PERSPECTIVE: Light rail might have interesting side effect

» If central Virginia goes forward with the rail initiative, it should consider some lessons learned in Arizona.

Light rail has captured the imagination of central Virginia. Advocates and skeptics might find the experience of Phoenix instructive.

A light rail system that runs from Phoenix to Tempe and Mesa opened in December. It has turned out to be more popular than proponents thought it would be, but not in the way they thought.

Commuters have not flocked to it. Partiers have. Weekends find the system laden with users traveling to pubs, restaurants and other ports of call. Businesses near the rail line are booming. ASU students like the low fares.

As a result, average daily ridership approaches 33,000, compared with an anticipated 26,000. Even the right-wing Goldwater Institute has been impressed.

The system is fantastically expensive. The 20-mile Phoenix Metro cost $1.4 billion. That works out to $70 million per mile. The fares — $1.75 for a one-way trip, $3.50 for an all-day pass — mean the system is getting a gargantuan subsidy from non-riders.

If economic development was the goal, handing out (say) $1 million apiece to businesses along the rail line might have been more cost-efficient. And because only 27 percent of riders — i.e., fewer than 9,000 per day — are using the train to get to work, the metro may not be putting much of a dent in road congestion.

We continue to be enthusiasts for rail. But area leaders should be mindful of rail’s costs, and carefully consider other options, such as the bus rapid transit proposal being pitched by the GRTC, as more flexible and less costly alternatives. The priority remains high-speed (or higher-speed) rail for inter-urban trains.

Richmond Times-Dispatch