Transport planners have a rule that politicians find unwelcome.
needs , and needs housing policy.
A metro line through low-rise carries too few passengers to justify its cost.
The line is then blamed for poor performance that was decided by the zoning map.
Cities that build both together produce the results that are cited abroad.
Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore all permit substantial building around stations.
The model matters as much as the plan.
Rail investment raises the value of nearby land, often by more than the project costs.
Where that increase is , the system pays for itself; where it is not, fares must.
Capture can be direct, through development rights, or indirect, through a land value .
Both are politically difficult and technically ordinary.
Service quality then determines whether the produces riders.
matters more than speed below a certain distance, because waiting feels longer than travelling.
A bus every six minutes needs no timetable, and a timetable is a barrier to casual use.
Most failed systems failed on frequency, not on engineering.