(Blue Diamond Road) Corridor Study - Regional Transportation ...

3. Overview of Transit Modes RTC SR-160 Corridor Study
3.3.4 Service Characteristics
LRT/DMU systems typically operate 10 to 15 minute peak headways during weekday service
and accommodate relatively tightly spaced stations, allowing for short and moderate length
trips. LRT/DMU systems allow for more efficient high-volume boarding than conventional
buses because they can accommodate level boarding from a station platform and typically
require fare pre-payment. Most properties operate LRT/DMU service between 18-20 hours
per weekday. Most of the new LRT/DMU systems built in the United States over the past
quarter century range between 8 and 26 miles in route length.
Research on transit ridership in cities with new LRT/DMU systems suggests that these
systems, when implemented appropriately, have the potential to enhance transit efficiency.
A Transportation Research Board (TRB) report published in November 2000 found that new
LRT systems accounted for 22 percent of total system boardings and carried 30 percent of
systemwide passenger miles but consumed only 17 percent of the operating and
maintenance costs.
While LRT/DMU has the potential to achieve significant efficiencies, it is worth noting that
the cost of wayside maintenance, stations, electrification, signals and other fixed facilities
are quite substantial. Achieving scale economies for LRT/DMU requires high ridership, and
the presence of high-density transit friendly corridors that can anchor radial lines and
crosstown bus feeder routes.
3.3.5 Capital Costs
FTA’s Light Rail Transit Capital Cost Study subdivides LRT capital costs into eight individual
cost components.
Guideway
Trackwork
Systems
Stations
Facilities
Vehicles
Special Conditions
Right-of-Way
Soft Costs: Engineering/Design/Project & Construction Management and Insurance
Contingency
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