COST-EFFECTIVE ALTERNATIVES TO ATLANTA RAIL RAPID-TRANSIT SYSTEM

Atlanta's rail rapid transit system, which began operations in 1979 an d has cost US taxpayers and residents of the Atlanta metropolitan area more than $3.5 billion, had been identified by advocates of new rail systems as one of the most successful rail transit systems built in th e United States since 1945. A policy-sensitive econometric model of th e determinants of transit ridership shows that Atlanta's transit would have had more success in achieving cost-effective increases in riders hip if it had continued the policies it followed successfully in its f irst eight years of operation, rather than building a costly rail syst em and raising fares.