Rapid Transit - Costs, Benefits, and Impacts

Costs, Benefits, and Impacts

As of May 2012, 184 cities have built rapid transit systems. The capital cost is high, as is risk of cost overrun and benefit shortfall. Public financing is normally required. Rapid transit is sometimes seen as an alternative to an extensive road transport system with many motorways; the rapid transit system allows higher capacity with less land use, less environmental impact, and a lower cost.

Elevated or underground systems in city centers allow the transport of people without occupying expensive land, and permit the city to develop compactly without physical barriers. Motorways often push down nearby residential land values, but proximity to a rapid transit station often triggers commercial and residential growth, with large office and housing blocks being constructed. Also, subway system can decrease the welfare loss caused by the increase of population density.

The Delhi Metro has won awards for environmentally friendly practices from organisations including the United Nations, RINA, and the International Organization for Standardization, becoming the second metro in the world, after the New York City Subway, to be ISO 14001 certified for environmentally friendly construction. It is also the first railway project in the world to earn carbon credits after being registered with the United Nations under the Clean Development Mechanism, and has so far earned more than 400,000 carbon credits by saving energy through the use of regenerative braking systems on its trains. In order to reduce its dependence on non-renewable sources of energy, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation is looking forward to harness solar energy and install solar panels in some of its metro stations.