Taking the Bus Is Not an Option
Why the Bush Administration Should Approve Dulles Rail

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Within the next few weeks, the U.S. Transportation Department will make a final decision on whether to approve federal funding for the Dulles corridor Metrorail extension [Metro, Feb. 16]. This project has been in the planning phase for more than 40 years. It is time to stop talking about this project and start building it.

In January, the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission released a report on the need for rail rapid transit in large urban areas. As a commissioner of the study, it was clear to me that there is a great need for mass transit to meet the transportation requirements of the future. The Dulles corridor is one of the most congested areas in the United States. Tysons Corner is the largest employment center in Virginia, with more than 100,000 workers. Dulles International Airport serves about 25 million passengers a year; that number is expected to double once renovations there are completed.

Opponents of the Dulles rail project have suggested bus rapid transit as an alternative that would accomplish the same objectives of rail at a fraction of the cost. This is a simplistic solution to a complex problem. There are a number of serious negatives to the bus proposal:

¿ It would not be possible for bus rapid transit to serve Tysons Corner effectively without building a grade-separated right of way, which would cost as much as the 23-mile extension of the Orange Line, but with much less capacity.

¿ Operating buses in Tysons to circulate riders would be slow and unattractive to commuters.

¿ Bus rapid transit would require a transfer to the Orange Line at the West Falls Church Metro Station, significantly adding travel time.

¿ While the cost of building rail in the Dulles corridor would be greater, the operating costs would be lower. (An eight-car Metro train can comfortably carry 1,000 passengers with one operator. It would require 16 buses to handle this volume, each bus requiring a driver.)

¿ Finally, buses would not be an attractive alternative to driving a car. The Dulles corridor is an affluent area with two or more cars in each household. The experience nationally has been that rail encourages people to ride transit. Buses would not.

The Dulles rail project has consistently complied with all Federal Transit Administration project requirements. The FTA has spent nearly $100 million in federal funds to study the project and has issued nearly 20 separate approvals. The entire project will require less than 20 percent federal funding (about $900 million) -- reversing the traditional federal share for highway construction. This level of state and local commitment should be rewarded, not questioned.

Dulles rail is one of the most important transit projects in the country, and I don't understand why its cost effectiveness is being questioned. Members of Congress from both parties have urged federal approval, including members of the House Republican leadership. The Bush administration should approve this project.

-- Paul M. Weyrich

Washington

The writer was a member of the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission and is president and chief executive of the Free Congress Foundation.