Buffalo Metro Rail
| Metro Rail | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Overview | |
| Locale | Buffalo, New York |
| Transit type | Rapid transit |
| 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 8+1⁄2 in) (standard gauge) |
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.
Light rail or metro?
The question of whether Buffalo's Metro Rail is a light rail system or a heavy-rail metro system is not an easy one but the answer is both, 80% it acts as a subway and 20% as a light rail. The Metro Rail uses 2-4 car trains powered from an overhead line (similar to Madrid Metro) and for 5.2 miles (8.4 km), the trains travel a high-speed underground section, totally separate from all other rail and automobile traffic, with high platforms in stations. The southern 1.2 miles (1.9 km) of the line is on an at-grade pedestrian mall in downtown Buffalo; while there are no cars traveling on the trains' right-of-way, the trains do interact with auto traffic at cross streets and obey stoplights.
Fleet
The NFTA operates 26 LRV cars (numbered 101 to 127) for the Metro Rail system. They were built by Tokyu Car Corporation of Japan. One rail car (fleet number 125) was damaged in transit, and later purchased by a restaurateur in Hamburg, NY as an addition to his restaurant on Abbott Road, near Armor Duells Road.
Twelve St. Louis Car Company PCC streetcars from Cleveland, Ohio's Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (obtained second hand in 1953) were bought in 1980s to serve the Tonawanda turn-out, a proposed Metro Rail route to Tonawanda and North Tonawanda. Used only for trial runs, it was quickly found that the cars were too wide for the station platforms, and the plan was scrapped. Later on, these cars sold to the Brooklyn Historical Railway Association. The cars were scrapped in 2003 when the BHRA folded.
Fleet details:
Current
- 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 (20370 mm)
- Width: 8 feet 6.5 inches (2603 mm)
- Weight: 35.5 tons
- Normal capacity: 140 (including 51 seated)
- Control: 4 chopper controlled Westinghouse motors (at 650V DC)
- Track gauge: 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) (standard gauge)
Proposed
- Car Type: PCC
- Number of Cars: 12
- Fleet Numbers: N/A
- Car Manufacturer: St. Louis Car Company
- Years of Service: None - trial runs only, never in revenue service
Practical information
|} Metro Rail runs daily; weekdays from approximately 5:30 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 1:15 a.m. in the same area). Trains run as often as once every seven minutes at rush hour, and generally no less often than once every twenty minutes. A one-way ticket is $1.50. You can also buy an All-Day pass for $3.50, which lets you ride the entire rail and bus system for the entire day. Purchases of an all day pass can be made easily at blue Metro Rail ticket vending machines, or from a bus driver. Monthly passes are also available.
In September, 2008, the NFTA will begin service earlier weekdays in response to an 11% increase in service over an eight month period of growth. In July 2008, the authority claimed the passenger count "...eclipsed the July 2007 tally by 23 percent".[1]
Travel is based on the honor system. Tickets are checked 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, though ticket machines are available at outbound above-ground stations for those passengers continuing on to the proof-of-payment area, on the below-ground section of the line (Allen-Medical Campus to University Station).
If it is found that you cannot show valid proof-of-payment, a citation may be issued, similar to a traffic ticket, and a penalty may be imposed if found guilty.
A normal trip takes 22 minutes from end to end, though it may be faster nights, weekends and holidays.
Metro Rail and Metro Bus schedules are can be viewed at the NFTA Metro Website.
Points of interest / Current Stations
- 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, Memorial Auditorium, Buffalo Downtown Waterfront
- Seneca : Dunn Tire Park
- 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
- 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
- La Salle
- University: University at Buffalo South Campus
History and future
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 is expected to start in 2008 and to be completed by 2011.[2]
Railcar rehabilitation
It was announced in May 2006 that all of the LRV railcars will be rehabilitated by AnsaldoBreda. This project will be completed at Supersteel's [1] manufacturing facilities located in Schenectady, NY. The rehabilitation is scheduled to be complete in 2010 and 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. The first rehabilitated railcars are expected to be in service around Spring 2008.
Future prospects
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.
Two lines that are at the front of CRTC's agenda include the Airport Corridor, and a Tonawanda Corridor, proposed as following:
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 abandoned New York Central Terminal, cross Broadway, and then continue eastbound in its private ROW (Right of Way) to the Thruway Plaza, Walden Galleria and Buffalo Airport.
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 purchasing second-hand PCC trolleys (the first regularly schedule service in the area using PCC cars) from Cleveland, Ohio. The idea for using these cars was scrapped because the cars were too wide to operate down Main Street.
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.
Annual ridership
| Year | Ridership |
|---|---|
| 1996 | 7,135,746 |
| 1997 | 6,918,812 |
| 1998 | 7,213,821 |
| 1999 | 6,335,643 |
| 2000 | 6,568,165 |
| 2001 | 6,355,955 |
| 2002 | 5,797,407 |
| 2003 | 5,857,687 |
| 2004 | 5,478,002 |
| 2005 | 5,373,321 |
| 2006 | 5,631,864 |
Source: [2]
See also
References
- ^ "Metro Rail to add earlier train run". The Buffalo News. Retrieved 2008-08-24.
- ^ "Return of Vehicular Traffic to Main Street". Buffalo Place Inc. Retrieved 2008-04-24.
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
- Shaker Heights Rapid Transit PCCs
- Interesting history of how the Metro Rail was built - Are you sure you know the whole story?