6 Reasons to sidetrack light rail plans
Published February 4, 2015
by Jim Tynen, Civitas Institute, February 4, 2015.
A few days a week, I ride a Triangle Transit 301 bus to and from the palatial Civitas HQ in the Warehouse District of Raleigh. But even as a transit rider, my blood runs cold when I hear government planners are plotting ways to bring throw taxpayers’ money at light-rail systems and commuter rail boondoggles all over NC.
Triangle leaders are pushing light-rail plans here. Meanwhile, Charlotte is spending at least $1 billion on a light-rail extension, and wants to spend another $3 billion on a grab bag of additional light-rail and commuter rail schemes. Plus, Gov. Pat McCrory has a 25-year transportation blueprint that includes plans to “expand access to mass transit options …. expand access to public transportation options for people in all regions of the state …. expand access to passenger rail options in all regions of the state.” (Emphasis added.)
Here’s why the state should derail these plans, especially for light rail:
1. There’s no big groundswell of demand for mass transit. Census reports show that only 5 percent of Americans take mass transit, and the bulk of them are in crowded Eastern urban areas. Even there, mass transit remains a money pit.
2. Light rail is an especially egregious example of this failure. Google “light rail” and “boondoggle,” and you’ll get more than 39,000 hits, most detailing how light-rail has flopped in city after city, all across the fruited plain.
Those who disagree are invited to send in examples of where light rail has lived up to its budget and ridership hype. Prize to the first successful submission: a genuine Civitas ballpoint pen.
3. Light rail is especially ill-suited for the Triangle. “The [Triangle area] commuter rail plan and the light rail plan just don’t make sense to me,” transit expert John Pucher, a Rutgers University professor, told Triangle Transit officials in 2013. According to media reports, he summed it up by saying, “It’s just so difficult in this very decentralized, very sprawled metropolitan area.”
Those sentiments were echoed later that year when Wake County commissioners sought the opinions of three transit experts. NC just doesn’t have the crowded urban areas where mass transit might be more feasible – and it likely never will.
4. Planners don’t know what we’ll need in future decades. Did anyone in North Carolina in 1985 correctly predict what NC would look like in 2015? So how do bureaucrats think they can make plans based on predictions of what our area will look like in 2045, or 2145?
5. Rail systems are permanent fixtures in a rapidly changing world. Buses can be rerouted as a city changes; rail lines can’t be moved. Buses can be bought or sold; rail lines require the investment of hundreds of millions before a single rider pays a fare.
Discussing various transit plans, as reported in the media, Dan Jewell, president of Durham Area Designers, admitted that “any changes we make will likely be here 100 years from now.” How can we invest billions on such a long-term gamble?
6. Light rail will spawn more government meddling in local communities. As Friedrich Hayek showed, planning always fails. To cover their failures, bureaucrats must resort to further meddling, which causes more problems, creating a vicious cycle.
For example, in Durham, planners are already fretting that light rail will result in gentrification. “Durham elected officials set a goal that at least 15 percent of housing within a half mile of each transit station be affordable to residents at or below 60 percent of the median area income,” according to reports. In other words, light rail will be an excuse for planners to monkey with the housing market, and who knows what else. Each failure will spawn further meddling and more flops, in a vicious cycle of failure.
Light rail in a host of ways would wreak havoc on communities and businesses in North Carolina for decades, and we would all be paying the fare for it for years. North Carolina should halt these plans now, and investigate more reasonable and flexible ways of meeting transportation needs.
http://www.nccivitas.org/2015/6-reasons-sidetrack-light-rail-plans/
February 4, 2015 at 10:08 am
Norm Kelly says:
Civitas and John Locke have at least 1 thing in common. They continue to tell the truth, backed up with facts & figures. What's the result? They irritate the heck out of libs! They dispel all the arguments of left-wingers. They prove that left-wing big government types aren't interested in the people, they are interested in MORE power & control OVER people!
Every study of light rail shows that too few people will take advantage of it to make it worthwhile. Yet, pols continue to push the idea, as well as SOME business 'leaders'. Why would these people/groups push an idea that has zero merit? Especially why would they push this idea when they KNOW that the idea has no merit?
First reason is listed in this author's post: 'Light rail will spawn more government meddling in local communities'. This means that pols will get even more involved in planning community growth. Developers will make more money complying with new government regulations and meddling. This meddling will fail because pols are terrible at planning, as the author states. (this is historical fact!) But pols typically don't care about their failures, they are interested in their power! Every time light rail is mentioned, or any mass transit, some pol or proponent is guaranteed to say that they will find ways to get housing concentrated around the stations. This is moving people to the stations, because rail is so stupidly expensive and impossible to support (as an idea as well as a 'business'), pols MUST move people to station locations. Other forms of mass transit, such as busing, allows the vehicles to move to the population centers. But things like busing, that allow flexibility of the masses, takes power & control away from pols so pols choose to ignore this as an option. Busing can be up & running within months, however long it takes to order & receive a new bus. Rail takes years and costs billions before the first 'benefit' is seen.
So, who benefits from rail plans? People who own property along the route. Developers who own property along the route. Pols who live & breath for the opportunity to interfere in lives of the masses. Do the masses benefit? Not a bit! Ever!
Number 2 is an interesting proposal: 'Those who disagree are invited to send in examples of where light rail has lived up to its budget and ridership hype'. Ex-Raleigh Mayor Meeker, a major proponent of light rail, and I expect a financial beneficiary, will never respond to this challenge. I doubt there's a single person or group who can possibly respond to this challenge. Responding to this challenge would require facts & figures. Proponents of light rail in central NC rely on 'feelings' and 'emotions' to convince people that this is a good idea. Facts & figures prove the lie of light rail and it's proponents. If existing busing schemes fail to meet goals, where the routes & schedules can change virtually instantly to meet the needs of the users, then isn't this proof that light rail would fail even more monumentally? Yes. But that's a fact so rail proponents will choose to ignore it. They will also question the intelligence of anyone who wants to follow logic and oppose the scheme! I expect somewhere along the line that rail proponents will refer to people like me as racist. Not because it's true in this case either, but it is the default response to those of us who see facts & figures as important. When pols and libs have no other way to respond, they default to using the 'racist' term. I expect the Reverend Buffet will follow along on the racist rant.
The truth is that light rail is a boondoggle that will actually benefit very few. And those that do benefit will not be those who either use it or pay for it. Trying to convince transit proponents that they are on the wrong track is extremely difficult. Once these people/groups think they have found a way to milk more money out of tax payers, and appeal to feelings of the masses, they will refuse to back off from their newest scheme. Mayor Meeker was a demon mayor. Mayor Meeker also worked for the law firm that was pushing for light rail. But since the mayor was a demon, there was/is by default no conflict of interest in his using the office of mayor as a bully pulpit pushing for light rail. If the mayor had been a Republican, there would have been no doubt about the conflict of interest. But everyone knows that demons do NOT experience conflict of interest. Just ask N&D editorial writers!
