WALLY

The AATA site has a new page charting the progress of WALLY, the proposed commuter line from northern AA (Plymouth/Barton) to Howell. (Hat tip: getDowntown) So far the content includes a press release, plus a PDF of the presentation and the summary of each of the first two monthly meetings. Next meeting is January 26th. Interestingly, these meetings are being held at Whitmore Lake, which shouldn't have surprised me as this is really focused on the commuters north of Ann Arbor getting into the city, not intra-city transit. Skimming through the presentations, it seems like the major points include the fact that AATA is now the designated authority, that the AATA has identified a staff member to work on this project, that the work has begun, that there is now a placeholder for Livingston County to contribute in return for federal matching funds, and that the consultant-generated estimate of $32 million to get the project up and going does not include costs for ADA compliance.

As suggested during the Ann Arbor Transportation Plan overview in September, it looks like they are going to focus on getting the service up and running and not worry about extending it into downtown (or south to the stadium) yet.

I still think this is a mistake, but I think I understand the reasons. My concern is that you really only get "one introduction" to a new service and I suspect the resistance to switching from "car/walk" to "car/train/bus/walk" will be too much for many potential commuters. I'd much prefer to see folks switch from "car/walk" to "car/train/walk", as that strikes me as a much easier transition.

That said, I do have a very personal bias here. I'd really love to be able to hop on a commuter rail at the Washington Street overpass and hop off at the intersection of State and Stimson, but I suspect that will be a long time coming. (Even the optimistic projections of extending the line into AA seem to have it stopping near the Stadium, rather than continuing SSE to State Street and Georgetown.

Regardless, it's great to see a designated site for all your WALLY needs. It would be nice if they eventually included links to the consultant information (or migrated it to this site), currently found here.