JK wrote (again) "I seem to have a lot of trouble getting cost data out of Portland etc" ... "What is the cost per passenger-mile for the streetcar."

JK, you've written this perhaps a dozen times over on the PortlandTransport blog, and you have been told at least twice, directly from a member of the streetcar CAC, that this data is not collected by the streetcar organization. The streetcar data that is available is boarding counts, not trip-lengths.

This data is not being kept from you... this data does not actually exist. Yesterday, I gave you a detailed way to get a ballpark estimate, and Chris told you that he would press for automated people counters to be put on a future streetcar so that this kind of data could be collected for you and the rest of the public.

Obviously, for a circulator type system, the cost per passenger mile is going to be fairly high. But on the converse, the cost per boarding is relatively low.

I gave you my own personal estimate in the range of $1.80 per passenger mile including capital costs over 30 years (in current dollars.)

- Bob R.