PORTLAND — The Blue Line — TriMet’s light rail route from Gresham to Hillsboro — attracted the biggest real estate investments of any surface transit system in the country, according to a new study out today. But the study also finds that rapid bus lines can garner similar returns, with far less transit spending than light rail.
The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy rates the Blue Line number one for overall development investment. Walter Hook, institute chief executive, credits various government efforts to attract investment along the line. But Hook says those steps can work near lines that aren’t light rail.
Hook explained, “From the perspective of cost-effectiveness, cities that invested in Bus Rapid Transit — if they also intervened intelligently to encourage transit-oriented development — found that they could leverage a lot more investment.”
The new report found that a rapid bus line in Cleveland was roughly 31 times more cost-effective than the Portland-area “blue line.”