  Mrjoshua Member Username: Mrjoshua Post Number: 1374 Registered: 03-2005 |
A Streetcar Named Aspire: Lines Aim to Revive Cities By THADDEUS HERRICK June 20, 2007; Page B1 The Wall Street Journal TAMPA, Fla. -- As a transportation system, this city's $63 million streetcar line is a dud. Since the project opened in 2002, its financial losses have exceeded expectations. Last year ridership declined 10% to its lowest level yet. And the vintage system spans only 2.4 miles between the edge of downtown and a historic district called Ybor City. "It goes from no place to nowhere," says Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair, an opponent of the project. But proponents say Tampa's Teco Line Streetcar System has delivered on another front: helping to spur development. Some $450 million in residential and retail space is complete along the route, most of it in the Channel District, a once-languishing maritime neighborhood. With another $450 million in development underway and $1.1 billion in the planning stages, local officials expect the district to be home to as many as 10,000 residents within the next decade.  Out-of-town visitors make up more than half of all the riders on Tampa's streetcar line. Like stadiums, convention centers and aquariums, streetcars have emerged as a popular tool in the effort to revitalize downtowns in the U.S. About a dozen cities, from Madison, Wis., to Miami, are planning lines. But while research shows that big-ticket projects such as ballparks largely fail to spawn economic development, evidence is mounting that streetcars are indeed a magnet. Streetcar systems are slower, less expensive and smaller than light rail, with cars that carry a maximum of 125 people and the average line 2-3 miles long. The cars are powered by electricity and run on tracks, which developers tend to favor because they suggest a sense of permanence, unlike bus routes, which can be changed overnight. In Kenosha, Wis., city officials say a two-mile line helped generate 400 new residential units and the redevelopment of a 69-acre industrial site into a waterfront park. The streetcar line in Little Rock, Ark., has sparked revitalization of the city's River Market and warehouse district. In Seattle, a new $52 million streetcar line is scheduled to open in December that will shuttle riders between downtown and South Lake Union, a formerly industrial area that is being redeveloped by Microsoft Corp. billionaire Paul Allen. And in Portland, Ore., the poster child for such development, officials say the streetcar system has helped bring $2.7 billion in investment within two blocks of its 3.6 mile line, much of it in the 24-hour hub known as the Pearl District. "It's one of the most vibrant neighborhoods in the city," says Richard Brandman, deputy planning director for Metro, the Portland area's regional government. Still, streetcars face considerable odds because they vie for the same money as transportation projects designed to serve the suburbs. This has been particularly true at the federal level, where funding has long depended on how quickly projects can move people from one point to another. Streetcars, which average under ten miles per hour, are at a distinct disadvantage. By contrast, light rail moves at 20 to 60 miles per hour. Congress sought to change the odds in 2005 with the creation of Small Starts, a Federal Transit Administration program designed to fund small-scale transportation systems, including streetcars. But streetcar proponents have been largely reluctant to pursue funding under the program, saying the FTA still favors high-speed transit such as buses. Paul Griffo, a spokesman for the FTA, says that both mobility and development factor into the funding of transportation projects. But so far Small Starts has recommended four projects, all of them bus rapid transit, an emerging transportation alternative in which a bus operates in a designated lane much like subway or light rail with stops about every half mile.  Tampa's Teco Line Streetcar System links the entertainment district of Ybor City to the city's convention center at the edge of downtown. In the meantime, cities have relied on a patchwork of public and private money to help fund their streetcar systems, hoping to tap into a demographic shift in which young professional and empty nesters are moving downtown. Streetcars are especially popular among urban planners because they encourage the sort of density that allows for offices to be developed alongside homes, shops and restaurants. "Streetcars are not designed to save time," says Mr. Blumenauer. "They're designed to change the way neighborhoods are built." While streetcars lack speed and mobility, proponents say the role they play in urban development makes them a worthy transportation choice. They argue that by helping to draw development to urban areas such as downtowns, and by providing a transportation link in those areas, streetcars reduce the need for extra lanes of highways to the suburbs and limit the need for cars in and around downtowns. In several cities, such as San Francisco and New Orleans, streetcars have never gone out of style as transportation systems. But many more were shut down following World War II in favor of buses. That was the case in Tampa. The city once had one of the largest electric streetcar systems in the Southeast, with well over 100 cars and more than 50 miles of track. In the mid-1980s, prompted in large part by nostalgia, a group calling itself the Tampa and Ybor City Street Railway Society set about to restore one of Tampa's derelict streetcars. Out of that effort evolved a broader downtown redevelopment campaign in which a new streetcar system was proposed, linking the city's convention center and the former cigar-manufacturing hub of Ybor City. But county officials saw the focus on downtown as trivial compared with the needs of the larger Tampa-St. Petersburg metropolitan area, where the majority of 2.7 million people rely heavily on their cars to get to and from work. County leaders such as Mr. Blair, formerly a Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority board member, ridiculed the $600,000 replica streetcars as costly toys. "The concern was the use of public money," says Steven Polzin, a former regional transit authority board member who is a director of public transit research at the University of South Florida's Center for Urban Transportation Research. "Tampa-area roads are wanting for resources." But the controversy did little to deter development in the Channel District, a 212-acre stretch of land where the city has agreed to grant tax breaks for developers. Developers say they were also drawn by the streetcar line. Fida Sirdar, president of Key Developers Group LLC, for example, is spending several hundred thousand dollars to build a pedestrian walkway connecting the York Station streetcar stop to his Place at Channelside, a $100 million 244-unit condominium. "It's a big plus," he says. In May, the Tampa City Council voted to extend the streetcar line by about a third of a mile into downtown, using federal money already in hand. By linking downtown and the burgeoning Channel District, officials hope they can transform the streetcar line into more of a commuter system, expanding the hours of operation and raising revenue. Still, Tampa's streetcar line is still largely a tourist attraction, drawing 389,770 riders last year, more than half of them out-of-town visitors. A $4.75 million endowment set up to operate the streetcar system for 10 years is losing about $1 million a year. And Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio says she doesn't intend to put more money into the line, which the city owns jointly with Tampa's regional transit authority. "Somebody is going to have to step up," says Ed Crawford, a spokesman for the regional transit authority. "It's clear we can't go on this way." --Jennifer S. Forsyth contributed to this article. Write to Thaddeus Herrick at thaddeus.herrick@wsj.com | ||
Hans57 Member Username: Hans57 Post Number: 163 Registered: 05-2006 |
More fuel for the fire. | ||
Scottr Member Username: Scottr Post Number: 526 Registered: 07-2006 |
a few things that went through my mind while i was reading this article: - the song from mr. rogers neighborhood that played whenever the trolley was moving. you know the one. and now it's going through your mind too. buahahahaha. - on a more serious note, it sounds cool, looks cool. i think something like this from downtown to new center (at the very least midtown) could work well, connecting the riverfront, stadiums, and museums, and possibly encourage even more growth. - 'could work well' in my previous statement, does not necessarily mean 'financially viable'. - the people mover is similar, in the sense that it doesn't really go anywhere. it does nothing to move people from the neighborhoods to workplaces, but still serves a purpose. - the proposed expansion of the people mover would cover the area i previously mentioned. given the existing system, i would bet a people mover expansion is far more likely than an entirely new streetcar system. a shame, since i think this has far more charm than the PM. - i suggest, we paint the cars red and yellow, as seen above. now picture the track in front of king friday's castle in mr. rogers. kinda like a people mover track, isn't it? | ||
Professorscott Member Username: Professorscott Post Number: 476 Registered: 12-2006 |
Well, define "financially viable". No public transportation in North America covers its own costs; it is a public service like police protection and libraries. The two questions are this: 1. Is such a thing worth what it costs? 2. Is there a source for the money it costs? If both are "yes", build something. If either is "no", then you can't. I think both can be "yes", but that's just my VHO. By the way, scottr, I think a people mover expansion is exceedingly unlikely, because I think in that case the answer to #2 is "no". Some kind of surface rail, because it is so much cheaper to build than an elevated system, has got to be more feasible. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 4623 Registered: 08-2004 |
I think that it would be nice to have the former Washington Blvd. Trolleys brought back into use. They should lay trolley tracks near the Riverwalk from the future Uniroyal development near Belle Isles MacArthur Bridge all the way to Hart Plaza. That way folks in the future riverfront condos/apartments and restaurants could go downtown and not have to get into their cars. And as the article mentions, tourists will also probably be heavy users of it. Since it's only a 2 mile stretch, no one will mind a slow 10-15 MPH. | ||
Professorscott Member Username: Professorscott Post Number: 477 Registered: 12-2006 |
Gistok, First of all, it is possible to run a streetcar type of service faster than 10-15 MPH by some fairly simple and well-known methods such as signal preemption. Second, the longest-distance suburban bus routes in metro Detroit barely top 20 MPH. The SMART 560 Gratiot bus to New Baltimore, for instance, covers 31 miles in 93 minutes; do the math. So a "slow 10-15 MPH" is not much slower than our very long distance suburban bus routes, FYI. Prof. Scott | ||
Scottr Member Username: Scottr Post Number: 527 Registered: 07-2006 |
quote:i am well aware of that, hence the reason i clarified my statement, to avoid critics of something like this because of the million dollar losses quoted in the article. your question #1 could go either way - some people point to the development as the reason for a streetcar system, and say it is worth it, others will look at *only* the streetcar losses and say it's clearly not. i personally prefer to look at the overall picture, and feel that such a system 'could work well' when it comes to improving the entire area. wasn't the idea for the PM expansion supposed to be at least mostly, if not completely, privately funded? In any case, i still find an expansion more likely to happen than red and yellow streetcars. Here my pessimism steps in a bit, because i just don't see Detroit doing something like this - it's too touristy. You'll immediately hear comparisons to autoworld and complaints that it does nothing to solve congestion - not to mention the hordes of idiot suburbanites on the Freep boards complaining of money being wasted on Detroit (their opinion, not mine). I think we're far more likely to see the number of lanes on 75 doubled than any kind of effective mass transit - and something like this just won't happen at all, regardless of the development benefits. A more commuter-oriented light rail system may have a better chance than these streetcars, but i still feel a PM expansion, regardless of extra costs, would win out in the end. it doesn't make sense, i know, but i have a feeling '$150 million people mover expansion' will sound better to the masses than 'new $100 million light rail system'. They already know the people mover - they don't know 'light rail'. (i'm partly saying this because i'm really hoping to be proven wrong, as i so often am...) | ||
Gsgeorge Member Username: Gsgeorge Post Number: 159 Registered: 08-2006 |
I could see a streetcar line along Woodward and/or Grand Blvd do a lot to revitalize those corridors, and help to fill in a lot of the empty lots and vacant storefronts on those main thoroughfares. | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 5674 Registered: 10-2003 |
As RiverEast and the Near-East Riverfront begin to take on a new life, I see a tourist-type streetcar being apart of that revitalization perhaps running down Atwater, but not for some years. If the city decided it didn't even run the little trolley line that ran until recently, I can't see any public initiative to push this. This would have to be a privately-funded and operate venture at the moment. | ||
Ffdfd Member Username: Ffdfd Post Number: 101 Registered: 09-2006 |
quote: Chrysler service drive and Ferry: http://local.live.com/default. aspx?v=2&cp=r1trtf82bwkz&style =o&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1 000&scene=3777398&encType=1 | ||
Jeffrey_thomas Member Username: Jeffrey_thomas Post Number: 61 Registered: 10-2005 |
Behind the building little south of that shot, you can see some of the washington blvd trolleys rotting away. the ones in the above shot are the rubber tire cngs'. | ||
Hans57 Member Username: Hans57 Post Number: 165 Registered: 05-2006 |
Those are trolley buses, not rail cars. | ||
Eric_c Member Username: Eric_c Post Number: 999 Registered: 11-2003 |
Jeffery_thomas is right! The old Washington Boulevard cars are absolutely there, just to the south. Drag down on the above image and you'll see them behind a fence just off of Russel. These cars are over one hundred years old - nobody wants them? I thought they had all been sold! Amazing! | ||
Hans57 Member Username: Hans57 Post Number: 168 Registered: 05-2006 |
I guess your right. I bet they're in extremely poor condition, you can even tell from a satellite picture. They're probably salvagable though. | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 1066 Registered: 07-2004 |
Forget streetcars. We need a new hockey stadium much more. Sure streetcars work elsewhere but this is the Motor City and we love sports and taxes are too high to blow on these notions when there's a new stadium to build every 10 years or so. | ||
Jiminnm Member Username: Jiminnm Post Number: 1298 Registered: 02-2005 |
"1. Is such a thing worth what it costs? 2. Is there a source for the money it costs?" These are indeed the questions. Cost estimates to construct a 4 1/2 mile in Albuquerque were $25-30 million per track mile. Maybe you could bring the per-mile cost down a bit by running longer lines, but it's still an expensive project for a city and state short on money already. | ||
Aiw Member Username: Aiw Post Number: 6283 Registered: 10-2003 |
quote: What is this regional government that he speaks of? Is that like City and Suburbs cooperating? Amazing! | ||
Danindc Member Username: Danindc Post Number: 2706 Registered: 10-2003 |
quote: No, it's called "mandated by state law". And for what it's worth, Detroit is one of the few places that could be hurting for revenue, look at something with a huge positive return on investment, and say, "Naw, we don't have the money." Maybe the city's real problem is a lack of initiative and chutzpah. | ||
Miketoronto Member Username: Miketoronto Post Number: 593 Registered: 07-2004 |
These streetcar lines are good. However sadly all they really do is make downtown this "theme park" for suburbanites. It would be nice if these streetcars were part of a renaissance in our cities, that makes cities a place we use often and not just as a theme park weekend attraction. That is why the streetcar in Tampa does not have as good ridership. Because it is not really a part of the city, where city residents use it as part of getting around, etc. Where in Portland it is used as a means of getting around, and not just an urban playground ride.  | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 5683 Registered: 10-2003 |
Well, that's really kind of the point. These toy streetcars are just that, toys for visitors. Then again, there are lot of establishments and devices like that, and most major cities have these tourist toys. That's why the city, in its current state, would be much better served in keeping its eye on the ball (i.e. real rapid rail transit), and leave these toys to the private sector if they want to develop them. These toy streetcars weren't meant to have a high ridership. |
