ION Phase 2 - Cambridge's Light Rail Transit

[Acitta]

It wouldn’t deliver the benefits if nobody rode it.

I suspect most condo/apartment developers in KW that are choosing to build near the LRT are doing so without any real understanding of its ridership. As long as there's enough ridership that the project is perceived as a success, and a amenity that's desirable to be near, the specific ridership numbers probably aren't that important.

But in any case, I don't actually disagree with you. Ridership is definitely an important part of the system. I'm just disagreeing with Cory, who appears very focused on costs vs a bus. The politics of the project are completely unrelated to the costs of bus operations.

The purpose of the LRT is to move people, end of story. But which people? Not necessarily existing demand. The same is well-understood for roads: when a major new subdivision goes in, nearby roads are often built, upgraded, or expanded, not in response to existing traffic but in knowledge that the subdivision is going in and with it more people wanting to drive places.

In the limiting case, projects like new bridges across the river are built based entirely on foresight. Typically the traffic level across the river at the bridge site is zero before construction.

I don't disagree with any of this conceptually, but in the Cambridge context transit ridership is so low that we're many years away from justifying an LRT on the basis of ridership. Even potential ridership with an LRT is incredibly low in Cambridge.

I would visit Cambridge more often if the ION already went to Cambridge. By the time it is actually built, though, there is a non-zero possibility that I will be dead.