Over at West & Clear, our buddy Steve interviews former City Council rep and current mayoral candidate Clyde Picht. Amongst other questions, Steve asks Picht about rail. His answer is less than promising:

W&C: What is your position on the development of commuter and light rail in Fort Worth?

CP:We don’t have the mass to support mass transit so we must realize that any commuter or light rail will require being subsidized by the taxpayers. If the taxpayers want to pay extra for the fun of riding a trolley, etc, that’s okay as long as they have an opportunity to vote on it knowing what they are paying for.

This is a disappointing answer, to say the least. Picht drags out the old “rail has to be subsidized” canard, which implies that roads aren’t; TxDOT themselves admitted that that was hardly the case:

Applying this methodology, revealed that no road pays for itself in gas taxes and fees. For example, in Houston, the 15 miles of SH 99 from I-10 to US 290 will cost $1 billion to build and maintain over its lifetime, while only generating $162 million in gas taxes. That gives a tax gap ratio of .16, which means that the real gas tax rate people would need to pay on this segment of road to completely pay for it would be $2.22 per gallon. This is just one example, but there is not one road in Texas that pays for itself based on the tax system of today.

Roads are heavily subsidized as well. Picht exemplifies the old late 20th century double standard about transportation funding – hardly the attitude we need in charge of Fort Worth in the 21st, in our opinions.

Moreover, Picht seems to be of the mindset that rail transit is some sort of old-timey tourist attraction: “The fun of riding a trolley.” He seems to be completely missing the point of why these transit projects are being proposed. We’re not talking about some creaky old trolley running to an antique mall – we’re talking about creating a serious transit infrastructure for what is a big city that’s only getting bigger. It’s clear that Mr. Picht does not understand the importance of creating an effective rail transit system in controlling traffic, shaping growth, improving air quality, and providing more choice in mobility and living arrangement for the citizens of this city. He seems only concerned about moving *cars* around, rather than how to effectively move *people.*

This city is only getting larger, and it needs a serious mobility infrastructure if it is to thrive in the coming generations. Simply building more roads and highways alone isn’t going to cut it. We need light & commuter rail to move people between the various parts of the city and region, and we need an effective urban circulator to move them around the neighborhoods when they arrive. Sure, not everybody’s going to use a transit system, but conversely not everybody will want to drive when they have an effective alternative. Giving the citizens these choices in mobility allows the city to more flexibly and effectively move *people* around. The mindset seen in the quote above would lead Fort Worth to a future of ever-increasing traffic snarls (building more and more roads and highways won’t ever actually solve traffic), ever-decreasing air quality, ever-spreading sprawl, ever-increasing oil dependence, and ever-shrinking appeal for the city.

Listen – we’re no big fans of Mayor Moncrief, but he does seems to understand better the importance of multimodal transportation systems to this city. We would gladly vote for him than sign Fort Worth’s future over to a mindset that considers transit a “fun” gag or frivolity and that doesn’t understand what a serious transit system is all about. Fort Worth can’t get by on simple roads and highways – it will take a combined network of roads, our existing highways, commuter/light rail, streetcar circulators, and buses to make this city truly effective at being a mobile, livable place for all residents, whatever living situation they choose – suburban or urban.

We would be curious to see fellow mayoral candidate Louis McBee’s answer to the interview questions, as well. If Mr. McBee is interviewed we’ll link to it as well.