Rapid transit has been a major topic of discussion in the Metro Atlanta region due to the high levels of car traffic within the region, and the lack of access parts of Metro Atlanta have to the Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority’s (MARTA) rail lines. In the state of Georgia, the push for improved transportation led to the passage of the Transportation Investment Act. Through this act, citizens within the 12 regions of the state can vote in 2012 on whether they will pay a one cent sales tax to fund designated transportation projects within their respective regions. In the Metro Atlanta area, several counties have presented light rail and rapid rail projects that would significantly increase the effectiveness of this mode of transit throughout the region. Furthermore, Atlanta could leverage institutional knowledge from other cities in driving the installation of its new streetcar system. Zurich has hundreds of years worth of light rail knowledge, information that could inform Atlanta’s approach to the addition of light rail to MARTA’s network should the projects pass.

Lagos, Nigeria’s most populous city and the second most populous city on the African continent, is installing a light rail system that will improve the ability of Nigerians to move within a city that will house nearly 40 million people by 2050, according to a United Nations HABITAT report. The Lagos state government committed 70 billion Naira ($504 million) to finance the construction of two of the nine planned rail lines. Private sector operators will provide the rolling stock and will drive the operations of the Lagos Area Metropolitan Transit Authority (LAMATA). This light rail infrastructure could have a significant impact on Lagos by reducing traffic congestion and increasing property values along the line. Furthermore, the project would contribute to the effort of African countries reducing the $93 billion infrastructure gap present on the continent. Leveraging Zurich’s Public Transport Authority (ZVV), Lagos could insure that traffic reduction and higher property values occur maximally.

Lagos and Atlanta could learn from Zurich’s experience in light rail. The fact that Lagos and Atlanta are sister cities creates the platform for the two cities to learn from Zurich together, yet there appears to have been no conversation between the two cities on rail transit. Both cities could benefit from the completion of the direct flight between Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport and Lagos’ Murtala Muhammed International Airport. The light rail that will connect to Murtala could increase the ease of flight to and from Atlanta or any city in the world. Completing the ease of transport between the two cities by linking the LAMATA to Murtala could provide a small but not insignificant contribution to the growth of business engagement between Lagos and Atlanta. The contexts in which Lagos, Zurich, and Atlanta operate are different and this would challenge their ability to cull out information that is transferable to Zurich and Atlanta. This same challenge is present in the Americas Competitiveness Forum where representatives from Western Hemisphere countries come together to discuss issues like public transportation. Atlanta’s leadership in hosting that event should have increased its capacity to glean salient information from different contexts for its use. That experience would prove useful in Atlanta engaging Lagos and Zurich.

Zurich provides a light rail model for Lagos and Atlanta, one from which I hope they partner in learning. It would be great to see citizens and visitors utilizing their rail lines with the admiration that my use of Switzerland’s rail line generated.