Quote:
Originally Posted by bzcat
Transit can't exist in a vacuum. It needs to be useful and that means cities needs to change land use policy to reinforce use of transit. Or put it more simply, the reason why transit share is low in American cities is because we have low density and zoning that encourage car use.
Building rail in itself won't change anything just like building BRT won't improve bus ridership either if neither were supported with policy that reinforce density and transit use on the corridor it serves. That being said, there are corridors in many city that already have high transit mode share and upgrading the service from regular bus to BRT and rail will increase transit mode share - e.g. most of the major streets in Los Angeles or Seattle. These are the low hanging fruits. Beyond that, zoning changes that removes car-use preference will have a much greater impact on transit use than building new rail line. Most of the fast growing sun-belt cities fall in this category. Las Vegas does a fairly good job for example with its concentrated employment center with high quality (by US standards) bus network - and they've largely eliminated free parking on the Strip and incrementally upgraded some bus to BRT to further support growth in transit mode share.
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Ever wondered why most fast growing cities in the USA are in the sun belt where zoning laws favor private autos? Ever wondered why suburbs grew faster than inner cities 50-60 years ago where parking was free? The plain and simple fact is that Americans love the freedom private automobiles provide. Except for just a handful of cities in all of North America, private automobiles are still the fastest and cheapest way from one location to another within every city. Cities tried making private cars more expensive 50-60 years ago with the invention of parking meters. Few cities still have them, having to remove them to appease downtown businesses that saw most of their business flocking away to the suburbs where parking is free. Now the new flavored push is for congestion pricing just to enter downtown districts, even on public transit. The end result will be more businesses departing downtown districts, just watch it unfold.
Encouraging growth and human patterns by government usually works eventually, but discouraging growth and human patterns usually fails with unintended consequences.
If you want public transit to grow in the USA, you have to make it competitive with private automobiles by making it a better product, not by making it more expensive for those using private cars. I do not want a service at the lowest possible common acceptable level. That means frequent, on time service with luxurious padded seats for everyone in a super clean vehicle. Ever see anyone standing in a private vehicle, why is that acceptable for public transit? Why not provide a service at least as one would expect in a private automobile?
As long as public transit provides a worse overall service than private vehicles, it will never be a competitive choice in most North American cities.