Capital Cost

This represents the cost to construct a transit line, including vehicles and maintenance facilities. These costs are rough estimates and are provided to help you compare the benefits and costs of the corridors. To make the tool more realistic, the tool includes a budget limit of about $2.7 billion (2009$). You can select corridors until this limit is met. The Regional Transportation Plan anticipates spending this amount, roughly 30% of our total transportation dollars between 2008 and 2035, on all transit. New funding sources would need to be identified for any HCT projects that are not already included in the Regional Transportation Plan.

Ridership

This represents the relative number of people who would ride the lines in your system. This number is a projection based on future growth in housing and employment in the region.

Environmental Benefit

This represents the relative environmental benefit that each line might have such as improved air and water quality or a reduction in greenhouse gases.

Operating Costs

Operating costs include the cost to operate and maintain the system such as the cost of employing drivers, on-going maintenance of vehicles and track, station cleaning and maintenance. The relative operating costs shown here assume operation and maintenance of a light rail system. The actual cost to operate and maintain each corridor with different types of transit (light rail, commuter rail, bus rapid) would be considered during more detailed project level planning.