Recent CLI speaker Randal O’Toole has a new paper out that surveys the impact of urban rail transit. The study can be found at the Indepence Institute site.
O’Toole collected data on 23 of America’s 24 light rail systems. Each of these systems operate in one of America’s 50 largest cities. He created a livability index to measure the impact of light rail on the region and found that “Rail transit reduced the livability of every urban area that has it.” The effects were least harmful in New York City and most harmful in Buffalo. Perhaps the TTA officials would like to take a look at his research.
