Rail transit: Two modes better than one?

Last week, the Metro Council endorsed the High Capacity Transit System Plan. This plan identifies a series of corridors throughout the region as the next logical routes for high capacity transit. Despite the fact that the plan does not specifically identify modes for each corridor, many of these routes are spoken of as potential MAX light rail lines. Now, I am a light rail user, and I prefer it to the bus any day. It’s is fast, quieter, and easier to use. I do have to raise a question, however: is light rail the best answer for Portland’s future transportation needs?

From a functional perspective, light rail is not always the best solution. As anyone whose destination is cross town will likely know, riding MAX through downtown Portland is a drag. It makes way too many stops and takes way too long to get across. Even some TriMet employees have stated to me that they dislike riding MAX across town because of these delays. From this perspective, express rail services such as the agency’s WES commuter rail system is far more effective: during the time that MAX takes to traverse downtown Portland, WES connects Wilsonville to Beaverton, 15 miles away.

From a development and design standpoint, light rail isn’t always the best option either. According to TriMet’s website, there has been “$6 billion in transit-oriented development along MAX Light Rail lines.” If the Green Line (scheduled to open in September 2009) is excluded, that pencils out to $135 million in development per mile of MAX, assuming that this development is distributed equally along the 44.3 miles of route. Compare this to the Portland Streetcar, which reports that it has so far generated $3.5 billion in development along a 4 mile route, with an average of $875 million per mile.

If the goal, then, is to provide fast and efficient service (especially for commuters) connecting the far flung points of the metro area, commuter rail provides a far better answer. If the goal is to provide redevelopment incentives and a better local transit experience, streetcars are a better solution. So what if we built both? The combined per-mile cost of building WES-like commuter and building streetcar lines is cheaper than the per-mile cost of building MAX: $50.2 million vs. $69.4 million.

This option, of course, is not always available. Many parts of the metro region do not have pre-existing rail lines that could be converted to a WES-like operation, and even where they do exist, securing the cooperation of the railroads can be tricky at best. Another problem with commuter style systems is that they tend to be peak hour only, rather than all day affairs. Finding places to install streetcars is less of a physical problem, but more of a social one. Unlike commuter rail, streetcars attract redevelopment — lots of it. There are many cases when this redevelopment would not be desirable, such as in the historic “bungalow belt” neighborhoods of Portland.

In the end, the choice of modes is more than just per mile cost, it’s a matter of external constraints, project goals, and local sensibilities. In corridors with redevelopment needs and pre-existing rail lines, however, a combination of parallel commuter rail and streetcars may prove a practical and attractive option to consider.

Note: Per-mile numbers were found by dividing the total project costs for the most recent project of each mode and dividing them by their length in miles. Sources: TriMet WES Project History, TriMet’s Green Line, and the Portland Streetcar eastside loop.