The powers that be in Kansas City have been exploring the possibility of a light rail line for a few years now, a step in the right direction for a city with one of the highest numbers of interstate miles per capita of major American cities.
With citizens increasingly concerned about the impact of higher gas prices and transportation taking up larger shares of take-home pay, investing in transportation alternatives would serve the city well. They’ve already started a type of bus rapid transit-lite (MAX) through the heart of the city, with the ability to control traffic lights, and next-bus times shown in real-time on the stop shelters along the line.
The city has been studying the feasibility of light rail with the intent of putting a measure before voters, but the local opposition enlisted the help of Randal O’Toole to toss out a few red herrings. From the Kansas City Star:
However, the Kansas City study includes some methodologies and arguments that O’Toole’s been criticized for elsewhere, such as drawing sweeping conclusions from small samples of statistics. Take crime. O’Toole wrote that light rail has “by far the worst crime record in the transit industry” and cited federal statistics for crimes such as homicide. However, those statistics show that light-rail lines across the country were associated with just two homicides in the past seven years. “For every study he cites that says one thing, I can pull out another study that says the opposite,” ATA’s Huffer said.
The reporter on this story, Jeffrey Spivak, did a little fact-checking on O’Toole’s claims about crime, and posted his findings on Prime Buzz, KC Star’s blog. He made two posts on the subject. View part one, and part two:
Rapes: Light rail lines in all cities reported a total of 6 rapes in 2005. That works out to 1 for every 173,973 daily riders. By contrast, Prairie Village had 1 rape for every 10,913 daily residents, and Olathe had 1 rape for every 2,350 daily residents. In effect, the threat of rape is about 16 times higher in Prairie Village, one of Kansas City’s safest suburbs, than it is on light rail lines across the country.
Robberies: Light rail lines recorded 377 robberies all across the country in 2005, or 1 per every 2,769 daily riders. The entire city of Kansas City by itself had 2,000 robberies, which should offer some perspective about the lack of crime on light rail lines. Lee’s Summit had 1 robbery for every 2,458 residents, and Prairie Village had 1 for every 1,984 residents. So when it comes to robbery, light rail appears safer than living in Kansas City or almost all its suburbs (some burbs have 0 robberies).
Aggravated assaults (with a weapon): Light rail lines had 177 such assaults in 2005. That was a lower total than in the entire city of Overland Park (which had 255), considered the Kansas City suburb with the best overall quality of life (at least according to The Star’s ranking a few years ago).
In the end, then, O’Toole and Flaherty are technically correct when they compare crime on light rail to other forms of transit, but transit just doesn’t have much crime. Riding light rail is safer than just about anywhere you can live, at least around Kansas City.