Time To Re-consider Light Rail: We Need To Debate It

It does sound like a broken record for Auckland but is it time to seriously re-consider light rail for Auckland?

Clean, green, speedy, safe, confortable, capable of going underground.

Today’s light rail is not about the trams of old but something very adaptable for today’s city landscape.

Light rail occasionally comes up these days in discussions about Auckland’s transport future for areas such as competing against the North Shore busway, or for various suburbs not well served by public transport.

But such discussions see the mention of light rail ges put either into the too hard basket or considered far from being a priority, the latter understandable at a time we’re awaiting for funding and clarification of the electrification project.

Let’s not go back to the painful history of light rail debates in the city but I will mention that as recently as 1997, then Alliance MP (and later North Shore councillor) Grant Gillon, in his maiden speech to parliament, argued that light rail was the answer for Auckland.

But in these difficult recessionary times and emphasis on things green and clean, light rail has become a buzzword in cities around the world. And there are debates everywhere about it.

We do need to have a serious debate here now.

Just over the water in Brisbane, a city so often compared to Auckland, light rail was given the green light in May’s federal budget as I reported enthusiastically at the time.

Brisbane’s inner-city rail study (designs shown right) got an A$20 million investment to work out an underground route and a preferred way of funding the ambitious A$14.2 billion project.The Gold Coast won A$365 million for the A$850 million light rail project, which it hopes to be running by 2013.

Reader Steve W reminded me we shouldn’t let this opportunity slip by, commenting that:

“Okay so busways are much cheaper to build – this was acknowledged by the Queensland Government. However, the overwhelming factor in favour of light rail is, that,  all of their studies have shown that the busway will reach capacity in a much shorter space of time that  a light rail system will.”

Nearer home, Steve remarks that ” the bridge being built at Viaduct harbour was supposed to be of enough strength to take light rail – it’s hard for me to not look at this area and remember the shunts that used to run across to it until the early seventies “.

You can see a recent ABC Australia item about the Gold Coast project (Windows Media) here

If Brisbane gets it, why can’t we?

But then everywhere you look – Europe, Hawaii, cities across the USA –  plans are happening or well advanced. Since this quick look at the return of trams or light rail around the world was written in 1998, it’s hard not to point to a major city where a light rail debate isn’t raging.

In Tampa, Florida, the mayor with support from some business interests has just launched plans for light rail  and the Florida papers and sites are full of arguments about the worthiness or not of light rail:

• “Tampa is perfect for a combination of light rail, high-speed rail and regional trains connected by buses. Go to Europe and see how a city like Vienna is linked by trams/trolleys that stop every half mile or so.” — Robert T. Grimste, lieutenant colonel, U.S. SOCOM, Tampa
• “A quick look at cities that have such rail systems will convince you that traffic hasn’t been helped at all. It’s gotten worse, and to take advantage of this inflexible transportation system you must move to an apartment near a station and have a job near a station.” — James Klapper, Oldsmar.
• Since this all cannot be done simultaneously, we might want to get started on one system (Orlando to Tampa?) and use a European model at the hubs. When we were in Milan recently, we noticed block-long bike racks with credit-card release mechanisms to allow anyone to ‘borrow’ and use a bike and then lock it up at another rack that is conveniently sited. … These kinds of programs would allow rail commuters to easily get to specific parts of town, once they leave the train.” — Hal Freedman, St. Petersburg.

Over in Seattle,  residents are enthusiastic about their new light rail.

And what happens when you get residents enthusiast about new transport, they start more discussion and throwing up ingenious thinking in expanding thinking about how best to get people around. Take this commuter’s comment on a a Seattle site the other day:

“Seattle finally has what it should have installed in the 1960′s – a rail line connecting downtown to the airport. Oh wait, it doesn’t quite make it to the airport. He dribbles, he shoots, and . . . it’s just off the rim. The light rail debate continues. We need a different vision of effective public transportation that can efficiently serve typical cities and suburbs. Instead of disruptively inserting a linear system of fixed lines into a developed cityscape, we need a point to point mass transit system. I call my concept Cellular Mass Transit.

We start with the existing street infrastructure and many small people transport units (cross between a bus/van powered by clean energy technology). Traffic studies establish the appropriate density of transport units per square mile. To use the system, you stick out your ”electronic thumb” (aka cell phone with GPS) and tell the CMT where you want to go. A central processing system rapidly figures out the closest transport unit, safe pick up location and drop off time, and reports back with your personal timetable.

Your route may involve transfers depending on distance traveled, just like any subway or rail system, but you get door to door custom service.Instead of investing in a second set of infrastructure, as we did when we “supplemented” railroads with freeways, we re-invest in existing infrastructure and multi-task with it. Even with light rail we still need to maintain local streets; why not just make better use of them? We have the clean energy technology ready today for effective transport vehicles. We have the electronic and software technology today to handle the processing. We have the road and GIS infrastructure. A private company could pick this up and run with it tomorrow, doesn’t require new government investment or changes in regulation. All we need is to quit arguing over old solutions and focus on current opportunities.”

BTW, such ridesharing concepts have been tried in a few places and explored in sites on modern city ideas like here

But we’re not alone in Auckland for battling to get everyone on board.

In the US not everyone is embracing Obama’s call for the return of rail.

In the Washington Post the other day, columnist Robert J.Samuelson, slams president Obama’s enthusiasm for rail:

“What works in Europe and Asia won’t in the United States. Even abroad, passenger trains are subsidized. But the subsidies are more justifiable because geography and energy policies differ.Densities are much higher, and high densities favor rail with direct connections between heavily populated city centers and business districts.

“In Japan, density is 880 people per square mile; it’s 653 in Britain, 611 in Germany and 259 in France. By contrast, plentiful land in the United States has led to suburbanized homes, offices and factories. Density is 86 people per square mile. Trains can’t pick up most people where they live and work and take them to where they want to go. Cars can. Distances also matter. America is big; trips are longer. Beyond 400 to 500 miles, fast trains can’t compete with planes. Finally, Europe and Japan tax car transportation more heavily, pushing people to trains.

In August 2008, notes the GAO, gasoline in Japan was $6.50 a gallon. Americans regard $4 a gallon as an outrage. Proposals for stiff gasoline taxes (advocated by many, including me) go nowhere. The mythology of high-speed rail is not just misinformed; it’s antisocial. Governments at all levels are already overburdened. Compounding the burdens with new wasteful subsidies would squeeze spending for more vital needs — schools, police and (ironically) mass transit. High-speed rail could divert funds from mass-transit systems that, according to a study by Randal O’Toole of the Cato Institute, have huge maintenance backlogs: $16 billion in Chicago; $17 billion in New York; $12.2 billion in Washington; $5.8 billion in San Francisco. Any high-speed rail system should be financed locally; states should decide their transportation priorities. All this seems familiar, because it’s Amtrak writ large: the triumph of fantasy over fact. The same false arguments used to justify Amtrak (less congestion, pollution, etc.) are recycled. Evidence and experience count for little. Obama and Biden pander to popular prejudices instead of recognizing past failure. Boondoggles become respectable. A White House so frivolous in embracing dubious spending cannot be believed when it professes concern about future taxes and budget deficits.”

In November, our regional council will consider the idea of light rail around the Auckland waterfront only.

The feasibility study into light rail for the waterfront will provide information on: the potential demand for light rail and how it has been used in comparable waterfront cities, and examine potential options, implications and costs of such a system in Auckland.

Transport planning for Wynyard Quarter envisaged seven out of 10 trips being taken by public transport, walking or cycling. The recent decision to purchase and redevelop Queens Wharf, with public spaces and a cruise ship terminal, added impetus to the need to evaluate light rail or trams.

A report to the committee earlier had said that modern light rail trips were being used as part of strategic transport networks throughout the world to deliver high-capacity, high-frequency services for peak-hour commuting trips, or in short loops often aimed at tourists. In Auckland, a loop linking Wynard Quarter, Quay St and Britomart could be part of a wider transport solution for the city.

Great, but let’s now widen that discussion to beyond just the waterfront.

It’s the way the world is heading.

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