Light Rail Boom

[Eightball]

dart expects about 1,200 people to ride this new extension each day.

wtf?

[Doady]

For 5 mile extension, they probably meant 12,000. They just forgot a zero.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

i hope so

[TexasCreed]

Originally Posted by Doady

For 5 mile extension, they probably meant 12,000. They just forgot a zero.

Nope 1200 is right but the 5 mile extension is relatively cheap for 5 miles. I believe the overall cost was around $150 million since most of the new rail lines were on empty land and didn't have to cross many roads. Also for a 5 mile extension there is only 1 station and no additional purchases of vehicles.

DFW airport is huge but the land that it sits on is even larger than is should be. Without crossing runways this was about as short a route they could get to arrive directly at a terminal. It greatly increases convenience though since previously riders had to transfer to the TRE and then to a shuttle that ran very infrequently.

Hopefully the airport extension will boost ridership slightly but it could have very positive long term effects. Increasing the reliance on public transportation rather than shuttles/cabs. Also not as many parking lots will be needed at the airport in the future.

[electricron]

Originally Posted by Doady

For 5 mile extension, they probably meant 12,000. They just forgot a zero.

I don't agree, 1,200 daily riders is below DART's station average, but not by that much. In Q3 2013, daily ridership was 98,300, DART had 61 light rail stations at that time, therefore each station averaged 1,611 riders per day.

No where close to 12,000, therefore 1,200 was correctly reported.

[Doady]

Yeah, my bad, I just noticed it was was only one station. 1,200 for a single LRT station is okay.

I think it is a good idea to connect to airport even if the ridership is not as high as other station.

[LouisianaCharm]

What some fail to realize is that this LRT is not for now...its for 50 years from now. Lets wait before we pass judgement. The wheels are definitely starting to turn in Dallas. They are building for the future which is commendable.

[Mr Downtown]

^Or they are trying to re-create the past.

[miketoronto]

Originally Posted by Doady

Yeah, my bad, I just noticed it was was only one station. 1,200 for a single LRT station is okay.

I think it is a good idea to connect to airport even if the ridership is not as high as other station.

Actually that is pretty low. Calgary for example has usually gotten 5,000 - 10,000 riders when they extend a line by a station or two.

[Doady]

Originally Posted by miketoronto

Actually that is pretty low. Calgary for example has usually gotten 5,000 - 10,000 riders when they extend a line by a station or two.

Just because a light rail system has lower ridership than busiest modern light rail system in North America doesn't necessarily mean it's bad. Yeah, 1,200 is a little low, lower than even a typical GO station. But this is Dallas we're talking about here. One step at a time man. This is an uphill battle. 1,200 more riders is still 1,200 more riders. At least they have rail transit to their airport now, unlike Toronto for the forseeable future...

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by Doady

Just because a light rail system has lower ridership than busiest modern light rail system in North America doesn't necessarily mean it's bad. Yeah, 1,200 is a little low, lower than even a typical GO station. But this is Dallas we're talking about here. One step at a time man. This is an uphill battle. 1,200 more riders is still 1,200 more riders. At least they have rail transit to their airport now, unlike Toronto for the forseeable future...

Toronto's rail transit to the airport opens next year...

[texcolo]

With DART there's going to be a tipping point in ridership, and if a direct connection to D/FW Airport isn't in it, then I give up.

[justme001]

Originally Posted by Doady

Just because a light rail system has lower ridership than busiest modern light rail system in North America doesn't necessarily mean it's bad. Yeah, 1,200 is a little low, lower than even a typical GO station. But this is Dallas we're talking about here. One step at a time man. This is an uphill battle. 1,200 more riders is still 1,200 more riders. At least they have rail transit to their airport now, unlike Toronto for the forseeable future...

1,200 is low, even for Dallas. As stated before, DART has an average of around. 1,600 riders per station. Then again, this is only a starting projection. Who's to say the real figures won't exceed the projections?

[TexasPlaya]

Originally Posted by texcolo

With DART there's going to be a tipping point in ridership, and if a direct connection to D/FW Airport isn't in it, then I give up.

I'd give up. Quality over quantity of rail.

[Jasonhouse]

Originally Posted by texcolo

With DART there's going to be a tipping point in ridership, and if a direct connection to D/FW Airport isn't in it, then I give up.

So many of DARTs stations are in absolutely shit locations. I question the logic of the routing and integration of entire swaths of their light rail lines.

It's almost as if the lines were laid out by cynical assholes who were trying to make the first couple of lines fare so poorly that any further expansion would be crippled. Almost.

[NorthernDancer]

Originally Posted by TexasPlaya

I'd give up. Quality over quantity of rail.

When you have terrible service frequency, you get terrible ridership numbers. It's really that simple.

[electricron]

Originally Posted by NorthernDancer

When you have terrible service frequency, you get terrible ridership numbers. It's really that simple.

Approaching 100,000 daily riders isn't that horrible.
DART interlines many of its light rail lines, so the 3 and 4 trains per hour per line is often 6-8 trains per hour by station, and can reach up to 12 to 16 trains per hour by station - depending upon how many lines visit that station. Since every line eventually use the downtown surface street mall, it's that section of track that ultimately limits train frequency everywhere else. DART is in the process of studying and planning an additional rail route through downtown, which will allow higher frequency trains on every line....

[mpd618]

Originally Posted by TexasCreed

Nope 1200 is right but the 5 mile extension is relatively cheap for 5 miles. I believe the overall cost was around $150 million since most of the new rail lines were on empty land and didn't have to cross many roads.

$150 million for 1200 in daily ridership is pretty crazy.

In less-crazy LRT news, the formal groundbreaking for Waterloo Region's LRT was on Thursday, though work has already gotten underway. The project hasn't been mentioned in this thread in a while - it's a 19km urban alignment (street-running and rail rights-of-way) with CAD $800m capital cost and projected year 1 daily ridership of 27,000. Capital funding is split roughly evenly between the three levels of government.

The project is a design-build-finance-operate-maintain P3, and is scheduled for a 2017 launch. Alongside development of the LRT, the bus network is being incrementally changed from a predominantly hub-and-spoke model to a modified grid around the LRT. The project is a key component of a larger growth management strategy, and there is a lot of work being done for station area planning and development.

I believe that when the LRT launches, Waterloo Region will be the smallest urban area in North America with LRT.

[nei]

Originally Posted by mpd618

I believe that when the LRT launches, Waterloo Region will be the smallest urban area in North America with LRT.

Neat project. Any idea of Victoria might get light rail?

[Doug]

http://calgary.ctvnews.ca/tuscany-lr...iled-1.1973310

Tuscany LRT station unveiled

Ryan White, CTV Calgary
Published Saturday, August 23, 2014 5:34PM MDT
A large crowd gathered at the city’s newest CTrain station on Saturday for a ribbon cutting ceremony.
The Tuscany LRT platform will serve the residents of Rocky Ridge, Royal Oak and Tuscany, neighbourhoods with a combined population of more than 40,000 people.
“It's terrific,” said Mayor Nenshi at the unveiling. “We're anticipating that up to 10,000 people a day will use this particular station.”

Nenshi adds 5,000 Calgarians live within a short walking distance of the new station.
Construction on the northwest LRT line extension began in July of 2012. The Tuscany station is situated 2.5 kilometres from the Crowfoot station, which had been the last northwest stop. The extension cost an estimated $123 million.