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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Rail or bus? One more time

By: Editorial

Posted: 04/21/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Mayor Sam Katz will ask the executive policy committee today to approve spending up to $100,000 to explore the option of light rail transit. After nearly 10 years of study and debate, the question may seem redundant. It may even seem like a cynical election ploy, but if the mayor believes there is new information that could inform the city's choice for the future, well, let's hear it.

Previous studies have claimed light rail transit is six times more expensive than bus rapid transit, which is one of the reasons why the option had few defenders.

The mayor now says one kilometre of bus rapid transit costs about $38 million, compared to $50 million for rail transit at street level. That's a big difference when you're talking long distances, but it's not so large that the idea is out of the question.

Mr. Katz believes light rail is a superior concept to bus rapid transit. Indeed, many reports claim it stimulates more development and generates higher ridership because people like the service and is far more prestigious and appealing to young people, as well as being greener than diesel-powered buses.

Those same studies, however, also say light rail is more appropriate in dense urban environments with high volumes of ridership. A light-rail system can carry several cars, while the seating capacity of buses is more limited. The extra cost, in other words, makes sense in areas where the service is heavily used.

In Winnipeg's context, it is hard to imagine today a route that would require a train of many cars, with the possible exception of the route to the University of Manitoba, particularly after the new stadium is erected.

Mayor Katz, however, is imagining a service for the future. He is anticipating -- dreaming might be the better term -- of a growing city where many more people leave their cars at home to hop on a train, either to go downtown or to reach some other major destination.

In previous debates, light rail got short shrift because of the presumed cost. As a result, a full discussion of the pros and cons of one service over the other has never taken place.

If the $100,000 for a study is approved, a report would be expected this summer. It may put to rest, finally, the mayor's fondness for the train over the bus, or it may start a new discussion about the best way forward.

Either way, it's worth pausing to make sure we get it right and everyone is moving in the same direction.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 21, 2010 A10

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