For a city of its size, Albert Lea pops up in my writing more than you might think. (This post and this story, for example.) Today I got an e-mail calling my attention to this editorial in the Albert Lea Tribune. The headline is “Central Corridor good for Minnesota.” For me, the most intriguing sentence was in a paragraph praising the Hiawatha Line:

The line paid for itself in two years.

I’ve been trying to do some mathematical gymnastics to figure out how this could be the case, given that fares don’t even cover operating expenses (though they cover a greater percentage than bus fares do). Light rail can bring numerous quantifiable and qualitative benefits, but are there numbers showing $800 million in benefits in the first two years of Hiawatha operations? If you’ve got a theory, share it below.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 10th, 2009 at 1:44 pm and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.