HARVESTING GAINS FROM TRADE.

Perhaps "transit oriented development" is something better understood as an emergent phenomenon than as something the boffins can draw up for the town planners.  That might be behind Brightline's thinking in Florida.  "Brightline launches process to add station north of West Palm Beach." You add too many stops, you give away some of the advantages of higher speeds, and yet, running past potential riders leaves money on the table.  That talk of process, alas, is obligatory, as the town planners and politicians will have to wet their beaks.

The company will accept proposals from private or public land owners along the Brightline/Florida East Coast rail line in the two counties that meet qualifications outlined in the RFP, and has set private, one-one-one meetings with eligible applicants for Nov.28 for applicants in St. Lucie County and Nov. 29 in Martin County. Proposal submissions are due Dec. 22.

“We’re excited to begin the process of identifying a station location in the Treasure Coast and have seen tremendous support from the local community,” Brightline CEO Michael Reininger said in a press release. “Expanding Brightline into the Treasure Coast region will make Brightline one of the most accessible forms of transportation in Florida, giving access to nearly half of the state’s residents.”

The Request for Proposals, available here, seeks a site of at least 2 acres with the ability to accommodate 200 parking spaces and a platform of at least 500 feet, among other requirements. It projects a site will be selected in the first quarter of 2024, with the design, environmental, and permitting process proceeding through 2025 and construction beginning in 2026, with the station opening in the first quarter of 2028.

Got that? Four and a half years to set up a lineside station?  Over a year to accomplish construction once all those processes proceed through all the processing.  It takes a special sort of patient capital to wait that long to be able to cash in on whatever revenue a mixed-use project including relatively simple associated uses such as a coffee house, saloon, or rental or sale housing will bring in.

The process worshippers aren't done processing, either.  "Any prospective site must be located outside of the excluded property area, which is in Stuart near the St. Lucie River railroad bridge."  That Stuart drawbridge is turning into an unnecessary squabble worthy of A. Lincoln, railroad lawyer.

I'm encouraged, all the same, to see the operator of a transportation service recognize that transportation is incidental to other human activities.  "Brightline is asking the owners of these prospective properties to describe how the site 'supports access to the proximate population centers' and 'any special considerations that should be given to additional development potential.'"

Contrast that, dear reader, with the relatively recent establishment of a new station in Sturtevant, Wisconsin, far from any eateries, taverns, or residences (unlike its predecessor) or the long-overdue installation of a second platform at the Milwaukee Airport station, where there is no provision for an on-site coffee house, and the principal selling point for passengers is ample parking at the airport's peripheral lot.