The Miami Metromover and the Detroit People Mover were the only two systems approved in the 1970’s after the creation of the Urban Mass Transit Administration.
They are automated, fixed-guideway systems obtaining power from a power pick-up system. Miami is rubber-tired, and Detroit is steel-wheeled. Some writers call them light-rail and others refer to them as automated people movers.
There was a private one in Tampa that has since been dismantled.
There were the Jacksonville Skyway and the Morgantown PRT too… not to mention MARTA as well, all in the 1970s.
Good Morning. Fixed it. My bad.
Now, here’s where it gets really, real…
For LRT, the assumption in this model for a new build is any where from $35M to $75M per mile. Then, figure in the per person cost irrespective of purchasing the equipment and annual maintenance, salaries, and replacement of aging equipment…
For a streetcar system new build, the assumption ranges from $25M to $40M per mile…
Heavy Rail/Subway systems are currently in the $350M to $2.1B per mile range…
Commuter Rail new build outs have been running in the $1.3M to $26M per mile range (depending on single tracking or double tracking or recycling of abandoned right-of-ways) …
Great information to have, thank you! Commuter Rail it is… Done & Done!!! 
@RobertSanderlin Here’s some current data to chew on…
…And, yes, I do hear Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra playing ‘Charts and Graphs’ in the background.
Durham/Chapel hill light rail numbers look outrageous low for the cost. I checked numbers for AppleCart (bus system in Boone) Average 13,000 per day and set daily record of over 18,000 on Oct 31 this year.
It was certainly a test of the model. I used their initial ridership projections, and with the cost of the final project being $2.5B, my estimate didn’t take into consideration the cost of the rolling stock. That’s probably why it was under the mark.
Sorry I was referring to number of riders. Guess I did not make that clear. Then AppleCart is also free. Well kind of free in that do not pay to ride, is supported by student fee, local city and county taxes, state and federal grant money. System has a number of in-town routes that run very often. there are also other routes that run out of town to local communities around 4 times a day. As well as handicap vans that run on demand.
OK. Here’s where I pulled the initial ridership numbers.
I have been on the Detriot People Mover. Tis a silly thing.
I would add Durham, Carry, Morrisville, & Garner’s population to Raleigh’s for the commuter rail because it will connect those municipalities.
Here is a Subway Type System
Here is a Commuter Rail
Here is a Light Rail
Here is a Street Car
Oh, yes. The more formal modeling will likely be output with the next report from GoTriangle. When pulling data from APTA (American Public Transit Association), they include population data from particular transit authority’s headquarters node, as opposed to the extent of coverage of the actual system. A little reductive, yes, but that’s what I had to work with in a limited time.
This was a comparative personal exercise not unlike preliminary brainstorming sessions when I was doing my postdoctoral work in health policy. One of my Principal Investigators would liken it to throwing paint at the wall. You get a general picture, but the image will need refining.
That being said, Jackson Pollock made a career out of dripping paint. So, I suppose it depends on what the viewer desires in a final image. Anyway, it was a fun vanity project that helped me see how these blue sky ideas play out into a finished project.
Yup:
Subway - MARTA just signed a deal to replace their entire fleet. Cost - $646M
Commuter Rail - Caltrain is in the midst of electrifying it’s fleet and corridor (which doesn’t even include the expected cost of extending the line into the basement of the Salesforce Transit Center). Cost - $1.9B (BTW: The Caltrain extension was sidetracked when Gov. Gavin Newsom seriously downsized the CA/HSR project. That was expected to run another $6B)
Light Rail - VTA Light Rail’s hopes for a direct connection to BART’s Silicon Valley extension has just been put on hold. Cost - $2.1B
Streetcar - Atlanta Streetcar has been limping along with a recent takeover by MARTA
So, I believe (and hope) that GoTriangle and Wake County have learned from prior experience and have been trying to be sure to get it right after two previous planning failures - TriangleTransit regional rail and DO/LRT.
Just had this recomended to me on Youtube about cities with subways in the USA, which seemed applicable to this topic. Why don't more U.S. cities have metro systems like New York? - YouTube
Not bad (I’ll withhold comment about his desire to be able to ride a Metro everywhere he goes. Buses need some love, too).
Didn’t realize that Seattle’s loss was Atlanta’s gain with respect to initial startup funding for MARTA Rail. Since the buildout, expansion plans for heavy rail there have been problematic.
And, the freight systems have had a chokehold on attempts to shoehorn any kind of regional rail into the transit mix. Georgia’s an odd state with regarding transportation planning. There’s Atlanta, then everywhere else. Lots of balancing, usually towards highways.
