4.3. SR 04-16-2001 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Op Ed on the Northstar Commuter Line Commuter Rail is the Right Way to Go Paul M. Weyrich The Twin Cities are now poised to begin commuter rail service with the Northstar Commuter Line, serving communities in the fast-growing area between Minneapolis-St. Paul and St. Cloud. As a political conservative, I am opposed to commuter rail transit. Right? Wrong! As a conservative who knows something about public transit, I realize that rail transit is the right way to go. All transit is not created equal. In fact, there are two very different kinds of public transit, with different purposes, different markets and different technologies. The first is urban transit designed to serve the transit dependent, people who have no car or do not drive. The purpose of this kind of transit is to provide basic mobility to people who otherwise could not get around. In particular, it enables these people to get to work. That makes it of special interest to conservatives who want to see people work rather then collect welfare. If the poor are to better themselves by holding jobs, they have to be able to get to those jobs. In most cases, the best technology for serving the transit dependent is the bus. Buses can provide frequent service on a wide grid of city streets. Because the transit dependent have to walk from their homes to transit, they need transit service that runs on nearby streets. Buses do that well enough, although streetcars did it better. But that is only one type of public transit. There is a very different type of transit, designed not for the transit dependent but for people who now drive - and who are driving in such number that our highways are clogged. Here is where commuter rail comes in. These "riders from choice," as they are usually called, will only use transit if it is of high quality. It has to offer them transit service that is better than driving their own car. That means service that is fast over long distances, reliable (including in winter weather), and comfortable - more comfortable than the bus. They want plugs for their laptop computers, a seatback tray they can work on, a place for their bagel and cup of latte. A commuter train offers all of these things. And when commuter trains are available, middle and upper-middle class people will leave their cars at home or in the park-and-ride lot and ride the train. That reduces highway congestion for everyone, including the people who still drive. A look at Chicago's excellent Metra commuter train system shows what commuter rail can bring to the Twin Cities. Metra carries more than 20% of all commuting trips into the Chicago Central Business District. More than 85% of Metra's riders have a car available, but choose to take the train instead. 25% have household incomes over $100,000. In fact, if we look at commuters into Chicago from Lake county, we find that train riders had mean earnings of more than $76,000, compared to less than $14,000 for bus riders, and that the earnings of rail commuters were more than double those of people driving to work alone.