Transit options may save millions

Spokane residents could get a bargain-basement rapid-transit system if regional transportation planners scale back plans for a proposed light-rail line between downtown Spokane and Liberty Lake.

Several new options – a bus rapid-transit system and a modified rail line between downtown Spokane and the University City shopping center – would cost far less than half of other proposals for a double- or single-track light-rail system but would sacrifice speed and capacity.

While costs for a dual-track electric line between downtown Spokane and Liberty Lake would reach about $657 million and a single-track diesel line would cost $408 million, a bus rapid-transit system could cost just $61 million.

An option to build a single-track line only to U-City and then use bus rapid transit to Liberty Lake would cost $158 million. Building a smaller light-rail system just to U-City, with single-car trains rather than double-car trains and smaller stations, would cost about $131 million.

Another alternative would be to just enhance the existing bus system.

“We haven’t passed the point where we’ve decided to do this,” project manager Kim Traver said in an interview Monday.

All cost estimates are in 2008 dollars – the time frame when such a system likely would be built.

But the cost savings have to be balanced with the limitations of the scaled-back systems, said Traver.

For instance, bus rapid transit, which would be given preferential treatment on existing roads, would take nine minutes longer than light rail to travel between downtown Spokane and Liberty Lake. And any traffic congestion could add to that time difference.

Such a system would make fewer stops than existing bus routes do.

A scaled-back light-rail system with smaller trains wouldn’t be able to carry as many people.

And expanding such a system later would be more costly, Traver said.

Money for rapid transit likely would be raised from a variety of federal, local and private sources, said Traver.

About 60 percent of the money could come from federal grants, he said, adding that some of the cost of things such as constructing stations could be subsidized by private investment. For example, perhaps a developer would choose to build a station that included a retail business that would benefit from the passenger traffic.

All of the systems could spur economic development around stations, but in other cities, development has been tied more to rail systems than bus rapid-transit systems, said Traver. That’s because developers are more comfortable investing in property near a station when the rails are built-in. A bus system could be moved away more easily, he said.

The Spokane regional light rail task force has kept a low profile this year because it didn’t want to confuse voters during the campaign for the recently passed sales tax increase for the Spokane Transit Authority, said spokeswoman Molly Myers.

That tax won’t be used for light rail or other rapid transit, Myers said.

Meanwhile, transportation officials are unsure which rapid-transit alternative would be likely to attract the most riders because modeling difficulties have held up ridership estimates for the past six months.

Several model flaws have been discovered recently, and Traver said he expects results to be complete by this fall.

By next spring, the STA board likely will choose a preferred alternative.

“We feel that the best option for Spokane will rise like cream to the top,” said Traver.