Raise the Hammer

Hey Hammer,

Yeah, as I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, it makes sense that the LRT line in a city is cheaper per passenger mile than a bus line in the same city. This makes sense because the LRT will be in the most dense part of the city and along the busiest of the city's routes. The statistic isn't saying that LRT is cheaper per mile compared to BRT along the same mile so we have to be careful with how we interpret that data.

Another point I just thought of. Although population density is an important factor to consider, just because an area has a high population density doesn't guarantee a ridership. It makes intuitive sense that the higher the population density, the higher the ridership, but it certainly isn't causal. One must also consider where the people in that dense area are coming from and going to. Or, if a city has 3000 people/sq km, but is only 10 sq km big, it doesn't do much for ridership numbers. If everyone within a dense area tends to stay home all day or prefers to walk places, then even if it's the most dense city in the world, it won't do much for it's transit ridership. Unfortunately, I think the economic state of Hamilton is currently a lot closer to, although better than, Buffalo's than it is to some of the other cities that we have been compared to and we need to consider that and what the ridership would look like. I really hope people don't retort that with things like "you're one of those people that thinks Hamilton Sucks and it can't be like other cities because they don't suck". That's not what I'm saying at all. I really want to see Hamilton change for the better (like everyone? here). I just think that we need to consider how we're unique in some ways here and how best to precede at the present time.

Comment edited by SpaceMonkey on 2011-08-04 16:51:16