Quote Originally Posted by Spartan View Post
For those of you that want bus system upgrades to somehow come from MAPS, keep in mind that MAPS IS CAPITAL FUNDING. NOT OPERATIONAL. Sometimes governing is a science, not an art.

I would absolutely support a substantial regional tax that would fund a consolidated metro bus system along with these rail capital projects. That needs to be a permanent tax, and if upgraded bus service is funded with any tax that has a sunset, that could lead to a disaster later on down the road.

When I saw convention center expansion I lol'd. Hard. For me, all I really want out of the next MAPS is rails. Rails, nothing else, or no vote from me. It's that simple. I want to be able to reach out to real, different, and diverse communities and build a streetcar network that serves the vision of bus advocates. We don't have to argue at each other from across the aisle.
The idea of upgrading the bus system (and I guess I should have put the language in there) is to pay for the actual buses, bus stops and any sort of infrastructure to make it better. The operational side would come from a different source of funding, something I didn't want to really get into in this poll. I hope this clears things up a little.

I remember when MAPS3 was produced hearing there would need to be a second phase of the Convention Center for a total of $450 million. I can't find where I read that and don't know the details, but wanted to put it on there since I have a feeling it will be if there is another one. I have a feeling the next MAPS will have a lot to do with transit and there will be some sort of county tax for a RTA that would provide commuter rail throughout the metro.