Downtowns across the U.S. See Streetcars in Their Future

[Stuart G]

Source: New York Times.

CINCINNATI — From his months-old French bistro, Jean-Robert de Cavel sees restored Italianate row houses against a backdrop of rundown tenements in this city’s long-struggling Over-the-Rhine neighborhood.

He also sees a turnaround for the district, thanks to plans to revive a transit system that was dismantled in the 1950s: the humble streetcar line.

“Human beings can be silly because we move away from things too quickly in this country,” Mr. de Cavel said. “Streetcar is definitely going to create a reason for young people to come downtown.”

Cincinnati officials are assembling financing for a $132 million system that would connect the city’s riverfront stadiums, downtown business district and Uptown neighborhoods, which include six hospitals and the University of Cincinnati, in a six- to eight-mile loop. Depending on the final financing package, fares may be free, 50 cents or $1.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/14/us/14streetcar.html

[BlooInBloo]

1. We have one! It's called SLUT. Seriously....

And it gets used much less than one might suspect.

[whistle]

8. SLUT meaning????

[BlooInBloo]

9. South Lake Union Transit....

EDIT: Or trolley - I forget now.

[Jansen]

12. The problem with the SLUT...

the problem is.. it's confusing to use. The payment mechanism doesn't really make sense and the pricing structure doesn't match the bus. I tried to catch it from downtown to republican and I felt like a complete noob, which is madness because I've been using the metro since I was a kid (so 20+ years of off and on commuting). I ended up getting off without paying, not even sure how they monitor that to be honest... Any other time I've tried to make that trip I've just walked. I think that right there is the barrier to usage. If it was more like how the bus works with regards to pricing (my pugetpass should be enough to cover it IMO) then I'd use it. And if it was easier to use, more people would use it. Right? Then they could afford to lower the fare. As it stands it's too much for too little.

[Solon]

16. That's OK, we have a bus system in my city called SCAT...

even the logo is somewhat uhm, descriptive. Looks like a navy blue or purple shit stain in the shape of an S, supposed to represent pavement or something.

[Stuart G]

2. I was in San Francisco last year..

and that city has an extensive light rail system(modern name for streetcars). Clean, modern, reasonably fast, but noisy. Their system could get you almost anywhere. My complaint was that where I stayed was one hundred feet away from a main line. The noise didn't stop till l2;30am..

[BlooInBloo]

3. I wish I could afford to live in sfo.

[Stuart G]

4. On that, you are not alone...

Beautiful clean city, so much going on, but so much money just to live there. My friend, who I stayed with near the streetcar line, was spending about 60 percent of his income on housing.

[sandnsea]

5. Portland does too

Light rail, bus and trolley. Between the downtown and largest mall there is a free area. All of it is always full. I don't know about noise. The older hotels downtown are probably noisier for sure. But I think it's terrific and certainly a lot easier than fighting the traffic and parking and all of that.

[Regret My New Name]

29. Portland mass transit is teh bests!!

[davidinalameda]

6. I used to live less than a 100 feet from a bus stop

it was downhill so I heard buses hitting their brakes until late and then very early when the line started running again at 4:30!

It wasn't fun

[slackmaster]

23. I have a friend in Walnut Creek who lives one block from a BART line

He rarely drives a car during the week.

[Xithras]

24. SF has the best transit system of any city IMHO.

There are only a few small points in SF that are more than two blocks from any transit line, and the vast majority of the city is within a block of a line. You can literally get from any one point in the city to any other with less than four blocks of walking and for only $1.50. I've seen a lot of mass transit systems, and none were that comprehensive.

http://transit.511.org/static/providers/maps/SF_7122007102343.pdf

[ellie]

25. My brother lives in SF

and got rid of his car when he moved there: he had no reason to keep it.

[yellowdogintexas]

7. they are talking about that here in Fort Worth, of all places

of course across the way we have Arlington Texas,

Largest city in the USA without a public transportation system of any kind

[mtf80123]

10. Denver once had 260 miles of Streetcar track

But they disapeared in 1950. General Motors, Firestone Tires, and other motor interests bought up streetcar companies and replaced their fleets with new GM buses.

[RamboLiberal]

11. Pittsburgh when I grew up had a great streetcar system

Sadly we're down to light rail serving only the South Hills in to the city now. The ninnies phased and tore out the rest of the system and shut down rail service from my area. Of course then they spent a small fortune putting in busways and now a short tunnel under the Allegheny river so they can take the light rail to the stadiums. Never mind the rest of the area where they are cutting bus service.

In the early 1960s, Pittsburgh had the largest surviving streetcar system in the United States. The Pittsburgh Railways Company operated more than 600 PCC cars on 41 routes. In 1964 the system was acquired by the Port Authority of Allegheny County, which rapidly converted to buses. By the early 1970s, the only routes remaining were the ones which used the Mt. Washington Tunnel just south of the Monongahela River to reach the South Hills area.

In the 1980s, much of the remaining system was rebuilt into a modern light rail system, and many of the PCCs were replaced by light-rail vehicles built by Duewag. The tracks in downtown streets and the Smithfield Street bridge were replaced by a short subway and a former railroad bridge.

http://web.presby.edu/~jtbell/transit/Pittsburgh/PCC/

[PittPoliSci]

26. i still have hopes for the T

one day we'll get a mayor who isn't a moron and realizes that the success of any city is tied in with it's mass transit system.

[Doctor Cynic]

13. Toronto's lucky it didn't tear up its streetcars at all.

It's a treasure that will serve us good.

[Doctor Cynic]

14. .

[sasquatch]

15. OMG the Queen City, the midwestern outpost of the American fascist movement, is doing something-

RATIONAL!?

[provis99]

17. I wish Indianapolis, the Klan capital of the midwest, would rise to Cinnci's level

Public transportation was virtually nonexistent there; but at least I learned to walk to get where I needed to go.

[Stuart G]

18. We have a system in place in the Chicago Area called Metra..

Metra is heavy rail, not light rail. Commuter Lines is another name for them. Anyway, I was on it last week, going from the northern suburbs to downtown. People are using this instead of cars and buses. Each car holds 70-80.maybe more. On this particular day, people were standing so close together that you could hardly breath. No room to move at all or even collect tickets for that matter. There was a Cubs game and half of the car was taking public transportation to the game. I will bet there were close to 120 people in each car.
.. Those that were to buy tickets on the train, rode for free. What I am saying is that at $3.75 a gallon, people will change their driving habits. Light rail, street cars, commuters, people will ride rather than be gouged by the oil and the parking bandits. It cost 25 -30 dollars to park in downtown Chicago.. At least that is how I feel.

[LeftHander]

21. Kenosha, WI has a street car on the lakefront...

kinda cool. they have really worked hard to clean up the lakefront there...as times goes it gets better and better

[tanyev]

19. Back to the future. Good.

The North Texas area had an electric railway from 1908-1948, giving people from surrounding areas a convenient way to come to the big city. Our current system, DART, doesn't cover anywhere near the area that the old interurban used to cover. The DART station in Plano has a constant parking problem because none of the cities north of us want to invest in bringing DART further north, but their citizens all drive down to the station in Plano to take DART the rest of the way into Dallas. Oh, and DART doesn't go to Arlington--they vetoed it. (Good luck, 2011 Superbowl attendees!)

[Snarkturian Clone]

20. Philly revived part of its old streetcar system...

still uses the same cars, even. It looks nice but on some high traffic streets it's not getting you anywhere any faster than a bus. They also get in accidents frequently because Philly has so many unlicensed drivers.

[LeftHander]

22. GM killed street cars in the 50's

They bought up all the electric street car companies and converted them to bus mfg or simply killed them off.

At the same time they lobbied Ike and congress for a interstate highway system to kill train travel and shipping.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

28. That's what happened in Minneapolis-St. Paul

The streetcars used to cover both cities and far out into the suburbs. They were dismantled in 1954.

Apologists for this action claimed that the step was justifiable because ridership had fallen to "only" 100,000 per day.

[BrklynLiberal]

27. Everything old is new again....

back to trains, ferries, bicycles, growing your own or buying local grown food, heat and energy from the sun and wind, people moving BACK to the cities....