What Dallas got Dan Feldstein, the Chronicle's transportation writer, in an article earlier this week, told us what Dallas gets out of its rail lines. And it wasn't a transportation miracle. Dallas got about the same growth in transit ridership as Houston did with much cheaper buses. Its rail solution will reduce air pollution by one-thousandth of 1 percent. Its 20 miles of light rail and 10 miles of heavy commuter rail resulted in a net increase of new transit riders of about 14,000 systemwide.
Pride costs money.
Now there is a rail payoff in fewer miles driven by commuters. But it usually takes a generation or two to appear. You build highways to undeveloped areas and eventually developers will build housing, retail and office buildings along them. You build rail transit lines and eventually developers will build housing, retail and office buildings along them. In that sense, rail can be a success.