Related
Vital City
Press
/ May 15,2024
Alon Levy on How to Spend
NYC Congestion Pricing Revenues
Streetsblog NYC
Press
/ Nov 30,2022
Transit Costs Project Analyzes
the Roosevelt Boulevard Subway Corridor in Philadelphia
Transportation and Land Use Research Scholar Elif Ensari, Fellow João Paulouro, and Director Eric Goldwyn have posted “Roosevelt Boulevard Subway Corridor Analysis and Ridership Estimates” as part of their IBX Study within the Transit Costs Project. They conclude:
When we compare the projected 51,000 to 62,000 daily riders that we estimate and the City of Philadelphia announced for RBS against other domestic rail projects, it is clear that RBS performs favorably. As a point of comparison, the MBTA’s Green Line Extension, which entered into revenue service in 2022, is estimated to carry 45,000 riders/day by 2030. Similarly, Sound Transit’s East Link, which should open to full revenue service in 2025, is projected to serve 50,000 riders/day by 2030.
While RBS ridership estimates compare favorably to these contemporary projects, recent PennDOT cost estimates exceed $11 billion. These early stage estimates aren’t definitive, but they should be used to inform decision making. Instead of pursuing a project that has a cost per rider of $148,000, on the low end, we should instead focus on bringing that number more in line with projects like East Link and the Green Line Extension, which reported costs per rider between roughly $50,000–$70,000.