Steve Melia [[log in to unmask]] wrote:



> Or, is anyone aware of a European city or large town where public 

> transport use is particularly high, and which does NOT have a tram or 

> light rail system?

> 

> In comparisons of German and Swiss cities I have seen, 

> it is striking how those which have achieved particularly 

> low levels of car use all appear to 

> have tram or light rail systems.  There has been a lot of 

> research into the relative propensities of car drivers to 

> switch - which would appear to support the view that trams 

> or light rail have a greater potential, but I 

> was wondering whether there are any European examples that buck this 

> particular trend.



I would suggest that you be cautious about making "apples to oranges" comparisons. Rail activists in North America are constantly citing cases in which the introduction of a LRT line has increased transit usage. However, what gets lost in the statistics is that it is really a comparison of a rapid transit system (limited stops, higher operating speeds, reduced interference from other traffic congestion) with a transit system operating in mixed traffic with frequent stops and low travel speeds. 



Although the rail activists will claim that trains will attract more riders than buses, I have yet to see any truly direct "apples to apples" comparisons. For this to occur, you would have to take an existing high quality busway and then convert it into an LRT line, and then compare its ridership before and after the conversion. I don't know of any city that has actually done this. Certainly in places where high quality bus rapid transit (BRT) has been provided, the ridership has grown considerably. Would the ridership increases have been the same or higher if LRT had been built instead of BRT? The truth is that nobody really knows for certain.



Wetzel Dave [[log in to unmask]] wrote:



> Since Ken Livingstone's new bus policies were introduced 

> after his election as  London Mayor in 2000, there has been a 

> modal shift in London from cars to Public Transport of circa 5%.   



I think that London provides an excellent example of how transport planning needs to be done in an integrated context. It's not just a case of applying a single measure, but rather providing an integrated package of measures to encourage the use of public transport (congestion pricing, transit fares, transit service levels, etc.) Some North American cities will attempt individual measures such as reducing transit fares, but people still won't use it if there isn't a decent quality of service available and the alternative of driving is still attractive.



In larger metropolitan areas, it is important that travel by public transport be as integrated and as simple as possible for the average person to use. Both fares and services need to be integrated. A particularly ludicrous example was New York City prior to the introduction of the Metrocard, when transfers were permitted between buses, and transfers permitted between subway lines, but there were no free transfers between buses and subways! (Despite being operated by the same agency!) Now that the buses and subways are complementing each other instead of competing, ridership has increased significantly.



All opinions are my own, not those of my employer

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Ingénieur principal, Priorité du T.C.

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