RAIL TRANSIT WORKS Light Rail Success Stories from Across the Country
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RAIL TRANSIT WORKS Light Rail Success Stories from Across the Country Elizabeth Ridlington Gigi Kellett MaryPIRG Foundation Spring 2003 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The MaryPIRG Foundation gratefully acknowledges the Surdna Foundation for its financial support of this project and of MaryPIRG Foundation’s transportation and land-use work. Thank you to Dan Pontious of the Baltimore Regional Partnership and Brent Flickinger of the Citizen’s Planning and Housing Association and to Gerry Neily for their review of the report and valuable suggestions. Brad Heavner and Tony Dutzik provided edito- rial review. The authors alone bear responsibility for any factual errors. The recommendations are those of MaryPIRG. The views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of our funders. © 2003 MaryPIRG Foundation The MaryPIRG Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to protecting the environment, the rights of consumers, and good government in Maryland. The Foundation’s companion organization, the Maryland Public Interest Research Group, founded in 1973, has 5,000 members throughout the state and a student chapter at the University of Maryland’s College Park campus. For additional copies of this report, send $10 (including shipping) to: MaryPIRG Foundation 3121 Saint Paul Street, Suite 26 Baltimore, MD 21218 For more information about MaryPIRG and the MaryPIRG Foundation, call (410) 467-0439 or visit our website at www.marypirg.org. TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary 5 Introduction 6 The Challenges Facing Baltimore 7 Case Studies 9 Dallas 9 Denver 11 Los Angeles 12 Portland 14 Salt Lake City 16 San Diego 17 San Francisco 19 St. Louis 21 Washington, D.C. 22 Principles for Successful Rail Lines 24 Encourage Transit-Oriented Development 24 Provide Easy Pedestrian Access 25 Enhance Access to Suburban Stations 25 Rail in Baltimore 26 Current Service 26 Proposed System 27 Policy Recommendations 30 Appendix 32 Light Versus Heavy Rail 32 Passengers Versus Boardings 32 Notes 33 4 MaryPIRG Foundation EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ith a range of policies—Prior- • In Los Angeles, the opening of the ity Funding Areas, the Rural Red Line has prompted renovations W and Community Legacy Pro- and new construction, rejuvenating gram, brownfield cleanup—Maryland has the Hollywood area. made a concerted effort to control sprawl. • Two billion dollars of construction One tool that the state could make better has occurred along Portland’s Eastside use of is developing transportation alter- rail line, mainly as infill development. natives. Case studies of nine metropoli- tan areas across the country show that • In Washington, D.C., residential urban rail lines—whether light rail or property close to rail stations is worth heavy rail—carry more passengers than $6 to $8 per square foot more than projected and can play a role in making comparable properties farther away. cities stronger economic and residential centers. Maryland could capture some of • In Dallas, locations near the light rail these benefits by constructing a compre- line have risen 25 percent in value hensive rail system in Baltimore and sur- compared to more distant properties. rounding communities. New development and higher property values can also translate Cities across the country that have in- into increased property tax revenues vested in new or expanded rail service for city government. have experienced strong ridership. Maryland can reap many of the ben- • When Denver extended light rail efits of rail transit if it constructs an service to two suburbs, Littleton and integrated rail system in Baltimore. Englewood, ridership in the first year was 40 percent higher than pro- • Baltimore’s existing urban rail lines jected. are inadequate. Even those segments that draw high numbers of riders • In car-dependent Los Angeles, many have not reached their full potential commuters have turned to the because the region has made little subway. Planners expected 100,000 use of transit-oriented development. passengers daily on a new section of the Red Line and had to add cars • The Maryland Transportation when ridership rapidly reached Administration’s proposed 109-mile 120,000 daily. system would make Baltimore and its suburbs more accessible and would • St. Louis reintroduced rail service in represent a commitment to investing 1993, decades after the city’s street- in older communities in the region car lines closed. Ridership by the end that could spur other development. of the first year was expected to be 12,000 passengers daily. Actual use • The Transportation Equity Act for was 3.5 times higher, with 44,000 the 21st Century, the federal appro- daily riders. priations bill that provides partial funding for transportation projects, By increasing access to downtown, a is up for reauthorization this year. rail system can encourage redevelop- Maryland will allocate funding for ment of underused areas and enhance various projects. At the top of the list their desirability. should be rail in Baltimore. Rail Transit Works 5 INTRODUCTION he effects of sprawl are familiar to preserved.2 Thus, redevelopment in anyone who lives in Maryland. Bal- Baltimore and its inner suburbs can help timore, a city of 736,000 people in protect the Maryland countryside from T 1 1990, lost 85,000 residents by 2000. At sprawl. the same time, the counties surrounding In addition, urban redevelopment can Baltimore endless sprawl—low-density protect water and air quality. Building in subdivisions in which the only way to go existing developed areas does not sub- anywhere is by car. stantially increase runoff into nearby Low-density suburban development streams, thereby protecting water quality. destroys open space by paving over land The proximity of residential, commercial, and fragmenting wild areas with roads. and retail districts in urban areas allows Development in existing urban areas, on shorter car trips compared to suburban the other hand, requires little additional living and reduces air pollution. pavement. There is a direct trade-off be- Sprawl and its consequences are not tween urban and suburban development: inevitable. Cities and communities are the U.S. Environmental Protection constructed as designed; they are not Agency estimates that for every underused predestined to be ugly or beautiful, car- or abandoned urban acre that is devel- dependent or transit- and pedestrian- oped, 4.5 acres of undeveloped land are friendly. In recognition of this, Maryland has already taken the initial steps to control sprawl. By identifying Priority Funding Areas and supporting growth in those corridors only, Maryland seeks to encourage more concentrated develop- ment and reduce sprawl. Maryland has another opportunity now to combat sprawl by making Balti- more a more livable city that will draw new residents and businesses. One impor- tant way to enhance Baltimore’s attrac- tiveness is by improving transit. The Metro, opened in 1983, and light rail, opened in 1992, were first steps toward a rail system, but the lines are not ex- tensive enough to adequately serve the area. A rail system will not change Baltimore overnight, but it is another tool for shap- Light Rail stop at Baltimore-Washington International Airport ing the city’s and Maryland’s future. 6 MaryPIRG Foundation THE CHALLENGES FACING BALTIMORE altimore has experienced a dwin- The limited usefulness of the Balti- dling population and declining more region’s rail lines as a transit option B employment for decades, trends has also muted their impact as a develop- that have reduced the city’s economic re- ment tool. By drawing a steady stream of sources. The largest source of revenue for people, rail stations can be attractive the city of Baltimore is property taxes, places for new development. Baltimore which provide over half of the city’s gen- and its inner suburbs have received little eral fund, but property tax revenues fell of this benefit thus far because of modest during most of the 1990s.3 Income taxes ridership numbers and because MTA and are the second-largest source of income the state, despite its relatively strong for the general fund. For nearly 20 years, smart growth policies, have provided few the number of income tax returns de- incentives for transit-oriented develop- clined until the strong economy in the ment.7 late 1990s led to a slight increase.4 With In other cities across the country, con- a weak tax base, the city has struggled to struction of rail lines and stations often provide the public services necessary for has prompted new urban development attracting new residents and businesses. and enhanced the value of existing prop- The Baltimore area’s current transpor- erty. Easy access to downtown and a tation system is not much of an asset for steady flow of people to and from rail sta- a city struggling to revitalize itself. Roads tions make downtown development more are congested. Bus service, though exten- profitable for developers, and residents’ sive, is too often slow. Rail transit is lim- desire for transportation choices places a ited and inconvenient, and fails to serve premium on properties accessible by much of the region. The Maryland Tran- train. Higher property values translate sit Administration (MTA) operates a into enhanced revenues for local govern- north-south light rail line that runs ment and better city services for urban through downtown Baltimore. The city’s residents. Metro subway line, coming in from the A new rail system in Baltimore could northwest and looping through down- help urban revitalization efforts