FTA is recommending buses over light-rail extensions in Buffalo
Written by RT&S Staff
The FTA is recommending buses over light-rail transit extensions for Buffalo.
Buffalo has the second-oldest light-rail transit lines in the country, and the system will not be getting any younger in the near future if the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has any say in it.
A transit advocacy group, Citizens for Regional Transit (CRT), has been pushing for extending light metro further north to Amherst and northeast to the Buffalo Niagara International Airport. The FTA, however, is recommending buses to serve those areas.
The CRT is hoping the line extension would help serve some of the poorer neighborhoods in the area. A bus line would force commuters to make a transfer from the light-rail system. CRT President Douglas Funke said that would be very difficult because the light rail can carry hundreds of people, while the buses carry 50, creating “bottlenecks getting off the light rail and getting on the bus.”
The CRT wants a study on Buffalo’s rail transit on the east side. Funke also said poor people are the ones taking public transit, and because they don’t have any political clout they are easy to ignore.
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