More Trains

Just perusing the web, there are a lot of stories out there about cities building or expanding their light rail systems. Ridership is sharply up in a lot of places for obvious reasons and I am always inclined to think of this sort of thing as a “no brainer.” Of course more trains and better public transit is going to be a good thing.

It is important to remember however, that it is more of a complex issue and in a lot of places there is a lot of resistance to the idea and a great deal of complication over how any such ideas ought to be implemented. This story out of KC is a case in point.

Funkhouser has proposed, based on input from local transit planners, a 119-mile network of light rail and streetcars in city streets, commuter rail on existing railroad tracks, plus rapid and express buses. It would require a half-cent sales tax increase in the three counties, plus hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal government. And it would be overseen by a new tri-county board of mayors and county officials.

…

Platte County’s presiding commissioner, Betty Knight, reached by phone, said she and another Platte commissioner were out of town. But she added that she’s not in favor of Funkhouser’s plan so far.

“I’ve looked at the plan, and I’m disappointed,” Knight said. “To see we get two express bus routes for a contribution (in tax dollars) of $7 million a year is a little disappointing.”

Apparently this particular debate has been going on in Kansas City for quite some time now with no real solution in sight.

Despite all of its positives, building modern transit infrastructure is disruptive and involves a lot of upfront costs. When you are talking about light trains in particular as opposed to bus lines, there are a lot of communities that have to accept what can be a pretty significant change to their environments. Generally taxes have to be raised. Some communities will argue that the train should go through their neighborhoods in order to revive their local businesses. Others will argue that the train should go through theirs because they already have higher density. It can all get pretty ugly.

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