TR Circular E-C058_9th LRT Conference_2003.pdf - Florida ...

384 Transportation Research Circular E-C058: 9th National Light Rail Transit Conference
operating costs per passenger-mile dropped 20% compared with 1990, reversing the previous
upward trend. All in all, it would appear that, by these indicators at least, Denver’s LRT also has
possibly been justifying its investment (10, 11, 13).
CONCLUSIONS
Reported increases in transit ridership in North America are not refuted by census journey-towork
survey data, but discrepancies present problems. Census data are not comparable to transit
ridership and modal-split data, such as are gathered in regional analyses. A totally different
methodology is used in the census survey, and its mobility-related data appear somewhat less
reliable. The precision of census data for tabulations of a few thousand commuters’ mode
choices thus seems questionable. This stems in part from the subjective nature of the responses,
and bears little relationship to actual ridership counts experienced by transit service providers.
Claims by critics of an absolute decline in mass transit work trips between 1990 and 2000 appear
to be based on a methodological fallacy—particularly a faulty analysis of census journey-towork
survey data which ignores sampling error, survey methodological flaws, and other
problems.
The census work-journey survey data appear useful for assessing broad trends, and do
suggest that, in many urban areas, the proportion of residents using mass transit for their work
trips (the work trip “market share”) has declined slightly—certainly, a troubling issue for
American transit industry professionals and decision makers. In many cases, however, use of
such data fails to note (1) the effects of urban sprawl, necessitating more and more automobile
dependency; (2) the fact that much of this sprawl-type growth is typically outside the transit
service area; and (3) the fact that roadway development in almost all cases has outstripped rail
transit development by hundreds of times. Interestingly, of the 12 major-city transit systems that
actually gained or maintained estimated market share of work trips between 1990 and 2000, 9 of
them are cities with major rail transit, and most operate LRT systems.
History and experience suggest that there will be highway congestion no matter how
much highway capacity is increased or mass transit is expanded. Some highway-promoting
critics of rail transit attempt to make the sole value of an LRT investment hinge on the extent to
which it “reduces” roadway congestion. Since it can never do this, it therefore will always fail by
this measure. Such a measure must be discarded. What LRT and other mass transit
improvements on segregated, reserved, or exclusive alignments do is provide additional mobility
alternatives to traffic congestion. Improving mobility is the issue, not eliminating roadway traffic
congestion. This, LRT has demonstrated, it can do.
Anecdotal case studies of LRT in Dallas, Portland, and Denver suggest that ridership
expansion, productivity (passenger-mileage) improvement, and reductions in unit operating costs
may provide some justification of LRT investment in those cities. As demonstrated anecdotally
in a specific corridor in Denver, LRT can have a very real impact on travel congestion. This
anecdotal evidence suggests that many new (and established) LRT systems may likewise be
justifying their investment, in terms of achieving similar performance goals and enhancing
mobility in specific corridors. Research efforts similar to those of Denver’s RTD, aimed at
assessing the relative traffic-volume impacts of LRT versus private motor vehicles in specific
corridors, would be helpful in determining this and perhaps providing evidence to the public that
their investment in LRT and other major transit improvements is indeed paying off.