Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Light Rail

Report: Bush-Era Transit ‘Cost-Effectiveness’ Rule to Cost Charlotte $67M

By Elana Schor | Apr 5, 2010 | No Comments

When the Obama administration moved in January to undo a 2005 rule that made a federal "cost-effectiveness" rating the most important factor in determining which transit projects received funding, critics and even some transit advocates were skeptical, questioning whether the U.S. DOT would be able to legitimately quantify the community-building benefits of rail and bus […]

U.S. Transit Trips Hit 10.2B in 2009, With Light Rail Up in Nine Cities

By Elana Schor | Mar 9, 2010 | No Comments

(Photo: Model D Media) The nation’s transit systems hosted 10.2 billion trips last year, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) reported yesterday. While that figure represents a 3.8 percent decline from 2008, APTA’s data showed light rail ridership rising in nine cities and the long-term increase in transit use continuing to outpace growth in population […]

Economic Downturn Hits Transit Ridership — But Not in These Cities

By Elana Schor | Jan 4, 2010 | No Comments

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) got the mainstream media’s attention during the holiday season after reporting that the dismal economy had helped push transit ridership down by 3.8 percent during the first three-quarters of 2009, when compared with the previous year. Ridership on L.A.’s heavy rail system grew by nearly 6 percent during the […]

Streetfilms: Take a Ride on the Seattle Streetcar

By Clarence Eckerson Jr. | Mar 10, 2009 | 15 Comments

Seattle’s South Lake Union Streetcar is a 1.3-mile line that opened in December 2007, the first leg in the city’s commitment to new transit and light rail. It passed the half million passenger milestone in its first year, surpassing ridership projections. The streetcar features many top-of-the-line tech amenities, including real time arrival message boards, solar-powered […]

Transit Blamed for Suburban St. Louis Crime

By Brad Aaron | Oct 30, 2008 | 18 Comments

Last week Freakonomics picked up a story from the Riverfront Times that connects an uptick in shoplifting, fighting and other crimes in the St. Louis suburbs to a two-year-old expansion of the city’s MetroLink rail system. Ask virtually any store manager at the Saint Louis Galleria about shoplifting, and you’ll invariably get two responses: One, […]