| Metro Rail | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Info | |
| Locale | Buffalo, New York |
| Transit type | Light rail |
| Number of lines | 1 |
| Number of stations | 15 |
| Daily ridership | 23,200 (avg. weekday, FY 2008) |
| Operation | |
| Began operation | 1985 |
| Operator(s) | Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA) |
| Technical | |
| System length | 6.4 miles (10.3 km) |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 81⁄2 in) (standard gauge) |
| Electrification | Overhead lines 650 V DC |
Buffalo Metro Rail is the public transit rail system in Buffalo, New York, USA; it is operated by the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority, or NFTA. The system consists of a single, 6.4-mile (10.3 km) long line that runs for most of the length of Main Street in the City of Buffalo, from HSBC Arena in Downtown Buffalo to the south campus of the University at Buffalo in the northeast corner of the city.
Contents |
Transit type
Buffalo's Metro Rail is a light rail transit (LRT) system as characterized by the American Public Transportation Association [1] although it shares many characteristics with "heavy rail" metro systems.
From the entire length of the line, 80 percent of its alignment (5.2 miles (8.4 km)) operates in a high-speed underground subway environment with high-level platforms. The remaining 20 percent of the alignment (1.2 miles (1.9 km)) is on the surface in a dedicated transit mall separated from automobile traffic with low-level platforms (mini-high level platforms provide handicapped access to one door per train at the south end of each station). Trains in the downtown transit mall do interact with automobile traffic at cross streets, where movements are governed by non-vital traffic signals.
Metro Rail operates electric multiple-unit light rail vehicles (LRVs) in two-to-four car consists with power drawn from an overhead catenary system. They are uniquely the only modern rigid-body (non-articulated) LRVs operating in North America other than SEPTA in Philadelphia.
History
Construction
When the Metro Rail began construction in 1978, it was intended to be the first line for an extensive system that would spread throughout the city and suburbs. However, during the construction of the line and afterwards, Buffalo's population significantly declined. As a result, the new line's ridership was much lower than originally anticipated. The cost of the urban section was so high that no funding was available to extend the lines into the suburbs, including the Amherst campus of the University at Buffalo. Efforts to obtain funding for feeder lines have met with little success.
The downtown business district
The construction of the pedestrian mall along Main Street downtown coincided with the decentralization of the region's population and retail market. Like many other cities in the Northeast, suburban shopping malls were being developed in closer proximity to regional population growth and regional wealth. This shift in retail concentration and regional wealth resulted in downtown Buffalo losing many of its long time anchor department stores and smaller shops to suburban malls and strip plazas. It was these retailers that originally served as some of the major traffic generators for Metro Rail. Overall, the 1980s saw a decline in the area's economic health, reducing both the number of potential passengers and the tax base available to fund the system.
The city of Buffalo is planning to reintroduce cars onto Main Street in a shared trackbed/ roadway. Curb parking lanes will be provided for short-term visitors. The project started in 2008 and is expected to be completed by 2011.[2]
Operations and practical information
Metro Rail runs daily; weekdays from approximately 5:10 a.m. to 12:50 a.m., Saturdays from 7:05 a.m. to 12:50 a.m., Sundays from 9:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m (although bus service is available until approximately 12:30 a.m. in the same area). Trains run as often as once every ten minutes at rush hour, and generally no less often than once every twenty minutes. A one-way ticket is $1.75. An all-day pass costs $4.00, which allows users of the pass unlimited rides covering the entire rail and bus system for the service day. Monthly passes are also available, either by a calendar month, or by a continuous 30-day period.
In September 2008, the NFTA began an earlier starting time to the weekday schedule in response to an 11% increase in ridership over an eight-month period of growth. In July 2008, the authority claimed the passenger count "...eclipsed the July 2007 tally by 23 percent".[3]
Fare collection is accomplished through a proof-of-payment (POP) system (sometimes erroneously referred to as an "honor system"). Tickets are checked periodically by roving NFTA ticket inspectors and occasionally by transit police on trains and in stations. Travel on the above-ground portion of the system is free (zero-fare public transport), though ticket machines are available at outbound above-ground stations for passengers continuing on to stations in the subway portion of the line. If a rider does not possess a valid proof-of-payment, a citation may be issued similar to a traffic ticket and a penalty may be imposed if the court finds a passenger guilty of non-payment.
A normal one-way trip takes 22 minutes from end to end, though it may be faster nights, weekends and holidays.
Metro Rail and Metro Bus schedules are posted at the NFTA Metro Website.
Stations / Points of interest
| Buffalo Metro Rail route | |
|---|---|
- Special Events Station : HSBC Arena (note: trains only travel to and from Special Events station to service events at the arena; at all other times the Erie Canal Harbor station is the south terminus of the line)
- Erie Canal Harbor : HSBC Arena, Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, Buffalo Downtown Waterfront
- Seneca : Coca-Cola Field[4]
- Church : Buffalo Transportation Center (intercity buses)(2 block walk east), Downtown Farmers Market, Erie Community College-City Campus, Main Place Mall/Tower
- Lafayette Square : Buffalo Convention Center, Buffalo City Hall, Buffalo Central Library
- Fountain Plaza : Chippewa Entertainment District
- Theater: Shea's Performing Arts Center and the Buffalo Theatre District
- Allen/Medical Campus : Anchor Bar, birthplace of the Buffalo-style chicken wing, Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus
- Summer-Best
- Utica
- Delavan/Canisius College : Canisius College - Koessler Center, Athletics
- Humboldt-Hospital : Canisius College, Sisters Hospital, Medaille College, Delaware Park
- Amherst Street : Buffalo Zoo, Delaware Park, Parkside Neighborhood
- LaSalle
- University: University at Buffalo South Campus
Rolling stock
The NFTA has a fleet of 26 rigid-bodied (non-articulated) LRVs for the Metro Rail system, numbered sequentially from 101 to 127. They were built by Tokyu Car Corporation of Japan. One LRV (#125) was damaged in transit and later purchased by a restaurateur in Hamburg, NY as an addition to a restaurant on Abbott Road, near Armor Duells Road.
Specifications
- Manufacturer: Tokyu Car Corporation, Japan
- Fleet size:: 26 (one car {125} damaged in transit upon delivery in 1983)
- Fleet No.:: 101-127
- Length: 66 feet 10 inches (20,371 mm)
- Width: 8 feet 6.5 inches (2,604 mm)
- Weight: 35.5 short tons (32.2 t)
- Normal capacity: 140 (including 51 seated)
- Control: 4 chopper controlled Westinghouse motors (at 650V DC)
- Track gauge: 1,435 mm (4 ft 81⁄2 in) (standard gauge)
- Car body type: Rigid (non-articulated)
Railcar rehabilitation
It was announced in May 2006 that all of the LRV railcars will be rehabilitated by AnsaldoBreda. The rehabilitation will feature many improvements. The improvements will include enhanced video monitoring of the railcar interiors, upgraded brakes, rebuilt HVAC systems, rebuilt door systems, a brand new white, blue and gray interior, upgraded propulsion, and repair to the body shells. In addition, the railcars will receive new monitoring systems, automated announcements, new door chimes, and interior/exterior LED signage to replace existing rollsigns. Total project cost is an estimated $40 million for rehabilitation of 27 Metro Rail cars.[5]
The project originally used SuperSteel's manufacturing facilities in Schenectady, NY [1]. However due to loss of orders and the economy, SuperSteel shut down the facility in April 2009 which cost 175 jobs and delayed the completion of the rehabilitation. [2] The project for the time being has been moved to Gray Manufacturing Industries, located in Hornell, NY[3]. AnsaldoBreda has proposed to purchase the former SuperSteel plant, originally opened in 1996. If this purchase is completed, AnsaldoBreda will complete all remaining work on the NFTA contract in Schenectady, NY, if this purchase is not completed, remaining work will be completed at Gray Manufacturing's facilities in Hornell, NY.[4]
Plans for expansion
There are currently no viable plans to expand the system. Still, the truncated system serves 23,000 passengers daily. Some downtown business groups occasionally call for the removal of the transit system so that they can return to normal vehicle traffic and curbside parking, hoping that this measure might recreate the prosperous days of the past. Without extended branches in the suburbs, the system serves primarily a declining city population and those suburbanites who take buses or cars to one of the outer stations.
One group, the Citizens for Regional Transit (CRTC), advocates the cause for expansion. As indicated in their statement, the CRTC seeks to educate the public, public officials, their authorities and agencies in the Buffalo-Niagara region about the benefits of a comprehensive transportation system including an expanded Metro Rail.
University line extension
On Monday, December 4, 2006, in The Spectrum, a publication of the University at Buffalo (UB), it was announced that UB President John B. Simpson is planning to get a project underway that would connect UB's three campuses via a transportation system. The proposed systems included a subway, trolley or light rail.
Airport corridor
The Airport Corridor would begin in Downtown Buffalo, near the current Metro Rail's CHURCH station, and continue in an easterly direction in/out Division Sts., diagonally in a northeastern direction near Jefferson toward the Buffalo Central Terminal, cross Broadway, and then continue eastbound in its private ROW (Right of Way) to the Thruway Plaza, Walden Galleria and Buffalo Airport.
Tonawandas corridor
The Tonawandas Corridor would operate from LaSalle Station northwesterly to the City of Tonawanda using the abandoned Erie Railroad tracks.
The NFTA went as far as twelve Presidents' Conference Committee (PCC) streetcars, built by the St. Louis Car Company and acquired by Cleveland, Ohio's Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority second hand in 1953, were purchased in 1980s to serve the Tonawanda turn-out, a proposed Metro Rail extension to Tonawanda and North Tonawanda. It was determined after initial trial runs that the PCCs were too wide for existing station platforms and the plan was abandoned. The PCCs were subsequently sold to the Brooklyn Historical Railway Association (BHRA), from where they were scrapped in 2003 when the BHRA folded.
Annual ridership
| Year | Ridership |
|---|---|
| 1996 | 7,135,746[6] |
| 1997 | 6,918,812[6] |
| 1998 | 7,213,821[6] |
| 1999 | 6,335,643[6] |
| 2000 | 6,568,165[6] |
| 2001 | 6,355,955[6] |
| 2002 | 5,797,407[6] |
| 2003 | 5,857,687[6] |
| 2004 | 5,478,002[6] |
| 2005 | 5,373,321[6] |
| 2006 | 5,631,864[6] |
| 2007 | 5,543,100[7] |
| 2008 | 6,860,000[7] |
Gallery
 Buffalo's Metro Rail network |
 Inside the Tokyu Car |
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 Shea's Performing Arts Center in front of Theater Station |
Metro Rail in Lafayette Square station in the Free Fare Zone |
See also
References
- ^ "U.S. Light Rail Transit System Links". American Public Transportation Association. http://www.apta.com/links/transit_by_mode/lightrail.cfm. Retrieved 2008-09-24.
- ^ "Return of Vehicular Traffic to Main Street". Buffalo Place Inc.. http://www.buffaloplace.com/aboutus/planning/returnoftraffic.html. Retrieved 2008-04-24.
- ^ "Metro Rail to add earlier train run". The Buffalo News. http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/buffaloerie/story/419639.html. Retrieved 2008-08-24.
- ^ http://www.buffalonews.com/258/story/524990.html
- ^ bizjournals.com
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k ntdprogram.gov Accessed 28-MAR-2009
- ^ a b bizjournals.com Accessed 28-MAR-2009
External links
- The NFTA, the agency that runs Metro Rail
- Urbanrail.net's page on Metro Rail
- More details at nycsubway.org
- Citizens Regional Transportation Corporation (Citizens for Regional Transit/CRTC), an advocacy group supporting expansion of Metro Rail
- Buffalo Metro Rail
- History of design and construction of Metro Rail
- Buffalo Metro Rail map
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