Does Rail Reduce
Congestion-1?
From the
Oregonian
october 29, 1998 (just after the Westside line opened):
The debate about ridership on westside light rail and its effect on traffic
continued Wednesday, with Tri-Met saying it has attracted 1,773 new bus and
rail riders in the westside corridor
Tri-Met based its number on a count of bus riders between 6 and 9 a.m.
on an average of five mornings in October 1997 compared with a similar count
of bus and rail riders this month in the same corridor. The agencys
transportation consultants counted 3,642 riders both directions in October
1997 and 5,415 this month.
Analysis: This is a real count, not a projection and is from the transit
agency itself!
Ridership went from 3,642 to 5,415 an increase of 1773. Of the 5.415 total
transit users, 3,642 (67%) were previous transit users and 1773 (33%)
were not. Typically light rail lines have more riders in the first month
due to the hoopla surrounding their opening and before some riders realize
that, for them, the
rail
is actually worse than the bus that it replaced, so this number of new
riders is probably an ABSOLUTE MAXIMUM.
Conclusions:
-
Trimet found that, over a three hour period, 1773 people were removed from
the freeway for a total of 591 people per hour.
-
A freeway lane has a capacity of around 1800 cars per hour.
-
591 people would occupy 492 cars at 1.2 people per car.
-
492 / 1800 = 0.27, or about 1/4 of one lane of freeway capacity.
-
MAX removed ONE-QUARTER OF ONE LANE worth of traffic from the Sunset during
rush hour.
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Does Rail Reduce Congestion-2
?
A Trimet
FactSheet
(year 2006, 8 years after the Westside line opened) claims that:
-
"MAX carries 26% of afternoon rush-hour commuters traveling from downtown
on the Sunset Hwy. and Banfield Fwy. corridors."
-
"Westside MAX provides the transportation capacity equivalent to another
1.2 lanes in each direction on the Sunset Hwy."
Analysis of "MAX carries 26% of afternoon rush-hour commuters traveling
from downtown on the Sunset Hwy":
The Sunset Hwy. is 3 lanes in each direction, so there are 4 "lanes", counting
MAX as one lane. Of 4 lanes, MAX carries 26%, which is just a little more
than the 25% it would carry if all 4 "lanes" carried the same number of people.
Conclusion:
-
MAX carries about the same number of rush-hour commuters as one lane
of freeway.
-
2/3 of MAX riders would be on a bus if MAX had not been built (as shown above:
"Of the 5.415 total transit users, 3,642 (67%) were previous transit
users...")
-
Therefore MAX carries a number of people equal to 1/3 of the number of people
on one lane of the freeway. But the number of cars removed is 1/3 divided
by 1.2 people per car = 28%
-
MAX only reduces traffic by 28% of one lane of freeway, according to Trimet's
own data.
Comment:
-
Those other 3 lanes of the Sunset, also carry trucks and buses along with
a share of commuters equal to MAX.
-
18 miles of MAX cost $963 million, or $53.5 million per route mile of double
track ($26.75 million per track-mile).
-
Freeways typically cost $5-10 million per lane-mile.
-
The cost was 267% -535% that of a freeway lane for removing 28% of one freeway
lane of traffic - a cost of 950% - 1900% above that of a freeway per
usefulness.
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