Even With Rapid Buses, Tampa Bay Needs Light Rail

It’s encouraging to see we are working on a bus rapid transit plan for the Tampa Bay region, which we need if it’s conceived and implemented well.

But Tampa Bay also needs light rail.

What’s so special about rail? Don’t ask transportation officials or engineers this question. Tell most of them which two areas you want to connect, and they will tell you how to do it. That is their job, but it is reactive. That approach waits for more urban sprawl and responds with more or bigger roads.

Rail is not about connecting existing population centers or taking away anyone’s car. It’s about shaping smart growth in the future and creating the kind of population centers we want to have.

Only rail can do this, because the system is fixed: It sends a signal to the investment community about where they can build. It spurs transit-oriented development in ways other transportation modes cannot.

The Tampa Bay Partnership conducted a "One Bay" study 15 years ago and asked 10,000 residents what kind of communities they wanted. They said they wanted high-density urban living, where we consolidate office, residential, retail and entertainment in walkable communities. These are the kinds of communities light rail can stimulate and then connect. Baby boomers and millennials alike want to leave their urban home, get on a train and go to work, dinner, a hockey game or the theater.

The urban centers we compete with around the country for business and talent provide this option. Tampa Bay doesn’t, and we are falling further behind. More than a decade after its original light rail line opened, Charlotte is opening a 9.3-mile extension to the UNC-Charlotte campus in March.

So what are the impediments to the realization of this vision?

Read the full op-ed at Tampa Bay Times

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