San Antonio—The Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) today released a comprehensive analysis of commuter rail projects across the U.S. which will impact the debate over funding of a commuter rail project between Austin and San Antonio. “This report is intended to introduce realism into the discussion over commuter rail between Austin and San Antonio. Before taxpayers in the region commit possibly hundreds of millions of dollars to this project, they need to weigh the evidence without prejudice,” said Jeff Judson, TPPF President.

The analysis was conducted by Wendell Cox, an international transit expert and a Congressional appointee to the national Amtrak Reform Council. The analysis is the first of two studies to be conducted on the San Antonio/Austin rail proposal. The second part will analyze the official feasibility study of this project when it is released by the Texas Department of Transportation in the near future.

The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research institute dedicated to the core principles of limited government, free enterprise and individual responsibility. The Foundation conducts no “contract” research and accepts no government funds.

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AMERICA’S COSTLY AND INEFFECTIVE EXPERIMENT WITH NEW COMMUTER RAIL Lessons for the Austin/San Antonio Corridor

Key findings:

 

  • Commuter rail systems in six historic cities (e,g., New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington-Baltimore & San Francisco) carry high ridership and have a measurable effect on traffic congestion. These six cities account for 97 percent of the national ridership on all commuter rail systems.

     

  • New commuter rail systems carry few riders. The combined ridership of all other (five) commuter rail systems carry only 3 percent of national ridership and have no measurable effect on traffic congestion. Each of these systems carries a small fraction of the riders carried by a single freeway lane.

     

  • Operating costs for new commuter rail are twice as costly on a per passenger basis as buses and six times more costly than the most efficient express bus systems. Furthermore, express buses provide service that are at least as quick as commuter rail.

     

  • Commuter rail’s cost per person mile is nearly four times that of a single new urban freeway lane.

     

  • Commuter rail ridership is so small that the federal government’s Roadway Congestion Index would be unchanged in each of the new commuter rail cities if riders switched to automobiles.

     

  • New commuter rail has been unable to attract meaningful numbers of automobile drivers. Commuter rail generally provides no travel time advantage, and few locations along commuter rail lines or within urban areas are within walking distance of stations.

     

  • More effective strategies employed around the country have been expanded freeways, high occupancy vehicle lanes, and high occupancy toll lanes. Houston provides a prime example of a city that has materially reduced traffic congestion using the above strategies.

     

  • Discussions about the Austin/San Antonio commuter rail project should be guided by three criteria originated by U.S. Congressman Tom DeLay, the Majority Whip and a senior member of the U.S. House Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee: (1) Rail’s success is not demonstrated by the number of people on the train, rather it is demonstrated by how many cars it takes off the road. The number must be material. (2) Whatever rail accomplishes, it should do so for less than any other alternative. (3) The alternative finally selected must be the result of objective and rigorous planning and studies, whose design and processes are not skewed for or against any of the alternatives.