For the second time, a group of Triangle citizens and leaders that likely has the big picture in view is proposing a regional mass transit plan with a strong rail component. The vision of the Special Transit Advisory Commission, made up of representatives from Wake, Durham and Orange counties, goes beyond the $810 million Raleigh-to-Durham rail line that the federal government effectively halted last year. But this could well be a case of "right-sizing" that makes more sense than the first one.

Officials in Washington said that the Triangle Transit Authority's original plan would not have served enough riders to merit the taxpayer investment. Considering the way the plan had been trimmed to cut costs, they might have been right.

Still, those decision-makers didn't have to creep along Interstate 40 and U.S. 1 every rush hour. Lots of details need to be settled, but the thrust of the commission's ambitious new proposal is encouraging. For $2 billion, it would extend rail service through the heart of the three main Triangle counties, and also beef up the bus system to make the overall system more functional.

As The N&O reported yesterday, the panel seems headed for a recommendation that the TTA build along the region's central rail corridor as originally planned, first connecting Durham and northwest Cary and serving Duke Medical Center and Research Triangle Park. That line, serviced by diesel units, would be extended more than 20 miles, from Cary through downtown Raleigh to North Raleigh.

Better bus service

Separately, the committee said the region should build a 16-mile, electric-powered light rail line from UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill to downtown Durham. And it would add at least 120 buses to the region's existing service -- a vital upgrade. Those buses would connect rail riders with Raleigh-Durham International Airport and collect commuters from Johnston, Harnett and other outlying areas whose jobs are in RTP, Raleigh and the universities. Commuter rail service into communities like Clayton and Apex should remain in the picture as well.

As with any major plan, challenges abound, among them the likelihood that riders would have to transfer from bus to rail (or rail to rail). People resist using mass transit if they have to transfer between modes, so transfers would have to be made as painless as possible. The transit network also would have to be structured to serve the needs of lower-income residents, who use public transit because they have no choice.

Under the commission's proposal, Triangle residents would have to pay a greater share of the cost than they would have under the old TTA plan. That shouldn't necessarily be seen as a downside. The Charlotte region's transit system is up and running in part because that area accepted a small increase in the sales tax to fund it. Triangle residents would vote on paying about half the $2 billion cost, by levying an additional half-cent on the sales tax and a $10 annual car registration fee, or the equivalent of both.

Business on board

The region's business community, with an obvious stake in improved transit options, has every reason to get behind this concept as it evolves, just as it did in Charlotte, and provide suggestions for improving it. This is a quality-of-life amenity, one that would mark the computer-, pharmaceutical- and biotech-rich Triangle as appropriately forward-looking in dealing with one of its biggest challenges, mobility. That kind of reputation is good for existing businesses, and the opportunities for new business success in connection with transit stations also are great, as experiences in other cities have shown.

Regarding costs, the long view is critical. Gridlock is a very real threat to the Triangle's economic health and its appeal as a place to live. With 800,000 new residents expected to arrive by 2030, there's no time to waste in making progress toward a reliable, comprehensive mass transit network.

Regional leaders who have embraced the challenge of devising such a network will have to make those points skillfully and persuasively. Yet here's something that won't have to be sold: In the years since the failed TTA plan was written, gas prices have doubled, to $3 a gallon. That sharpens the allure of hopping a train to work, and could mean that success for a well-run system is right around the bend.