http://www.lightrailnow.org/features/f_lrt_2007-02a.htm

 

Lower LRT capital cost

 

The Rapid Streetcar concept appears to hold serious potential for very significant reductions in the implementational capital costs of LRT projects. As of early 2003, the capital cost of the Portland Streetcar – including rolling stock and maintenance and operational facilities as well as trackage, power system, and traffic control/signal system, totalled $56.9 million for a 2.4-mile (3.9-km) bidirectional route. (informational packet distributed by Portland Streetcar Project at "Portland Poster Session", 9th National Light Rail Transit Conference, Experience, Economics & Evolution – From Starter Lines To Growing Systems, Portland, Oregon, 16-18 November 2003.) in 2004 dollars, that calculates to approximately $24.5 million per mile, or $15.1 million per km – an astoundingly low cost for a rail system installed entirely in city streets (usually by far the most expensive form of surface construction). Certainly, this cost will vary from area to area and among different route configurations and levels of scale, but the Portland data suggest that some of the procedures suggested in this discussion could bring down LRT costs dramatically.

 

blue star Potentially lower unit operating costs

 

Rapid Streetcar systems would seem to have potential for lowering the unit operating costs of transit service by converting appropriate bus corridors to LRT. Because of lower platform labor costs per passenger and particularly per passenger-mile, LRT has demonstrated that these unit costs can be reduced in many cases – see, for example, the analysis in "How Light Rail Saves Operating Cost Dollars Compared With Buses" on the Light Rail Now! website.[6]

 

blue star Multiple benefits of rail transit

 

The Rapid Streetcar concept seems to hold promise for providing other benefits of rail transit, thus attracting higher ridership compared with bus service.[7] Both the Portland Streetcar and the Tacoma Link streetcar have met their ridership goals. (informational packet distributed by Portland Streetcar Project at "Portland Poster Session", 9th National Light Rail Transit Conference, Experience, Economics & Evolution – From Starter Lines To Growing Systems, Portland, Oregon, 16-18 November 2003; and [8].) Some of these additional benefits include:

 

    · Totally zero-emission vehicles

    · Quieter operation

    · Greater compatibility with pedestrianized urban environments

    · Spacious interior accommodations with a generally smoother ride quality

    · improved transportation safety

    · More understandable, consistent route structure

    · More reliable, dependable service

    · Potentially faster service speed compared with similar bus service configurations

 

BTW go Cincy!

Thursday, July 26, 2012 Rapid Streetcar concept gaining ground www.railwayage.com

 

Problem was, North American planners only thought of streetcars as a slow, circulatory mode competing with pedestrians. Meanwhile, de facto high-performance streetcars were taking Europe by storm, and it was clear that streetcar technology could approach the service capabilities of "full" light rail transit (LRT) — in fact, streetcars could be deployed as a kind of "junior LRT".

 

Another factor was the "gold-plating" disease—over-design—with each new LRT startup trying to "one-up" the last new start in another city. LRT railcars were getting bigger and beefier, and station designs were escalating from originally simple shelters into "palaces."