(Nicole Neri/DD)
The debate against the controversial South Central Light Rail extension continued at a public forum Tuesday as residents voiced concerns with cost and safety and organized new efforts to oppose the project.
Although the extension was approved by the Phoenix City Council 6-2 in September, not all residents are happy with the 5.5-mile addition to the light rail, which will cut down traffic lanes along Central Avenue.
Economic analyst and author Randal O’Toole spoke against the extension at the forum, which was held at the Americans for Prosperity field office in east Phoenix. He said he is staunchly opposed to the development of government-subsidized rail projects as a means of public transportation by big cities.
He said the money and efforts should be primarily spent on repairing roads instead.
“I think we should end subsidies to highways and airlines,” O’Toole said. “I want to end subsidies to all forms of transportation.”
He, like many of the forum attendees, said he believes almost all rail projects impose extra costs to taxpayers while being far less efficient than transit by bus.
“Rapid (bus) transit is a viable option that we should look at. Ride sharing is an option that we should look at. Even government subsidies of passengers on ride sharing is a possibility,” said Tom Jenney, the senior legislative adviser for the Arizona chapter of Americans for Prosperity, a conservative advocacy group. “Light rail is horrendously inefficient. Almost anything you can look at in the way of government subsidies is going to be more efficient and move more passengers to more places than light rail.”
Light rail and train projects are often cited as efficient modes of public transit due to their abilities to carry more people at one time and to move faster while being unhindered by street traffic. O’Toole called these ideas into question.
“You can only run the light rail or a street car about once every three minutes because if you’re running them more frequently they’re going to start colliding when they’re stopping to pick up and drop off passengers,” O’Toole said. “So even though you can fit more people on at a time, you can’t move as many people per hour.”
According to Valley Metro data sheets, “each light rail vehicle can seat 66 passengers and comfortably accommodate 175 people with a maximum capacity of 226.” Additionally, their data shows “the light rail system can accommodate up to 12,000 passengers per hour, the same as a six-lane freeway.”
RELATED: Council votes to move forward with two lane South Phoenix light rail extension
This means that on all weekdays, ignoring holidays, the light rail could allow up to 132,000 passengers during typical daytime hours of 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Consequently, over 48 million people could theoretically ride the light rail per year, assuming it were operational every day.
In reality, the light rail saw less than 15.6 million passengers in fiscal year 2016 with bus ridership more than double this, according to Valley Metro. O’Toole said he thinks this evidence supports his argument for a more robust bus system rather than light rail.
“The problem is that light rail requires a lot of infrastructure and that infrastructure is expensive to maintain,” he said.
A 2017 Valley Metro fact sheet said the light rail cost $12.48 to operate per mile, making it almost $5 more per mile than the bus system. The light rail saw 3.3 million miles of service from July 2016 through June 2017, costing just over $41 million. The bus routes covered 32 million miles, costing over $248 million. However, the light rail line services 26 miles while buses cover 518 square miles.
Bus ridership was almost 200 times greater than light rail ridership in the last fiscal year and bus revenue from fares was about 185 times greater than the light rail’s fare revenue, according to Valley Metro data.
O’Toole said he would support the adoption of privatized rapid bus infrastructures in big cities, but he does not think taxpayers should have to subsidize rail projects they do not support because of the city they are residents of.
Jenney said he believes the issue needs to be on the ballots once again, despite the fact that the city of Phoenix passed Proposition 104, which included a major boost in public transportation funding, in 2015.
“When Phoenix voters passed the proposition three years ago, the question of light rail was bundled up with a lot of other questions about transportation in Phoenix,” Jenney said. “We want to make sure voters have a chance to look at the light rail question again in isolation to decide.”
Other attendees said they have concerns that go beyond cost efficiency, like public safety. Susan Gudino, a south Phoenix resident, said she believes the extension will impede traffic flow and disrupt the ability of emergency vehicles to quickly drive through.
As someone with many elderly neighbors, Gudino said this was a big cause for concern.
“I love my neighbors and I wouldn’t want anything to happen to them and that’s why I’m personally involved,” Gudino said. “A lot of people in City Council say we can just move but it’s not that easy.”
Valley Metro attempted to address many of these concerns in a series of public meetings in response to pushback to the project earlier this year. Their analysis shows the two-lane configuration would allow ample room for emergency vehicles, as well as providing infrastructure for bike lanes and buses.
Gudino is a member of Building a Better Phoenix political action committee, which was formed to aid anti-South Central Light Rail extension efforts. Although the City Council voted to move forward with the project, Gudino started a petition primarily against the extension and said she hopes she can collect at least 35,000 signatures on it.
Contact the reporter at tjmurp11@asu.edu.
