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Buffalo's Light-Rail Rapid Transit System Kenneth G 32 SUMMARY other recent transit projects, have developed a techni- cally unsophisticated solution. Economy, ease of im- In response to increasing congestion and related trans- plementation, and simplicity of operation and mainte- port problems, the city of Calgary has conducted a num- nance have been the cornerstones of the planning phi- ber of studies of possible solutions. The most recent losophy. studies have examined the roles, costs, and impacts of roadways,. exclusive bus lanes, busways, and LRT. It ACKNOWLEDGMENTS became apparent that long-term costs (both economic and environmental) could only be minimized by pursuing Much of the work summarized in this paper was carried alternatives that have a strong transit component. LRT out for the city by Underwood McLellan and Associates was chosen after an evaluation of alternatives that were Ltd., De Leuw Cather Canada Ltd., IBI Group, and L. T. felt to be appropriate for a medium-sized city like Cal- Klauder and Associates. Their efforts and subsequent gary. Since it provides a high level of service at rea- implementation have been generously supported by the sonable cost and substantial flexibility for improvement province of Alberta through Alberta Transportation. and expansion, LRT is the most suitable alternative to meet the city's objectives. REFERENCES An alignment was selected in an area that has sub- stantial redevelopment potential. The adjacent land use A Balanced Transportation Concept for the City of is such that there is little negative environmental im- Calgary. Calgary Transportation Department, pact and rights -of -way costs are low. Alberta, CALTS Rept. 24, Nov. 1973. A number of at-grade crossings will be permitted in Transportation Improvements Priority Study. Cal- order to reduce the cost of implementation. Because gary Transportation Department, Alberta, CALTS relatively few roads cross the alignment, the operating Rept. 39, April 1976. speed will still be high. The flexibility to construct Light-Rail Transit for Calgary. Calgary Transpor- further grade separations in the future has been main- tation Department, Alberta, CALTS Rept. 38, tained. The designers, taking into account the small April 1976. scale of operation and the unhappy experience of some Buffalo's Light-Rail Rapid Transit System Kenneth G. Knight, Metro Construction Division, Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority, Buffalo The 1976 agreement in principle by the Urban Mass Transportation Ad- to fruition. Five more years of effort lie ahead but, ministration (UMTA) to participate in the financing of Buffalo's $336 with the assurance of federal financing for the project, million light-rail rapid transit (LRRT) project was the culmination of the job can be tackled with much more enthusiasm. almost 10 years of planning by the Niagara Frontier Transportation LRRT is the term given by the NFTA staff to the 10.3- Authority and the western New York community for an integrated bus km rail component of an improved public transportation and rail rapid transit system. At least 5 more years of design develop- ment and construction lie ahead. This agreement also marked the end of system for the NFTA area. It is a compromise solution a lengthy, and often frustrating, alternatives analysis process that helped derived from the analysis of rail alternatives studied for to guide UMTA's development of federal policy on major urban mass the system. LRRT combines the best features of both transit investments. Buffalo will be the first U.S. city to have a com- the heavy-rail transit (HRT) and light-rail transit (LRT) pletely new rail transit project that features the advantages of light-rail alternatives. Its annual operating and maintenance costs technology. This paper describes the LRRT project and reports on the are minimized by eliminating on-board fare collection results of the alternatives analysis process. Comparative cost-effectiveness and using high-platform loading of vehicles. Maximum statistics for various transit alternatives are included in the paper. The current phase of project development (general architecture and engineer. alignment flexibility is maintained in order to operate, ing) is described, and a schedule is given for the completion of the system. wherever practical, at grade. Full system service can be provided for the nonambulatory handicapped. The LRRT system was recommended by NFTA since June 10, 1976, was a very significant day for Buffalo. it is cheaper to construct than HRT and can be operated On that day, former U.S. Secretary of Transportation more economically than LRT, while retaining most of William T. Coleman, Jr., and former Urban Mass that mode's flexibility. This is particularly true as the Transportation Administration (UMTA) Administrator extended system alternatives are compared. The 10.3- Robert E. Patricelli committed UMTA in principle to km line is the initial portion of an approximately 27-km participate in the financing of construction and imple- (17-mile) rail system that will eventually serve Buffalo, mentation of a 10.3-km (6.4-mile) light-rail rapid tran- Amherst, and the Tonawandas with direct rail service. sit (LRRT) system in Buffalo. This culminated almost The initial network of integrated bus and rail service is 10 years of planning and design effort by the Niagara shown in Figure 1. Future extensions to both Amherst Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA), local govern- (B) and the Tonawandas (C+E) are also shown. Figure 2 mental agencies, and the Buffalo community, bringing depicts the construction methods and stations of the sys- the dream of improved public transportation for the area tem. Figure 3 provides a profile of this line. 33 Some basic facts about the metro system in the ser- modal split for person trips in 1995 is expected to be 13 vice corridor are presented below (1 km = 0.6 mile). percent for transit and 87 percent for automobile. The projected cost estimates for the LRRT project are as Category Rail Bus follows. Routes Number 1 58 Item Cost ($000) Length, km 10.3 500 . Line and station construction 199 053 Vehicles 47 518 Systems 47 718 Daily revenue service Rolling stock 31208 Vehicle kilometers 10000 65 100 Hours 314 3650 Total construction 277 979 Avg operating speed, km/h 36.5 18 Rights-of-way 6 150 Avg transit trip, km 5.2 4.0 Design, construction management, Annual passenger kilometers (000s) 141 312 200 400 insurance, contingencies 52 121 Total project 336 250 The route will run underground for 8.4 km (5.2 miles) and at grade for 1.9 km (1.2 miles); 8 of the 14 passen- ALTERNATIVES ANALYSIS ger stations will be underground, and 6 will be at grade. It is expected that in 1995 the system's daily patronage In 1971, NFTA completed its mass transit study, which will be 92 000 by rail or a combination of rail and bus recommended an 18-km (11-mile) HRT system for the and another 92 000 by bus only; the annual patronage for Buffalo-Amherst corridor. However, primarily because the corridor will be 55 200 000. The rail system's peak of community opposition to the predominantly aerial load will be 7000 passengers in one direction. The alignment, UMTA requested a restudy of the project. During subsequent preliminary design, NFTA dem- onstrated that it was possible to design a rapid transit Figure 1. The initial Buffalo bus and rail network. Figure 2. Route and stations of the initial SOUTH CAMPUS 10.3-km LRRT line. SALLE AMHERST DELAVAN - :: ALLEN-HOSPITAL So. SENECA Figure 3. Construction profile of the initial LRRT line. S SURFACE 1.9 km CUT & COVER 2.7 km ROCK TUNNEL 5.6km Noto 1 km 0.6 mile. 34 system for the corridor that had widespread community be almost 40 percent lower than that forecast for the im- support, something that was lacking in the planned 1971 proved bus system. system. However, because of delays in the construction Extensions to the minimum LRRT system, par- schedule for the restudy and the increased cost of plac- ticularly in the Amherst corridor, greatly enhanced the ing 76 percent of the alignment underground rather than system's financial performance. The costs per passen- the 40 percent projected in the earlier study, the cost ger carried were reduced, and total system deficits were of the system had risen from $239 million to $476 mil- reduced or eliminated, so long as costs do not escalate lion. At about the time NFTA was finishing its prelim- faster than revenues during subsequent years. inary design work on the 18-km HRT system, the need The surface-running LRRT system would become for alternatives analysis was added to the federal re- the central transportation feature of Buffalo's transit quirements for transit funding. In addition, incremental shopping mall on Main Street for a distance of about 1.6 implementation received new emphasis because of the km (1 mile). Construction of a surface system in the increasing requests of cities across the nation for fund- central business district (CBD) would mitigate many of ing assistance and the pressure these requests were the adverse environmental impacts often associated with placing on the TJTMTA budget. As a result, a compre- cut-and-cover construction in a highly developed down- hensive alternatives analysis was requested for the Buf- town area. Continuation and improvement of surface falo project. public transportation in conjunction with an automobile- Transit system alternatives for an enlarged Buffalo- restricted pedestrian shopping mall could have a signif- Amherst-Tonawandas corridor were developed featuring icant positive effect on the downtown shopping district. three primary travel modes: all bus, LRT, and HRT. The LRRT alternative would facilitate access to These systems were analyzed and evaluated incremen- the rail system by providing six surface stations in the tally and as complete systems.
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