Light Rail

Twice in the last month, planning expert Bill Fulton has ridden public transit to and from large public events. In both cases, transit was far more effective than driving.

Houston may be able to anticipate four new rail lines before 2012, if a deal two years in the making can be worked out through negotiations.

In this op-ed, Michael Andregg touts Personal Rapid Transit over 'financially unsustainable' light rail, which he blames politicians for encouraging.

A recent study by the World Resources Institute for Maryland's upcoming Purple Line project sided with BRT. WorldChanging asks researchers Greg Fuhs and Dario Hidalgo how they came to side with buses.

The Honolulu City Council has agreed to slightly re-work the route of the region's recently-approved light rail system to connect with Honolulu International Airport -- a move that has angered some residents.

Portland's new Westside Express Service officially opens today, carrying passengers from Beaverton to Wilsonville. The Oregonian calls it, "a punch of hard-rolling rust-and-grease."

A nonprofit organization is promoting the idea of closing Manhattan's 42nd St. to traffic and putting in a 2.5 mile street level light rail line.

Officials in Pittsburgh are hoping that expanding transit-oriented development will spur growth in struggling and decaying neighborhoods -- and they have the voter-approved legislation to help.

While the economic downturn is slowing many construction projects in Dubai, the city's 47-station light rail system is moving forward on schedule.

As a new light rail system begins operation in Phoenix, Atlanta residents look on with envy. Some worry that the lack of viable public transit in Atlanta threatens the city's competitiveness.

After 4 years of construction, the first light rail line has opened in Phoenix. NPR looks at the new transit option for the sprawling desert city.

A proposal to run a light rail subway through central San Francisco passed environmental scrutiny at the federal level, green lighting the project to move forward. Now all the $1.3 billion project needs is some federal funding.

This column deals with two Seattle issues: one political - the victory of a transit measure on Nov. 4 that will direct $18 billion to light rail; the other human - a Sierra Club activist who made the campaign for Prop 1 a full time job.

The fourth attempt proved a charm as Marin and Sonoma county voters narrowly passed a 1/4 cent sales tax measure to build and run a diesel light rail train through both counties along with an adjacent bike path. The tax measure needed 2/3 to pass.

Voters in Honolulu have approved a 20-mile light rail system for the Hawaiian city -- the largest public works project in the state's history.

A sales tax plan to fund light rail in Kansas City has failed.

While home values in the rest of the region decline, homes near Denver's light rail system have experienced an increase in values over the past two years.

In metropolitan Kansas City, two sales tax initiatives on the ballot in efforts to raise money for the region's long-planned light rail system.

Phoenix is counting on a new light rail system to revive one of the city's long-ignored commercial corridors when trains start operation at the end of the year.