Light-rail debate in Vancouver, Washington

Read a recap of Wednesday’s light-rail forum for Vancouver over at the Columbian today. The meeting reportedly brought out 100 Vancouverians (is that how you call them…?).

The forum was to bring about a discussion on the Columbia River Crossing Project (which installing a light-rail system is included in the four billion dollar project in replacing the I-5 bridge)… instead, the discussion mainly hovered around the future of gasoline & the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan.

One of the best things in the recap article written was about Michael Ennis, transportation director for the Washington Policy Center. He presented conclusions after studying the light-rail systems for Portland, Sacramento, San Jose, San Francisco, Los Angeles & San Diego. His conclusions were that light-rail systems:

• Serve about 2 percent of the work force.
• Remove only 0.39 percent to 1.1 percent of cars from freeways and roads.
• Require government subsidies to cover 73 percent of operating costs.
• Cost 35 to 100 times more to attract a new riders to light rail than it would to a traditional bus system

“Cars are the solution,” Ennis said. “Cars are not the problem.” Really? Cars are indeed the solution when we bring about a means to end our oil dependency. They’re the solution when more than 2% of the population (an estimate) drive a hybrid.

From how I see it now, and with how our slow adoption rate of hybrids and looking for cleaner fuel alternatives, thinking that “cars are the solution” is a way of saying, “Let’s use oil til the last drop and then figure out another way to drive the main mode of our transportation system.”