Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Steps continue to be made in the efforts to expand the NFTA Metro Rail from the University at Buffalo's South Campus all the way North through UB's North Campus and Audubon Parkway.
As of right now, the NFTA's project is in the phase of assessing the environmental effects of the proposed actions, otherwise known as the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). This is a requirement of the NFTA to meet NEPA's standards before making any final decision.
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According to Treasurer of the Citizens for Regional Transit (CRT), Jim Gordon, the NEPA process gives voice to local communities, basically serving as a last chance to evaluate a project before it becomes a reality.
"What is considered in NEPA are the kinds of things that these groups are talking about," said Gordon during an appearance on WBEN's "Hardline" with Joe Beamer on Sunday. "What's going to happen to build the expressway? The construction, we're going to have possibly blasting, we're going to have a lot of construction on Niagara Falls Boulevard and all these other streets that are involved. How much is that going to change the neighborhood? Once it's built and it's operational, how does that impact the neighbors in the neighborhood? This is the time for these groups to come forward and make their cases for whether or not they want to go forward with this."
Gordon says following this NEPA process the group is currently in, the next phase after that will be securing the funding for the project, and then the start of construction potentially slated for the end of 2024.
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While there are currently three plans being looked for a potential expansion of the NFTA Metro Rail to the UB North Campus - Niagara Falls Boulevard alignment, Bailey Avenue alignment, Millersport Highway alignment - Gordon says the CRT is supportive of any route that brings light rail rapid transit to Amherst.
"When the UB North Campus was designed, it was designed to have light rail. Even when they were making the plans for it, they knew they could not service it with buses, and they've been trying for years, and it just doesn't work. We support any of the alternatives," Gordon said.
The CRT has done timings of each potential route to see how long it would take the rail trains to go, and surprisingly, he says there's not much difference in time. That means any of the three routes would be OK from a passenger perspective.
As for Gordon, there is one route he specifically prefers for the project.
"My own personal feeling about it is that I like the Millersport Highway alignment the best," he said. "I think it would be easy and much less expensive to run it all the way underground past Sheridan Drive and have it come up near the Interstate-290. It would leave Millersport Highway with a completely re-designed street that would be very, very much quieter, more like a residential area kind of street with parking on both sides of the street, bicycle tracks, city streetlights that don't look like they're from a major highway on it. It'd be much more calm. You wouldn't have a bus every 90 seconds going down the road like you have today. It'd be a very different kind of situation on Millersport."
As far as the idea of the path going by down Niagara Falls Boulevard, Gordon explains that has to do with the idea of transit-oriented development.
"Over the years, until 2021 anyway, the only way you could get funding for a light rail system or basically any kind of transit improvements was because it would benefit developers," he said. "If you look at the path that was chosen, it's maximizing by going through the Boulevard Mall property, Maple Road by the new apartments all over by Sweet Home. And for the Town of Amherst's perspective, it's designed to spur development West of J-J Audubon Parkway and North of Interstate-990."
During the average school year, there's an average of 20,000 UB students going back-and-forth on Millersport Highway every single day on the UB Stampede buses. Gordon says the buses have been optimized as much as possible, but feels there's no more further optimization.
"It is a constraint," Gordon said. "The Governor has said a few weeks ago they want to increase the size of the population at UB North Campus. It can't be done with buses, it's just not possible. We definitely need it. There's more than enough reason to have it.
While this expansion of the NFTA Metro Rail may be beneficial for residents, students and others in-and-around the proposed rail lines, there is some belief it could generate more expansion or the Metro Rail going forward.
"Right now, we have 15,000-20,000 daily riders on the Metro Rail. You add 20,000 for doubling this section between UB North and South Campus, and maybe further than that, then you're up to 35,000-40,000 people a day. That gives you a certain amount of momentum to say, 'Yes, we should go out to the airport, especially that particular route,'" Gordon said. "If you look at traffic on the Kensington Expressway at Grider Street, we have 112,000 cars every day going East and West at that point, and we know that sometimes backs up. So there is some need for extra capacity going out toward the Easterly direction from downtown through Central Terminal out to the Galleria Mall, through the airport and out to Transit Road. That would be a very excellent, well-used route."
Gordon adds he is "almost 100%" sure one of the three proposals in place for the NFTA Metro Rail expansion will happen. However, the CRT is not wedded to a particular alignment or path to go between the campuses, which leaves the door open for options at this time.
While one group advocates for the expansion of the NFTA Metro Rail, another local group believes now is not the appropriate time for expansion.
Stop the Metro organizer Michael Nigrin is aware of the preferred expansion route known as the Locally Preferred Alternative, which runs down Main Street to Kenmore Avenue, down Niagara Falls Boulevard, up Maple Road through Sweet Home and then ultimately Audubon Parkway. Where his concerns lie are with the plan requiring tunneling with a lot of explosives that could cause damage to the surrounding areas.
"We've been in discussion with insurance agents from the previous line, the initial main line, and those explosives radiate out about a quarter of a mile, so they filled insurance claims for homes that were out a quarter of a mile. This affects quite a bit of people," said Nigrin on Sunday during an appearance on WBEN's "Hardline". "We estimate about 10,000 homes and businesses will be impacted by this construction project, and we just don't see the need for it."
In addition, Nigrin says the Stop the Metro group does not believe the cost for the project is appropriate, as it could be a large financial cost for local taxpayers.
"Right now, the taxpayers are on the hook for about $47 million in unrestricted mortgage tax that goes directly to the NFTA. You still see dilapidated ticketing systems and stations in disrepair, so that says to me the volume of ridership is not adequate, and does not pay for the current systems. Expanding it further is premature," Nigrin said. "If they do expand it, then it will be up to taxpayers to support it.
"Let's be clear, this type of development is major. It's a major development. It will involve thousands of homes, thousands of insurance claims. This is not something that should be taken lightly."
Nigrin has a petition that's available to sign at StopTheMetro.com, and says people from all over the City of Buffalo are signing it. As of right now, he says there are about 550 signatures, both online and handwritten, and expects the number of signatures to grow to well-over 1,000 a month from now.
This also includes businesses up-and-down Niagara Falls Boulevard with signs in their windows calling out the proposed Metro Rail plan and voting against what's proposed to come for the region.
"We have one business, Hector's Hardware, taking petition signatures. They have a petition, they've collected more than 200 signatures, and I give a lot of kudos to Hector's Hardware," Nigrin said. "Also, we have many businesses that have put out signs and have expressed an interest to help. We have a volunteer form on our website, if people are interested, to fill out to let us know in what capacity they're willing to help out to, basically, spread the word, to get the word out. We're confident that once people understand what the details are of this proposal, they will also be interested in stopping the Metro proposal."
While the Stop the Metro group is against the expansion of the Metro Rail system right now, if in the future the demand would be there, Nigrin says they would absolutely look into supporting the cause. At this time, when looking at other big cities that have light rail, Nigrin points out they have a robust transit system in place that Buffalo does not have.
"We don't have a robust bus system, evident by the fact we don't even have a shuttle anywhere from the rail line that goes directly to the airport. And we don't have a successful subway system either. The ticketing system is outdated, it's old, much of the stations are in disrepair. That tells me the ridership is not adequate enough to support the existing systems," Nigrin explained. "If you want to extend it further, that means the taxpayers will be on the hook to support the existing system and any proposed expansion."
As for a suitable solution for this issue going forward, Nigrin believes expanding buses and rapid transit better address the matter than an expansion of the Metro Rail.
"The main issue they're talking about is carbon neutrality, well, you could solve that with electric buses. It doesn't move enough passengers, too much wait time for pickup? Add more buses, add more throughput. Time consuming through route congestions, create a dedicated bus line at certain hours of the day to prioritize mass commuting," he said. "Everything they are proposing with a Metro Rail can be solved with expanded buses, and that's what we are suggesting. That's where we are encouraging."
On the flip side, Gordon has some opposing arguments to an expansion of buses and rapid transit.
"They cost too much. You look at the price of a bus, a diesel bus, half a million dollars. A battery electric bus, a million-plus, more for the charging infrastructure," he said. "They're double the weight, they put more wear and tear on the highways, and they only hold 40 people each. If you're trying to move a large number of people, you need many, many, many, many, many more buses. Right now, there's an operator shortage. You can have one operator operate a bus that carries 40 passengers. One operator on Metro Rail carries 700 passengers, so just think of how many more operators you need."
Nigrin believes the NFTA Metro Rail expansion will affect all of Buffalo, and will be something that is going to be problematic for the entire community.