
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Train will be delayed; take the bus
By MICHAEL NEWSOM
mmnewsom@sunherald.com
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BILOXI --
Improved public transportation and more "walkable" communities are critical to solving some future problems for South Mississippi, but a light rail system is likely out of reach for many years, planners said Monday.At a summit on smart growth, Kevin Coggin, executive director of the Coast Transit Authority, said plans call for a trolley system that would run along the beach. Itwould be easy, as the government already owns the beach, he said.
But a light rail system, an idea that came out of the post-Katrina charrettes, is still not cost-effective for a market the size of South Mississippi. It takes a high passenger load to support light rail and the Coast could still be about 30 years from that. But Coggin said officials are pursuing a bus that functions much like a light rail system, with a higher passenger load than a traditional bus.
Coggin said officials are still pursuing the CSX Railroad right of way to build an east-to-west road, and that could one day include some light rail transportation if the number of riders justifies it. More are seeking out public-transportation options than before Katrina, he said, pointing out the CTA's ridership is up 9.5 percent since the storm.
"Now with the cost of fuel and the general state of the economy, transportation costs are flowing over into everything we buy," Coggin said. "All costs are up. People are really looking at us."
