Economic impact of light rail investments: Summary of the results for 15 urban areas in France, Germany, UK and North America

Abstract

This present study analyses the effects of light rail investment in 15 urban transport areas. Five were located in France, four in Germany, three in the UK, two in the US and one in Canada. Economic effects are very difficult to attribute solely to one cause, such as the opening of a new light rail line. In virtually all cases other events occur simultaneously which also affect the outcome. Methodologies to isolate the effects will normally rely on data that show sufficient independent variation of the various influences, such as combined time-series/cross-section data in many areas over a long period of time, or the use of control cities and areas which are alike in every respect except the investment considered. All of these methodologies have their weaknesses and some of them are simply not practical in an empirical context. We have not developed a new methodology; we conducted discussions and interviews in each transport area with selected stakeholders, representatives of interest groups and some occupiers. These included public transport operators, the local government organisations in the cities and districts, business representatives and developers. In total, we interviewed over 70 experts. In addition, we visited all the new light rail lines and made notes about any new housing, office or retailing development close to the routes and stops. © 2005 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.