US Urban Rapid Transport &
Light Rail Costs & Speed

Costs & Speed: US Rapid Transport & Light Rail
Type of Service	Capital Cost (Compared to Busway/HOV)*	Operating Cost per Passenger Mile	Ave. Speed MPH
Public Express Bus: Competitive	0%-100%	18¢	24.1
Commuter Rail	N/A	28¢	30.9
Rapid Rail	526%	33¢	23.4
Light Rail	506%	42¢	13.7
Public Express Bus: Non-Competitive	0%-100%	23¢-45¢	24.1
HOV: high occupancy vehicle lanes for carpools and buses. Figures for public express bus based on transit systems with 50 or more vehicles. -- Derived from Federal Transit Administration, Section 15 and San Diego-MTDB data and John Kain, Ross Gittell, Amrita Daniere, Sanjay Daniel, Tsur Summerville, and Liu Zhi, Increasing the Productivity of the Nation's Urban Transportation Infrastructure (Washington, DC: US Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration, Technology Sharing Program, January 1992).