[frinkprof]

A couple of Herald editorials. A point-counterpoint sort of tandem regarding the C-Train LRT system.

The first is written by Steve Lafleur from the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, a right-wing think tank, and author of a book looking back (critically) on the C-Train's first 30 years.

C-Train system is costly and inefficient




By Steve Lafleur, Calgary Herald March 30, 2011

Calgary's C-Train is turning 30 this May. While this anniversary will no doubt be met with fanfare, it is also an opportunity to examine the performance of the system.


Has the C-Train delivered value for money? More importantly, does expanding the C-Train make sense for the city? Sadly, the answer to both questions is no.


Light-rail transit has become a fad among urban planners in mid-sized North American cities. They argue that LRT is a happy medium between buses and subways. In reality, LRT combines the disadvantages of both. LRT is slow, inflexible and expensive. Moreover, the C-Train has exacerbated the very problem it is meant to fix: rampant urban sprawl.


Let us look at costs. The C-Train has been called the most efficient LRT system in North America. Indeed, as of 2000, it was the least subsidized North American LRT system by a substantial margin. The capital cost per rider of other LRT systems ranged from $8,900 in Edmonton to an astonishing $44,300 in New Jersey. The $2,400 capital cost per weekday rider in Calgary looked good in comparison.

[...]

Link to the rest of the article

And a rebuttal from Herald staff writer Naomi Lakritz.

When it comes to efficiency, nothing beats the train


Naomi Lakritz, Calgary Herald

Published: Wednesday, March 30, 2011


Should other people take the bus?


Steve Lafleur of the Frontier Centre for Public Policy thinks so. He's the author of the column on the opposite page that examines the C-Train's operation with the standard right-wing approach -a cost-benefit analysis guaranteed to resonate with other right wingers who share the mantra of lower taxes above all else, including over the reality of everyday experience.


Lafleur's take on the C-Train -he prefers buses, although he doesn't say if he actually rides them -will come as a surprise to those who are regular riders of the train.


For example, Lafleur blames the C-Train for accelerating urban sprawl. That is just patently untrue. First comes the sprawl, and then if the population in new areas reaches a certain density to warrant it, the C-Train expands to meet the need.

Tracks are not extended out to bald prairie first, in the hopes that developers might follow with new subdivisions. The reason the northwest extension was built from Brentwood to Dalhousie and then to Crowfoot, with plans to go on to Rocky Ridge, is that population in those areas grew large enough to assure that ridership would be at a high enough volume.


Lafleur's arguments that the poor are benefited much more by buses than by the C-Train really strike me as odd.


He says that unlike the wealthy, who can drive to park-and-ride lots, "it's not easy for the city's poorest to get to LRT stations in the first place." Actually, it is as easy for them as it is for anyone. They just have to get on a bus. Calgary Transit has 965 buses travelling on 160 routes. The majority of those are feeder routes that go to LRT stations, some of them to more than one station, such as the No. 20, Heritage/Northmount, which stops at Brentwood and Heritage stations.


[...]

Link to the rest of the article


Discuss.