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Light Rail Now/Light Rail Progress can be contacted at: Light Rail Now! |
 We reprint here a very thought-provoking recent commentary on "Bus Rapid Transit" ("BRT") from conservative commentator Paul M. Weyrich, a staunch supporter of public transportation and rail mass transit. While we believe the overall thrust of Paul Weyrich's argument is sound, we must respectfully register a difference of opinion on two minor but important points. * "People don't want to ride buses" – Certainly, there is a widespread public aversion to bus service, but we see evidence of that being overcome, particularly through the introduction of Quality Bus service (a term we prefer to the confusing and somewhat oxymoronic "BRT"). Quality Bus, including busways, and bus ridership in general, have thrived most impressively precisely in those areas which have good rail transit as part of their total, multi-modal transit mix – places like Miami, Pittsburgh, Washington, and Los Angeles. Quality Bus works best as an adjunct of rail transit, not in competition with it. We also note that Ottawa (virtually the Mecca of North American "BRT") has introduced experimental rail transit, to great success, and is now on course to install a more extensive light rail transit (LRT) system. (See Ottawa (Finally) Opts for Light Rail.) * "Light rail lines [are] more expensive to construct" – Paul Weyrich himself acknowledges that this is debatable, and we don't necessarily concede this for equivalent levels of capacity and service. We note that most "BRT" (Quality Bus) projects seem to involve significant portions of routing in mixed traffic and other somewhat compromised alignments, not on segregated busways – yet the cost per mile is based on total route-mileage. Furthermore, these facilities often neglect or omit station amenities, pedestrian and urban renovation facilities, park & ride facilities, and other capital improvements that are almost invariably included in LRT projects. Some of these issues are discussed in our articles "BRT" - You Can Build it ... But Will They Come? and GAO's "BRT" Report: Errors, Anomalies, Misinformation. Having said this, we note that there is much, much more in Paul Weyrich's commentary with which we agree, and agree strongly. It is reprinted here from the Houston Chronicle of 29 August 1003.
Houston Chronicle Viewpoint White House off track on 'bus rapid transit' By Paul M. Weyrich The Bush administration is right about most things, but it is dead wrong about one of them – urban mass transit. I am known for my work in cultural conservatism, for putting grass-roots coalitions together and for efforts to liberate the former Soviet empire. If truth be known, my real expertise is in urban mass transit. I helped to organize a commuter group aimed at saving a threatened rail line in the Midwest and served as Washington correspondent for a transit publication. I did transportation appropriations work in the U.S. Senate for six years, published a rail transit magazine for eight years, served on the Amtrak board for six years and served as vice chairman of the Amtrak Reform Council for five years. With my colleague Bill Lind, i have co-authored six monographs on urban transit in cooperation with the American Public Transit Association. So when I take issue with an administration policy, it is because I have some background in doing so. The Bush administration is anti-rail transit and is pushing something called "bus rapid transit".
Light rail lines, on the other hand, although more expensive to construct, have almost always attracted more passengers than projected. Many of those users are not transit dependent but are leaving their automobiles behind for fast, reliable trains. That will happen with sleek, modern trains. It won't happen with buses. No matter how much the seats are made more comfortable, a bus is still a bus. The administration says buses are superior because they are more flexible. Yet, that is the weakness of a bus system. Riders aren't sure if the bus is really coming, and moreover, they aren't sure a bus rapid transit system will be there next year. A fixed rail system is reliable and will be there for decades to come.
Light rail is a solid means of mass transit. It can operate in the street, in a median of highways, in a subway, on an elevated structure and so on. We had excellent systems all over America. Most were abandoned in favor of buses, but beginning in San Diego in 1981, light rail has made a remarkable comeback. We were down to seven cities with light-rail lines in the 1970s. Now 26 cities have some sort of light-rail lines. There are 19 more looking at light rail seriously. The administration has told most of these cities that they can forget rail. The administration has implied that if cities want federal money, they should plan for bus rapid transit. Local officials are telling the administration that they don't want buses. Some cities are planning to go it alone with state and local funds providing the revenue necessary to construct rail. Bus rapid transit is a fad. It won't last. The administration has been sold a bill of goods, no doubt by highway interests that have always opposed rail from the very beginning of federal mass transit involvement in 1965. It is hard to get policy-makers to ever admit they are wrong. It would behoove Federal Transit Administration officials to reverse themselves. There would be dividends for doing so. Ronald Reagan, who was the prototype conservative president for modern times, was pro-rail. Some pundits call George W. Bush, Reagan Junior. He ought to emulate Reagan in this arena. Weyrich is chairman and chief executive officer of the Free Congress Foundation in Washington, D.C. Updated 2003/09/02 |
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Bus rapid transit may be cheaper to build, but it
is not cheaper to operate. Light-rail trains in San Diego, Sacramento and other places
regularly run four car trains in rush hour. These are long, articulated cars, so we are looking at
the equivalent of a six-car train. Los Angeles
just lengthened all of its platforms on the Blue Line to Long Beach in
order to accommodate three articulated cars that they run during
morning and evening rush hours. That line, by the way, was the last
route of the once great Pacific Electric System to be abandoned. It
carried 12,000 people a day in its last full year of operation, 1960.
Substitute bus service carried only about 8,000 a day. Today, the fast,
air-conditioned and reliable trains carry about 73,000 each weekday.
Thousands have left their cars to ride light rail. Since these trains rely on
ticket machines with random inspections for operations, there is only a
single operator per train. Each bus would require a driver. Even though
buses would attract a small percentage of passengers of what light rail
would get, it would require dozens and dozens and dozens of additional
operators. Labor is well over 50 percent of the cost of operating any transit system.