Rail Facts
RAIL TRANSIT IS: ABSURDLY COSTLY..... INEFFECTIVE..... DANGEROUS..... DISRUPTIVE.....and WRONG for Scottsdale!Our focus at SCTSC is trying to stop the City of Scottsdale from committing a blunder of unimaginable magnitude by putting two rail lines and overhead wires up the middle of Scottsdale Road. This is a list of facts about rail gleaned from transit experts with real world experience in cities where rail has already been implemented, with disasterous results. You can verify these facts for yourself by referring to our Links page. Much of this information comes from the PROPONENTS of rail, represents a "best case" scenario, and very effectively makes the argument AGAINST rail if the facts are made known and considered logically.
Rail transit (also known as LRT) requires a dedicated right-of-way and special construction of the rails. In other words, the TWO SETS of rails (you have to have one going each direction) will replace a lane of traffic in EACH direction and be separated by barriers or curbs.
WATCH OUT FOR THE "STREETCAR!" In addition to LRT, other faces of this same transit mode are known as "modern streetcar" and "bus rapid transit." However, they both involve barrier-separated, dedicated right-of-way AND removal of traffic lanes. We've used "LRT" throughout this website to refer to both Light Rail Transit and its closely-related cousins, modern streetcar and bus rapid transit.
COSTLY TO BUILD
LRT construction is unbelievably expensive (upwards of $80 million dollars per mile). That is more than 40 times the cost of building roads for automobiles. Valley Metro's own numbers include a staggering $1.4 BILLION to complete construction already under way (what is your guess as to whether they will wind up on-budget?), in order to serve a hoped-for (again, their own words) 26,000 commuters a year.
That's $54,000 PER COMMUTER. Just to BUILD IT. You can buy a new Porsche and 5 years' worth of gas for that! (2007 Porsche Boxster msrp $45,600; US Energy Information Administration, 514 gallons per year @ $3 per gallon)
COSTLY TO OPERATE
Rail does not pay for itself, therefore a taxpayer subsidy is perpetual. Every LRT system in the US requires large and continuing taxpayer support. In fact, fares cover less than 10% of total costs.
INEFFECTIVE
Contrary to media reports that regurgitate rail contractors' propaganda, rail serves a very small number of commuters. By the rail lobby's own numbers, LRT at best serves only about 2/10 of 1 percent of all traffic. In other words, it would remove fewer than 1 car in 500 from the existing traffic volume. When combined with taking away automobile lanes and with traffic control favoritism, LRT actually INCREASES congestion. If there's more congestion, there's also more pollution.
LRT is SLOW. Because LRT operates across signal-controlled interesections it can travel no faster than the signal-to-signal speed of automobiles. Average speeds are 16 miles per hour.
DANGEROUS
LRT fatality rates are DOUBLE the rates for buses, and even exceed automobile fatalities. And that is only for vehicle-to-vehicle collisions; it doesn't include pedestrians hit crossing traffic lanes to get to mid-street LRT stations.
Rail crossings at intersections are absolutely deadly for two-wheel vehicles, i.e., motorcycles and bicycles. They are deadly not only because of collision risk, but also because the wheels tend to either slip when crossing the rails, or fall into the rails so that the rider is thrown.
Since the rail route is fixed, if the train is involved in a collision the ENTIRE SYSTEM has to be shut down. There is only one set of rails going each direction, thus no way for following trains to go around or re-route.
Barrier separation and forcing left turn / u-turn traffic to cross only at signaled intersections has a MAJOR impact on emergency vehicle response time.
Cities that have implemented LRT have seen enormous increases in crime where stations are located, and on the trains themselves. In fact, gangs and other organized criminal elements actually go to war with each other for control of given lines and stations!
DISRUPTIVE
The displacement of traffic lanes required by LRT construction actually makes congestion worse. The barrier separation makes left turns impossible at all points on the roadway except at major intersections, which increases intersection loads. Traffic signal timing must be adjusted to favor the rail, which imposes higher burdens on automobile lanes. It must also be adjusted to favor the additional burden of left turning traffic, thus shifting burden to the remaining through-lanes.
Rail is also UGLY. The cars are enormous (110 feet long) and require overhead wires...TWO SETS...right in the line of sight of some of our most scenic views.
Even before construction, many small businesses will be literally put out of business by condemnation for rail right-of-way. If the condemning agency doesn't take the property altogether, they often take small business parking since it is closest to the street. Without parking, you can't have a business. Parking is ALREADY a problem in Scottsdale.
LRT construction is a small-business killer. You only have to look to the seemingly endless construction underway in downtown Phoenix to see this effect. Many small businesses run on pretty thin profit margins anyway. LRT construction will put many of them under for good.
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