BRT vs LRT: Cheaper is better

RE 'BEACH CHOICE on light rail,' front page, Jan. 29: I urge the Virginia Beach City Council to post a referendum question that would state, 'Will you support the recommendations of the Virginia Beach Transit Extension Study and Alternatives Analysis for Bus Rapid Transit?'

Two cities in Virginia (Richmond and Leesburg) have compared light rail and BRT and determined that BRT is far less expensive and better. I predict our $6.6 million feasibility study will ring in with the same results results that 29 major metropolitan areas in the U.S. have come up with.

Cities such as New York, Washington, D.C., and Boston, which have a high-density inner city, are better off with light rail; but for cities that are spread out, like Los Angeles and Virginia Beach, a BRT system is better, faster and significantly less expensive to build and operate.

Money can be more wisely spent on a grid BRT system, with more frequent stops that can reach dense population pockets like Pungo, Oceana and Fort Story. A linear, 11-mile, billion-dollar light rail system will affect a smaller percentage of residents as opposed to a cheaper BRT grid system with a trunk line using Interstate 264.

The feasibility study should certainly look at the 23-mile Silver Line from Falls Church to Dulles Airport now under construction for $6.8 billion, with a projected $107 million annual cost to operate.

Northern Virginians are belatedly learning that they could have had a better and faster BRT already operating for less than 10 percent of that $6.8 billion.