Light Rail Myth #4

Light rail Capacity

Now that a commercial developer-led light rail advocate community organization is dawning on the horizon, a series of public relations myths will befall the unsuspecting public. In a weekly series, I will attempt to anticipate these fantasies and dispel them with a reality statement and supporting data.

The Myth: Rail transit is high-capacity transit.

Follow up:

The Reality: Bus corridors have more capacity than any single rail line.

Light rail proponent will say, “There is not enough room in Virginia Beach/Norfolk streets to accommodate all the buses needed to carry the passengers served by a single rail line.”

Untrue!

First, a correct comparison is not between a single rail line and a single street. It is between a single rail line and the several thoroughfares that constitute a bus corridor. The corridor has greater capacity than the light rail line, and it is more convenient for passengers. Even a single-line dedicated bus right-of-way has greater carrying capacity than a light-rail line.

Moreover, the myth is not true in its own terms. A study found that buses rather easily matched a light rail line’s capacity, which has the highest average passenger load of all U.S. light-rail lines, and may have the highest peak passenger load. It took only 103 buses in local service or 57 in freeway express service to match the carrying capacity provided by the 20 rail cars needed to provide one hour’s service.

More importantly, the bus road cost share is a fraction of the light rail right-of-way cost and buses had cost about $300,000 a piece, versus $3 million paid for each light-rail car.

Another study conducted found that its one operational busway has three times the capacity of its best light-rail line. The same study found that if busways are opened up to use HOV lanes they can provide nearly six times the capacity of a freeway lane.