New Report on Urban Transportation
Rail Transit Benefits Have Been Under-Recognized
| In cities, what types of transportation are best overall? Here is a serious look into that subject. |
A new study released by the Victoria Transport Policy Institute shows that rail transit systems can significantly improve transportation system performance.
"Comprehensive Evaluation of Rail Transit Benefits" by Todd Litman analyzed the impacts of different types of transit on urban transportation patterns.
The study found that cities with large rail transit systems have on average:
- 400% higher per capita transit ridership.
- 390% higher transit commute mode split.
- 36% lower per-capita traffic fatalities.
- 14% lower per capita consumer transportation expenditures.
- 19% smaller portion of household budgets devoted to transportation.
- 21% less per capita motor vehicle mileage.
- 33% lower transit operating costs per passenger-mile.
- 58% higher transit service cost recovery.
The study calculates that the additional costs of rail transit systems are repaid several times over by economic savings provided to governments, businesses and consumers from reduced road and parking facility costs, vehicle cost savings, reduced traffic accident costs, and congestion cost savings.
The executive summary is available at: http://www.vtpi.org/railben.htm
(The Progress Report notes -- some very interesting charts here. Have a look.)
The full report is available at: http://www.vtpi.org/railben.pdf
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