The effects of rapid transit on public transport and urban development

Abstract

There has recently been a revival of interest in rapid transit in the United Kingdom, particularly in the form of light rail. Manchester Metrolink has recently opened, and the South Yorkshire Supertram is currently under construction. The first lines in the West Midlands and Bristol have received Parliamentary approval, and light rail studies are under way in many other cities. In order to inform discussion and aid evaluation of such systems in the United Kingdom, TRL has studied the effects of overseas rapid transit systems on public transport and urban development. The latter is important because some of these systems may be eligible for government grants towards the capital costs, and new guidelines for eligibility place a greater emphasis on the contributions which private developers might make towards the cost of the system. The study covered fourteen rapid transit systems in France, the USA and Canada. This report contains a description of each system and its effects on transport and urban development. It then brings the findings together into a set of conclusions and finally considers the relevance of the findings to British proposals in general.