From: calvin@remove.daxack.ca   
      
   Benjamin Kubelsky (Benjamin.Kubelsky@verizon.net) said...   
   >   
   >Wow! $4.6 million a piece! Is that a new record?   
      
   The typical price for a Light Rail Vehicle these days is about $5 million.   
      
   That's about 20% higher than the equivalent capital cost for buses needed   
   to provide the same service. That is, the equivalent number of buses needed   
   to carry the same number of passengers multiplied by two since an LRV has   
   a lifespan of about 30 years compared to a 15 year lifespan of a bus.   
      
   Though, there are bus operators that retire their vehicles after only 12   
   years, so this cost difference can be a bit less.   
      
   Now that is just the capital cost, while the operating costs of those   
   same LRVs are more than enough lower to make up the difference three or   
   four times over in their lifespan.   
      
   --   
   Calvin Henry-Cotnam   
   "Unusual or extreme reactions to events caused by negligence   
    are imaginable, but not reasonably foreseeable"   
     - Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, May 2008   
      
   --- SoupGate/W32 v1.03   
    * Origin: LiveWire BBS -=*=- UseNet FTN Gateway (1:2320/1)