Study: Trains still better than buses for Southwest light rail line

A new analysis from the Metropolitan Council shows that light rail remains the best option for improving transit between Minneapolis and its southwest suburbs.

Mark Fuhrmann, who oversees rail projects for the Met Council, told a committee of local elected officials Wednesday that bus rapid transit is not a cost-effective alternative.

The report and the search for cost reductions both grew out of the revelation in April that planners had underestimated the project's $2 billion cost by more than $300 million.

Gov. Mark Dayton questioned whether the light rail line was still viable. He also demanded a study on whether improving bus service in the southwest Twin Cities metro area would make more sense.

Although bus rapid transit would cost less to build and operate, it would deliver fewer benefits to the corridor and to the region, Fuhrmann said,

The study concluded that buses would be slower than trains, do less to relieve congestion on the highways and serve far fewer riders.

That's because many people who would never set foot on a bus will happily choose to step onto a train, Met Council Chair Adam Duininck said.

"I was also surprised by how many more what we call 'choice riders' light rail attracts," Duininck said. "It almost doubles the ridership, which is why, again, the investment makes sense."

Even before the study came out, local officials from communities along the line's route made it clear they weren't interested in buses.

For the last few weeks, they've been poring over the options for whittling down the light rail project's price tag.

As local officials prepare to make a final recommendation on cutting costs on July 1, the difficult choices before them are coming into sharper focus.

It looks increasingly likely that the last two stations in Eden Prairie will be eliminated, because Met Council staff members have determined that cutting one won't be enough. Cutting two would save more than $200 million.

Eden Prairie Mayor Nancy Tyra-Lukens already has agreed to give up the final station at Mitchell Road, but she doesn't think it's a good idea to shorten the line further by eliminating the station at the city's bus transit hub.

"If we drop that, we have a ridership of about 3,200 we'll lose. We'll lose access to almost 3,000 additional jobs. We'll lose a lot of services to our transit-dependent population within Eden Prairie," Tyra-Lukens said. "So I hope that is still something we're considering and that we continue design on it at least until fall."

Minneapolis officials are fighting to hold on to three stations targeted for potential elimination. Hennepin County Commissioner Linda Higgins said getting rid of the station at Penn Avenue would make accessing the line inconvenient for many residents in her district.

"The hub and spoke model that we have now — where you go to downtown to go everywhere — gets to be a pain in the patoot, frankly," Higgins said.

Peter Wagenius, an aide to Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges, said removing stations from the city could reopen the debate over rerouting freight trains that nearby killed the Southwest Corridor light rail project last year.

"If people want to drag this project backwards into the freight-routing debate, that's your choice," he said. "I don't like being threatened to be punched in the nose."

Edina Mayor Jim Hovland said the cities need to pull together and make tough choices, not refight old battles.

"I don't think that's an effective way to communicate with people," Hovland said.