The darker the color, the closer the parcel is to the rail line.
Civil Beat calls this “a surprising statistic,” but it seems completely logical to rail supporters:“More than half of the nearly 300,000 different parcels on the entire island of Oahu are within two miles of a rail station, showing just how many Honolulu residents could potentially benefit from the train.”
Well, yeah! It’s what the rail project has been saying for years and what national transit experts have said for decades. Honolulu’s geography is perfectly suited for a rail transit line, with buses running from the valleys and neighborhoods (the parcels) and funneling passengers into the stations.
CB continues: “Considering Oahu is nearly 600 square miles, it’s not intuitive that so many parcels would be so close to a narrow 20-mile line.”
Actually, what’s intuitive and not surprising at all is that a rail line would be built where the people are. Selecting the route was not a dart-throwing exercise, with planners taking turns on tosses that determined where the stations would be built.
Nevertheless, we’re not quibbling with Civil Beat’s story. Like the piece suggests, lots and lots of residents and business employees will live and work within walking distance or a short bus or bike ride from a rail station.
A great many of them will leave the car at home and ride.
1 comment:
I like the graphic. It's effective. Are there really parcels out there in the middle of the rain forests?
As for the surprising statistic, it isn't surprising to people that have looked at maps of Oahu, especially population distributions. Most of Oahu is preservation and agricultural land, and military land further constrains the 20-mile corridor.
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