Streetcar

Page 1

Fall 2009 $5.50

o v e r i n g T h e A r t a n d S c i e n c e o f Tr a n s i t

PO Box 1071 Thomasville, GA 31799-1071 8 5 0 . 5 9 7. 0 3 3 8 editor@tripplannermag.com


INDEX ADA 5, 28, 29 Alliance for Community Choice 18–40 automobile 2, 4, 5, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, 20 Boston, MA 4, 6, 28 Mattapan Ashmont Line 4, 6 bus 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 23 Buy America Act 2, 32, 33 cable car 5 Calgary, Canada 14 Canada (Canadian) 11, 12 catenaries 5 Central Business District (CBD) 8, 11, 14, 15 Charlotte, NC 33 Charlottesville, VA 16, 19 City of 17, 18, 20 West Main Street 16, 17, 18, 20 conductor 10 Congress 12 Czech Republic 2 Czech Republic (Czech) 2, 15, 32, 33 Dallas, TX 14 Depression 12 Depression, Great 12 Edmonton, Canada 14 fare-free 15 France Bordeaux 24 Nice 24 Galveston, TX 5, 23 General Motors 3, 12 Germany (Germans) 5, 13, 14 Mannheim 24 Gomaco Trolley Company 24, 32 heavy rail (subway) 6 Kawasaki Railcars 6, 24 Kenosha, WI 5 LaHood, Ray 33 light rail 2, 5, 6, 13, 14, 15, 31 Little Rock, AR 4, 24 Melbourne, Australia 24 Miami Metro Rail 31 motorman 10, 11 National City Lines 12, 14 National Transportation Database 5 New Flyer 33 New Jersey Transit 6 Hudson Bergen Line 6 New Orleans, LA 28 Katrina 36 St. Charles Ave. Line 4, 23 Oakland, CA 24 Okerlund Associates 18 panagraph 23 Pearly Thomas Company 23 Pennsylvania DOT 31 Philadelphia, PA 4, 5, 6, 26, 28, 30 Chestnut Hill 26, 28, 29 Girard 4, 26, 28, 29, 31, 36 SEPTA 4, 6, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31 Allen, Monica (passenger) 29 D’Antonio, Steven (service planning) 28, 29, 30, 31 Deon, Pasquale (board member) 29 Leary, Jack (GM) 28 Maloney, Richard (Dir. PA) 31 Moore, Faye (GM) 28, 31 subway surface lines 6, 31 planners 11, 13, 15 platform 10

Portland, OR 2, 3, 4, 6, 14, 15, 18, 19, 23, 36 Eastside Loop 33 Portland Streetcar 32 Westside Loop 33 Presidents’ Conference Committee 11 see also streetcar, PCC Rendell, Ed Mayor 28 Richmond, VA 4, 8 Rock Hill, SC 24 Rotterdam, Netherlands 24 Sacramento, CA 14 San Diego, CA 2, 5, 14 Mission Valley Line 14 MTS 6 Trolley 6 San Francisco, CA 2, 4 F Market 2, 15, 29, 36 F Market Line 4 MUNI 36 San Jose, CA 14 Savannah, GA 23 Seattle 3 Seattle, WA 5, 15 light rail 5 South Lake Union 3, 5 Siemens 5, 32, 33 Skoda 2, 6, 23, 32, 33 Sprague, Frank 4, 8 sprawl. See suburban Stadtbahn 5, 14 St. Louis, MO 14, 24 strassenbahn 14 streetcar 2–40 battery-powered 24 diesel 5, 24 heritage 4, 23 hybrid 24 like a bus 5 modern 2, 5, 23, 32 PCC 1, 2, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 26, 28, 30, 36 propulsion 5, 6, 9, 22, 23 trolley 2, 6 vintage 4, 23, 36 without wires 22 suburban (suburbs) 4, 8, 9, 11, 14 subways 12 Summer Trolley Festivals 2 Tacoma, WA 4, 18 Tampa, FL 4, 6, 24 TECO Line 6 Temple University 29 Toronto, Canada 12, traction trust 2 traction 8, 11, 12. See also Traction Trust transit-oriented development (TOD) 14 trolley buses 6, 12, 15, 16 trolley jollies 28, 29 trolley wire. See streetcar; propulsion trucks 10 Tucson, AZ 33 U-bahn 14, 14–40 United Streetcar 2, 33 Chandra Brown 32, 33 University of Virginia 16, 17, 18 World War I 10 World War II 2, 5, 6, 12, 13

Vol II, No. 2 Fall 2009 Trip Planner Magazine is a registered trademark of: The Scheib Company Samuel L. Scheib PRESIDENT AND PUBLISHER P.O. Box 1071 Thomasville, GA 31799-1071 Trip Planner Magazine was born of the camaraderie and exchange of ideas found at transit conferences and is intended to enlighted, inform, and even entertain professionals in the field of urban mass transportation. We take a broad view of transit planning to encompass route structure, customer service, marketing and printing materials, service efficiencies, contracting, map making and many other related disciplines that make transit better for passengers, public agencies, and the built environment. Trip Planner is published quarterly and mailed to transit agencies, metropolitan planning organizations, collegiate schools of planning, state departments of transportation, Federal Transit Administration offices, transit manufacturers, consultants and other vendors, and other interested parties.

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Contents

PHOTO: SETH MORGAN

A N AUTHENTIC PCC CAR , LOVINGLY RESTORED, WITH ORIGINAL FIXTURES, FEATURES, EVEN CAR CARDS, GREETS PASSENGERS IN THE BASEMENT OF 1234 M ARKET STREET, SEPTA’S PHILLY HQ

Features A Distinction Subtle & Broad

What exactly is a streetcar anyway? Staff report

4

The Streetcar in American Life

8

Trucking killed it and the Germans revived it. Here is the history of the streetcar you probably don’t know. by Gregory Thompson, PhD

The Space Between

16

Shaping Community with Transit: in Charlottesville, Virginia by Gary Okerlund, with Todd Gordon

Cutting the Cord

22

Emerging Technologies are producing Streetcars Without Wires by Steven M. Carroll

Through the Looking Glass

26

It looks like transit, sounds like money, and smells like politics. It must be Philly’s Girard Streetcar Line. by Samuel L. Scheib

Streetcar Maiden,USA

32

Portland doesn’t just have modern streetcars. Now they are made there too. by Arterio Dominguez

Making Modern

34

How to make a modern streetcar in six easy steps. Feel free to try this at home. From the Editor 2 The Palliative 3 Round Up 36 Trip Planner Magazine

Fall 2009

1


Streetcar 2.0 The Electric Railway Presidents’ Conference Committee

the Summer Trolley Festivals in 1983. It was so popular they kept

(PCC) was a sterling success as far as failures go. In the 1930s

repeating it through 1987 and later in 1995 opened the F Market

this group of American and Canadian transit executives could

line for regular service using a parade of brightly-colored vehicles

see the attractiveness of Fords and Chevrolets to the traveling

representing the rolling stock of American streetcar cities.

public and decided to take bold action to retain passengers. They

Not only is the F Market extremely popular, but it also

created a new streetcar that accelerated and braked smoothly,

operates along the Embarcadero, formerly an elevated highway

was easy to maintain, and comfortable for the passenger. The

that was blight on the city’s coastline. It is a promising piece of

design turned heads. Art Deco is a dynamic style whose smooth

symbolism that a beloved streetcar superseded a hated roadway.

lines put skyscrapers in motion; applied to machines of transport,

The next great development in the streetcar renaissance

the PCC cars practically waltzed. The vehicles were a hit with the public and the design was

was the opening of the Portland Streetcar. Street-level rail was restarted with modern cars in San Diego, but this was with larger

licensed to manufacturers around North America and the world.

light rail vehicles.

But the PCCs only delayed the inevitable. The traction trusts,

showed a maturing of this subset of street-level rail, something

as the rail companies were collectively known, had long since

that had previously been limited to historic or reproduction cars.

alienated the riding public, leaving commuters open to new

Tacoma, Washington, followed two years later.

means of travel.

By deploying modern streetcars Portland

The third significant development in streetcar renewal has

After World War II, the entire apparatus of government—

to be the opening of United Streetcar in 2006. The company

federal, state, city, county—was dedicated to road building. Off-

delivered its first streetcars, a modern design licensed from

street parking ordinances were enshrined in zoning codes from

Skoda in the Czech Republic, to Portland this year. An American

coast to coast and streetcar tracks were torn out en masse and

company whose manufacturing process meets the Buy America

sent to scrap. The committee may have done everything right but

Act, United Streetcar now makes contemporary streetcars more

government policy favored the private automobile and there was

readily available in the American transit market, which again

no way the streetcar was ever going to catch up.

emphasizes the maturing of the new streetcar.

Among the great transit-oriented movies (Speed, The

There are interesting parallels between the arrival of modern

Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, Money Train) Who Framed Roger Rabbit

streetcars this decade and the PCC cars of yore: two sets of

stands out as a picture that does not just use transit as (ahem) a

streetcars noted for their sleek, contemporary designs, smooth

vehicle for the action, but as a central part of the plot. A madman

acceleration and braking, and quiet operation. The PCC cars

in a hybrid human-cartoon world set in 1940s Hollywood wants

were a Hail Mary pass, caught in the end zone (what would

to rip out the Red Car trolley line and build highways as far as the

autumn be without a football reference?). The crowd went wild,

eye can see. It is a little like watching Valkyrie or Titanic because

but the extra point went wide right; game over. Sixty years later,

we already know the ending (assassination fails, ship sinks)

the rules have changed. Streetcars are popular again whether for

regardless of where the story goes.

nostalgia, for efficient transportation, for economic development,

Hollywood loves a sequel and apparently so does America.

or for stronger downtowns. Today it is a whole new ballgame.

Let’s hope Streetcar II: America on Track has a better ending; it is off to a good start. When the cable car was under going renovations in the early 1980s, officials in San Francisco wanted another historic transit service in its place. They came up with

2

Trip Planner Magazine Fall 2009

Samuel L. Scheib Editor


The Trollop Trolley? Regrettably, the transit agency name Round Up from the summer issue went out before we learned of a new streetcar system in Seattle. The South Lake Union Trolley is a real streetcar line, although this is the colloquial name. The last word is really “Line” or “Streetcar” but S.L.U.L. and S.L.U.S. just don’t have the same ring to it. It remains to be seen if Seattle will get a neon sign a la Portland’s “Go By Streetcar” that suggests “Ride the . . .” Well, you know. Thanks for clearing that up Brad Sheffield, a consultant at a planning firm, has a book idea: bureaucratic responses to simple questions. Chapter One comes from an e-mail he sent with the following question: “Do you know when we will be receiving the January-June 2009 DOT payment?” And the reply: “The funding is being confirmed as of this week to move the amended funds into current year that these agreements can be moved forward for execution through DOT.” The three stages in a female transit user’s life Miss Ma’am Please, take my seat More than one way to pay CBC reported in April that police in the Sky Train stations in metro Vancouver used tasers on fare evaders 10 times over 14 months, including three occasions involving non-violent offenders. CBC reports: “In one case, a person ran from transit cops during a check for free-riders and ‘the Taser was deployed as the subject fled,’ the documents say. Another person who didn’t pay the fare was arrested but ‘grabbed onto the platform

railing and refused to let go … the Taser was deployed.’” We can’t wait to see what new strategies will be deployed for red light runners. Forget digging, take a bus Andie Rosser was working on getting Google Transit up and running, but was getting a few nagging errors that would not go away. One bus stop error produced a route going from Tallahassee, Fl, to a coastal town in China and back. “When I showed it to my colleague, he took one look and said,

‘It looks like a journey of 5,000 miles begins with Google Transit.’” That is a real ad We didn’t doctor that photo above. In this case it ran in The Georgia Straight but was pulled soon after it started running. General Motors, had a hand in the demise of streetcars so it is interesting to note, as of this printing, GM, like most transit agencies, is government owned.

Trip Planner Magazine

Fall 2009

3


A Distinction Subtle & Broad What exactly is a streetcar anyway?

Staff report

A SEPTA MAINTENANCE STREETCAR IS FOLLOWED BY A PASSENGER STREETCAR IN WEST PHILADELPHIA

I

It is one of the great ironies of identified with automobiles, “streetcar”

With a nationwide

American life that suburban sprawl—a was two words; street cars were the

resurgence in interest in streetcars,

low-density pattern of development that

same genus as rail cars, passenger

several cities have restored historic lines

is difficult to serve with public transit—

cars, and box cars, but a species on extant rails (Philadelphia’s Girard

was created by public transit. Frank

unique and easily identifiable. A vehicle Avenue Line, San Francisco’s F Market

J. Sprague built the first successful operating on the street, powered by

Line) and many cities have created new

electric streetcar in Richmond, Virginia, electric wires could be only one thing.

streetcar systems, whether “heritage”

in 1888.

Land developers rushed

to build streetcar lines, loss leaders

Things have changed.

Today lines as in Tampa and Little Rock that

only the St. Charles Avenue Line in

use reproduction cars, or modern, low-

for the highly profitable residential New Orleans (1835) and the Boston

floor systems as in Portland, Oregon

development

built

along

them. Mattapan Ashmont Line (1929) have and Tacoma, Washington. Still another

In those days before “cars” became

4

since inception.

Trip Planner Magazine Fall 2009

remained

in

continuous

operation

category is those systems using vintage


cars on new tracks as in Memphis, Tennessee and Kenosha, Wisconsin. After WWII, as Americans lost interest in streetcars, Germany imported the idea as part of their rebuilding effort. They took a venerable American institution and made the streetcar longer and stronger and put it in its own right-of-way (see Thompson’s story starting on page 8). Stadtbahn was reimported to San

streetcars, and LRT infrastructure is far

Diego and then other U.S. cities as light

heavier and more expensive to construct.

rail transit (LRT), a very different mode

Compare two recently completed Seattle

from its long lost brother the streetcar.

projects, the 1.3-mile South Lake Union

The federal government, through the

Streetcar at $39 million per mile and the

National Transportation Database (NTD),

14-mile light rail at $193 million per mile. Streetcars,

makes no distinction between LRT and

whether

vintage,

streetcar, merging the two into the light

heritage, or modern, are always a

rail column. A separate category may be

single car, although modern streetcars

in order. After all, NTD still maintains a

are

cable car category even though there is

and thus are longer.

only a single city (San Francisco) operating

vehicles cannot have additional cars

one and a cable car is fundamentally

attached,

different from a streetcar only in the

mostly by the length of the platforms

propulsion

available

system

(an

underground

articulated

LRT to

(bend

in

Where streetcar

capacity the

sections)

service

is

limited provider.

Based

In their behavior, the streetcar, at

on that standard Galveston’s diesel-

least in theory, acts more like a city bus

powered trolleys have more in common

than LRT, with stops from a quarter- to

with northeastern commuter rail than

a half-mile apart.

urban circulation, but Galveston is, for

only a platform at the same level as the

federal reporting purposes, light rail too.

floor for ADA compliant stops whereas

There are some similarities; both

heritage cars typically have “stations”

LRT and streetcar operate on rails and

with a ramp for loading of wheelchairs.

mostly at-grade (i.e. on the same level as

Absent the station platforms, a lift must

automobiles), and are usually powered

be installed on the vehicle. Philadelphia,

by catenaries, but diverge rapidly from

for example, uses its pre-ADA islands

there.

LRT almost never operates in

and has lifts on the 1930s Presidents’

mixed traffic, which long ago defined

Conference Committee (PCC) streetcars.

cable vs. an overhead wire).

Modern cars need

THE TECO STREETCAR IN TAMPA, TOP, HAS SMALL STATIONS AND A DEDICATED RIGHT- OF-WAY. IT SOUNDS LIKE LRT BUT LOOKS LIKE STREETCAR. THE OLD TOWN TROLLEY, ABOVE, IS A FIXTURE OF MANY A MERICAN DOWNTOWNS, BUT THESE BUSES CAN MUDDLE THE IDENTITY OF STREETCARS.

Trip Planner Magazine

Fall 2009

5


A Distinction Subtle and Broad (cont.)

LRT

vehicles

are

regional in nature and as such are capable of higher speeds than streetcars; compare a Siemens S70 LRT vehicle with a top speed of 66 mph to the Skoda streetcar (used in Portland), which has a top speed of 42 mph. In a tight urban environment, a streetcar is unlikely ever to achieve that top speed, but it is easy to see how an agency building a new system may want to take advantage of that speed, spacing the stops a bit and

NEW JERSEY TRANSIT’S GLEAMING

acting a little like light rail on the cheap.

WHITE CARS OF THE

HUDSON BERGEN LINE

MIX BEAUTIFULLY WITH THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT AROUND THEM, BUT THE

Terminology matters, too. Boston’s

MULTIPLE CARS PUT THEM IN THE

Mattapan Ashmont (M-line) is billed as

LRT CATEGORY.

a High Speed Line, a vestigial use of a term normally reserved for heavy

name for streetcars that is easily

vehicles, LRVs. We called Ken Takeda

rail (subways). It is part of the heavy

confused with other vehicles. Many

at Kawasaki to ask why: “In the request

rail Red Line but runs on PCC cars.

systems use buses designed to

for proposals, SEPTA wrote ‘LRV.’”

Philly’s subway-surface lines operate

look like vintage streetcars and call

Having been largely obliterated

in mixed traffic for most of their routes

them trolleys.

Trackless trolleys (or

as a means of mass transportation

and the vehicle is a single, electrically-

trolley buses) are buses powered

after WWII, streetcars as they have

powered rail car. In the city center the

by

been

SS lines are accessed underground

like a streetcar.

in subways, which is contrary to the

Metropolitan Transit System calls its

between

spirit of the eponymous streetcar.

light rail system—wait for it—the San

dominant form of mechanized urban

Likewise, Tampa’s TECO line uses

Diego Trolley. Thirty years ago SEPTA

transport.

reproduction cars that most closely

ordered a group of cars from Kawasaki

hard to accurately define.

fit the historical idea of streetcar, and

Railcars for use in its subway-

end of the day, precision is elusive.

they run on catenary wires, but have

surface lines. The cars are boxy and

If asked to identify one, the best we

a dedicated right-of-way and are

contemporary, a single car in length,

can do is to resort to Justice Potter

not in the street, strictly speaking.

powered by overhead wires, and often

Stewart’s Pornography Axiom and

Confounding the definition of

used in mixed-traffic. They sound like streetcars but are called light rail

say, “I know a streetcar when I see it.”

streetcar, “trolley”

6

is an historical

Trip Planner Magazine Fall 2009

catenaries,

but

look

nothing

The San Diego

reconstituted

are

nowhere

and never the one thing they were 1890

and

1920:

the

What they are exactly is At the


Directions Providing safe and efficient public transportation options is a goal of communities everywhere. But selecting the best modal choice, securing funding and garnering public acceptance can be a daunting task. HDR’s transit team can guide you in the right direction. In addition to traditional planning and design capabilities, our multi-modal experts are skilled in FTA processes, economic analysis and alternative delivery. Across the globe, we’re helping communities turn transit visions into successful mobility solutions.

No matter which direction you are heading, HDR can get you there. www.hdrinc.com/transit

“. . . the spirit of Animal House was in full flourish.”


The Streetcar in American Life Trucking killed it and the Germans revived it. Here is the history of the streetcar you probably don’t know.

by Gregory Thompson, PhD

F From

1888

Frank

of America began to empty outward

Sprague implemented the world’s

in the form of new streetcar suburbs,

first

built on previously empty land around

successful

when streetcar

system

in Richmond, Virginia through the

the city edges.

1920s, the electric streetcar sym-

from which the middle and working

bolized the American transit indus-

The center cities

classes fled changed as well, as de-

try. In cities throughout the country

middle class could afford) streetcars

partment stores, specialized shops,

the press followed the expansion and

operating at average speeds of 12

corporate offices, financial firms, ho-

financial scandals of the traction in-

mph could connect lots in the country-

tels, theaters, concert halls, and other

dustry, “traction” being the term that

side with jobs and opportunity in the

less reputable types of entertainment

the public then used for streetcars.

center. Such relationships stimulated

rushed in to fill the voids left by the de-

Landowners on the fringes of cities

a huge demand for suburban living,

parting middle and working classes.

clamored to have traction lines extend-

and to meet it, traction lines expanded

By the 1910s the streetcar had

ed to their lots, thereby making the lots

outward in all directions. Population

created a new American city char-

much more valuable. In as little as 30

followed. For the first time in their his-

acterized

minutes and for a nickel fare (a fare the

tories, the horribly overcrowded cities

Iconic was the fashionable Central

Streetcar A Timeline

1920s Mass production heralds age of American individualism

1888 Frank Sprague invents electric streetcar. Finally, a good use for electricity!

by

specialized

sections.

1936-1950 GM, Firestone, Standard City Lines. Buys more than 100 street a conspiracy in the dictionary definition sense of the word.

Golden Age c. 1830-1880 Horse drawn rail cars first urban transit. Steaming piles of horse dung ubiquitous metaphor for condition of the American city.

8

Trip Planner Magazine Fall 2009

Decades 1890-1920 Streetcar most common form of urban transportation

1930s PCC cars debut. Streetcar continues inexorable decline in style and comfort.

1935 Public Utilities Divestiture Act requires power companies to divest transit properties. To congress: a Sprague on both your houses.

O


et

Business District, a vibrant area with specialized sub districts wherein were located almost all jobs and activities that the middle class wished to reach. Poorer groups remained in cheaper, older housing surrounding the new center cities. Factories and warehouses also remained packed around railroad yards.

Further out, extending along the

electric car lines, were the new streetcar suburbs. These were middle and working class bedroom districts, each a new homogenous enclave catering to a specialized income and ethnic group. Every day the middle and working class

CROWDS WAIT TO BOARD CAR 4032 IN PHILADELPHIA, 1918, ABOVE. OPPOSITE, THE 1912 SAN FRANCISOCO MUNI CAR NO. 1 SEEN IN 1981 IN A NEIGHBORHOOD BUILT FOR IT (PHOTO BY AUTHOR).

populations surged into the center on electric cars and surged outward in the evenings. Wives and children filled

streetcar was about 40 feet long and 8 feet wide, riding on

the cars during the middle of the days, and in the evenings

two four-wheel trucks (or bogies). Each axle was driven by

and Sundays families used the cars for recreation. For the

its own electric motor that was suspended from the axle.

middle and working classes, the streetcar revolutionized

Air pressure controlled the braking power. Cars typically had

the American city and the way in which they experienced it.

top speeds of about 30 mph. A cabin (“saloon”) in which

The streetcar vehicle evolved to efficiently fulfill the mass

passengers rode constituted about two thirds of the length

transit role called for it. By the 1910s the contemporary

of the vehicle. Many cabins were divided into a weather-pro-

Oil, Philips Petroleum, others invest in National car systems and replaces with bus routes. Only

of Decay 1941-1946 20th century transit peak with WWII. Last time government would ever link SOV commuters to facism.

1960s Almost all streetcars gone from U.S. Bucking Trend, SEPTA still has 12 routes and 194 miles of track into 70s and 80s.

2001 Already the envy of America, Portland rubs it in by opening the first modern streetcar in the U.S.

2003 Tacoma follows Portland's lead. Tampa Electric Co. launches streetcar; trolleys and electric utilities reunited at last.

Restoration 1980s/90s U.S. into streetcar Again: Seattle (1982), Galveston (1988), Dallas (1989), Memphis (1993), Charlotte (1996), San Fran (1995). SEPTA bucks trend, cuts last three true streetcar routes (1992).

Mid-2000s. Mother nature streetcar's harshest critic. Hurricanes derail trolleys in New Orleans, Galveston.

Trip Planner Magazine

Fall 2009

9


The Streetcar in American Life (cont.)

tected section and an open-air part. The rest of the length was comprised of large platforms projecting from both the front and rear of the car. The platforms, which were lower to the ground than the cabins, contained large doors and vestibules from which passengers could board and alight.

The driver,

called a motorman, stood at the controls on the front platform, and the conductor, who collected fares, stood on the rear platform.

The conduc-

tor communicated with the motorman with bells that he (rarely “she” in 1910) could activate by an overhead cord.

Terms like, “platform employ-

ees,” or, “platform hours,” still are used by some transit systems today to denote transit operating personnel (usually bus drivers) and the hours that they work serving the riding public. In operation the streetcar was a crowd-eater.

10

THE MOTORMAN STANDS ON THE PLATFORM AND OPERATES THE VEHICLE (GIVING US THE TERM “PLATFORM TIME”) WHILE THE CONDUCTOR STANDS BEHIND HIM COLLECTING FARES. OFTEN THE CONDUCTOR STOOD AT THE BACK.

Coasting into a stop

thronged with waiting passengers, the

platform, from which they ultimately

velopers, and service became less

streetcar’s gaping rear door beckoned

alighted. Cars from this period were

frequent

the crowd to board. As the last passen-

not fast, but despite the huge crowds

Beginning about 1910 automo-

ger cleared the steps, the conductor

they ingested and disgorged, they

bile registrations also climbed rapidly.

gave two quick yanks on the bell cord

did not lose time at passenger stops.

Auto ownership initially rose fastest

to the motorman, who replied with two

They truly were mass transit vehicles.

in rural areas, but by World War I au-

loud clangs on the car’s traffic-warning

Several factors began the street-

tomobiles were widely distributed in

brass gong affixed to the front. The

car’s long decline around World War

cities, as well. House builders began

car lurched forward, and the conductor

I. Most immediately, the cost of labor

shifting their products from clients us-

then collected fares as the car swayed

and supplies more than doubled dur-

ing streetcars to clients using autos.

and trundled along to its next stop, of-

ing the war, while streetcar companies

In cities throughout the country de-

ten interrupted by traffic congestion

were politically unable to raise the fare

velopers by World War I were offering

and furious bursts of clangs from the

above the accustomed nickel, writ-

homes in areas not served by street-

motorman’s gong. As passengers paid

ten into charters in the 1890s. Prof-

cars, though they still were using their

their fares, they proceeded forward

its turned to losses, and investment

political muscle to attempt to force

into the cabin to find a seat. Those

in tracks and streetcars dwindled

streetcar companies to extend lines

not finding a seat stood in the aisle

commensurately. Companies by and

into new territory. By 1925, however,

holding onto leather straps hung from

large stopped extending lines to un-

housing developers no longer cared

the ceiling, or they stood on the front

developed areas demanded by de-

whether streetcar companies extend-

Trip Planner Magazine Fall 2009

and

more

over-crowded.


Street-

forces pushed down streetcar patron-

stop as fast as an auto, and it did so

cars had become irrelevant to them.

age during the 1920s in all but the

without jerking, an important consid-

At the same time, motor trucks

largest cities, and even there streetcar

eration given that many of the street-

cut the tether between retailing and

riders became increasingly dominated

car passengers were standees. It also

railroad yards and led to the extraor-

by those going to and from work. The

could brake to a smooth stop just as

dinarily rapid decentralization of retail-

smaller the city, the more rapid was

rapidly. Although its rate of accelera-

ing. Horse-drawn wagons were slow

the loss of streetcar traffic. Streetcar

tion fell off rapidly as it gained speed,

and expensive, and in the pre-truck

companies began abandoning lightly-

the PCC could reach about 45 mph on

era, retailers could not afford to locate

used streetcar lines and replacing oth-

level ground, if given enough time. The

their stores beyond a short wagon

er lightly used lines with buses. Most

PCC also was quiet. It rode on trucks

haul away from the giant merchandise

traction industry leaders thought that

with rubber inserts to reduce noise.

warehouses adjacent to the rail yards.

streetcars would continue serving the

Rubber pads even separated the steel

Almost all retailing was in the CBD.

more heavily-traveled lines, however,

wheel treads from the centers. The car

With the adoption of trucks, however,

and toward the end of the 1920s they

was streamlined, as well, and looked

retailers of all stripes radically decen-

formed the President’s Conference

as modern as the latest autos. Finally,

tralized. The driving force was demand

Committee to develop a super street-

the motorman could operate the car

for free parking from the increasingly

car to re-equip the “trunk” lines. The

entirely with foot pedals, leaving his

large number of customers who came

committee was comprised of presi-

or her hands free to act as a fare ca-

downtown to shop in their autos. Re-

dents of various streetcar compa-

shier. The industry intended to operate

tailers quickly learned that the cheap-

nies and had at its disposal the best

the PCC with a crew of one. Passen-

ed lines into new territory.

In the pre-truck era, retailers could not afford to locate their stores beyond

a short wagon haul away from the giant merchandise warehouses adjacent

to the rail yards. Almost all retailing was in the CBD. With the adoption of trucks, however, retailers of all stripes radically decentralized.

gers would enter one half of a double width front door, filing past the driver to pay fares. They would exit from the other half of the front door and from a double width center or rear door. There were shortcomings in the

est solution to the parking problem was

electrical engineering talent from the

PCC design as well. While its control

building major branch stores, which

larger operating companies as well

system provided smooth accelera-

could be easily supplied by truck from

as from the streetcar manufacturing

tion and deceleration, it did not permit

the central city warehouses. By 1925

companies. The result was the PCC

smooth running at a constant speed.

many venerable CBD-located firms

car, which was unveiled in 1936, and

When the operator releases the accel-

were opening new stores in the sub-

which is considered today to be one of

erator pedal, the car immediately goes

urbs that were grander and posher than

the marvels of American industrial en-

into deceleration mode. In city traffic

their original CBD flagship stores. The

gineering. More than 5,000 PCC cars

this shortcoming is not a problem, but

new stores all were built around auto

were built between then and about

it is a problem if the car runs on its own

access and free parking. The highly

1952 for U.S. and Canadian applica-

right-of-way where autos are kept off

centralized, streetcar-oriented retailing

tion, but despite the car’s success as a

the track and stations are far apart. If

regime characteristic of the American

piece of industrial engineering, it failed

an motorman wants to operate at a

city in 1910 had given way by 1925 to a

to save the American streetcar industry.

steady, say, 35 mph in such an envi-

decentralized regime characterized by

In the PCC car the traction industry

ronment, she would constantly have to

rampant suburban strip retailing and

sought and obtained a streetcar that

keep pumping and releasing the accel-

free parking.

Already planners were

could keep up with autos in stop and

erator pedal, which is hard on the con-

talking about the decline of the CBD.

go traffic. The PCC could accelerate

trol system and annoying for passen-

The combined weight of these

smoothly and silently from a standing

gers. Motor burnouts could and did

Trip Planner Magazine

Fall 2009

11


The Streetcar in American Life (cont.) happen when PCCs ran in such environments. The PCC trucks also were designed to provide a smooth ride on track rigidly embedded in concrete; they give an uncomfortably bouncy ride on open railroad track, which is designed to “float” in a bed of gravel under the weight of moving trains. P HOTO: GREG THOMPSON

Despite adopting the PCC car, after World War II the American transit industry continued replacing its streetcars with buses. By the end of the 1960s vestigial streetcar services remained in only a handful of U.S. cities where streetcars had some speed advantage over buses, such as operating through lengthy tunnels, in subways downtown, or on long stretches of private right of way. Toronto remained the sole city in Canada and the U.S. that continued to operate a very heavily-patronized, large, traditional streetcar system in city streets.

HEAVILY-PATRONIZED

QUEEN STREETCAR LINE IN TORONTO IN 1974, ABOVE. WHEN MIXED WITH AUTO AND TRUCK

Whether streetcar loss was inevitable is hotly de-

TRAFFIC STREETCARS ARE SUBJECT TO DELAYS FROM DOUBLE

bated. The traction industry had ceased influencing the

PARKED DELIVERY TRUCKS AND LEFT-HAND -TURNING AUTOS.

growth of cities around 1914-1917, when the auto took

PLANNERS IN MANY GERMAN CITIES DECIDED TO SEPARATE STREETCARS FROM AUTO TRAFFIC, LEADING TO A NEW CONCEPT: LIGHT RAIL (BOTTOM).

away that role.

The traction industry also became un-

profitable, and around 1920 it began losing passengers, at an increasing rate as the 20s progressed. As a consequence, the industry had difficulty financing track and car renewal. The Depression accelerated patronage and financing difficulties. Congress further compounded the financing crisis during the 1930s, by requiring those electric utility companies that owned transit systems to divest themselves of the transit systems. This action deprived the industry of another source of capital for renewing itself. In this environment General Motors and other automotive

interests

financed

a

holding

company

called National City Lines to purchase transit operating companies around the country. The purpose was to scrap streetcar systems and replace them with buses built by the General Motors subsidiary, Yellow Coach. From then into the 1950s National City Lines purchased streetcar and bus transit systems around the nation, and it continued to operate many of its holdings into the 1960s. It eliminated streetcar and electric trolley bus service on most but not all of the systems that it purchased. It also outfitted all of its systems with new GM buses. National City Lines provided staff management services for its operating properties and provided financing for buses and garages, as well. It is true that many U.S. transit systems were not bought by National

P HOTO: FRED M ATTHEWS, 1972

City Lines; yet, they were converted from streetcar to bus,

12

as well. It also is true that most Canadian transit systems were municipally-owned, but save for Toronto, all converted from streetcar to bus or electric trolley bus. National City Lines supporters point to these facts and state that NCL injected desperately needed capital into the transit industry and kept it going in private hands for another couple of decades; its detractors state NCL replaced viable electric

Trip Planner Magazine Fall 2009


streetcar systems with an inferior mode. In the author’s

the emptiness of the vehicle.) The new German streetcars

opinion, the national interest would have been served by

would be comprised of large capacity vehicles strung to-

modernizing parts of many streetcar systems at the end of

gether in trains. Each car would have one to two double-

the 1920s, but doing so would have required municipalization

width doors. Passengers would buy their fares at vend-

and capital infusion from higher levels of government. Even

ing machines or at kiosks and would not have to present

then, given Canada’s experience, it is uncertain whether

the fare when they boarded. Roving bands of inspectors,

streetcars would have been modernized.

It is safe to

say, however, that in the absence of such government takeover, the American streetcar industry could not have maintained itself. If National City Lines had not happened, some other combination of liquidators would have. Fortunately, this is not the end of the American streetcar history. The social protest movements of the 1960s helped foster a revolution in the transit industry.

Dur-

ing that decade the transit industry was municipalized with federal and in some cases, state aid. The possibility of obtaining capital for building rail systems became real. At the same time citizen movements, such as those dedicated to preserving neighborhoods by stopping inner city freeways and others to reducing air pollution, came together in some metropolitan areas with the idea that surface rail systems could help with urban revitalization. Thus was born the light rail movement. Its model was not the American streetcar, not even the PCC car, but a new concept coming out of northern European cities. When faced with rebuilding their war-ravaged cities after World War II, German transit planners contemplated a future urban world dominated by the automobile. Should their streetcar systems be rebuilt? Many decided, yes, but they rejected the American objective of the PCC, which was a jack-rabbit like vehicle that was intended to blend in with traffic. Instead, they reasoned that streetcars and autos needed to be separated. Streetcars would be given their own rights of way. There would be less emphasis on lightning-quick acceleration and more on achieving unimpeded movement. There also would be a lot of thought given to getting streetcars through stops thronged with hundreds of passengers without encountering the infuriating boarding and alighting delays experienced by large volumes of passengers so typical of American bus transit systems. (In America, passengers had to pay the driver, a system whose efficiency increases in direct proportion to

Trip Planner Magazine

Fall 2009

13


The Streetcar in American Life (cont.)

checking a percentage of the passen-

manner over most of the last century.

suggest that the mere construction

gers at random, would enforce the

Planners in the most suc-

of a light rail line will cause TODs to

fare regime. Thus, passengers could

cessful applications have conceived

spontaneously spring up around light

board at any door. When a three-car

of their light rail lines as a tool in re-

rail stations, but that possibility seems

light rail train glided into a station, typi-

structuring the bus system to serve

doubtful. It now is well known that the

cally six to twelve double-width doors

suburban destinations, while the light

quality of a transportation investment

would fly open, allowing a waiting

rail lines serve the CBD and some im-

that makes land more valuable for de-

crowd of a hundred or more passen-

portant suburban destinations. Plan-

velopment is improved accessibility

gers to be absorbed in a few seconds,

ners have pulled much of the bus

to population and jobs. Accessibility

while just as many passengers got off.

service out of the CBD, terminating it

of most parcels in the American me-

What the Germans achieved was not

instead at suburban light rail stations.

tropolis to employment and population

a modern streetcar, but a hybrid of the

Bus routes are made much shorter

already is so high through the auto-

streetcar (“strassenbahn”) and a rapid

with fewer duplicative bus miles, and

mobile/highway system that the small

transit train running through subways

they take train passengers to impor-

incremental accessibility coming to a

(“U-bahn”).

It was a new mode of

tant suburban destinations that are not

parcel by virtue of a light rail station

transit unlike anything that previously

on the rail lines. Light rail stations also

opening adjacent to it would have neg-

had existed. In short, the city railway

are designed as places where passen-

ligible impact on development. On the

(“stadtbahn”) was a surface-version of

In America, passengers had to pay the driver, a system whose efficiency increases in direct proportion to the emptiness of the vehicle. (In other words transit works better when fewer people use it.)

a short subway train, silently snaking through pedestrianized urban centers, ingesting and disgorging hundreds of passengers at strategic stops placed a quarter to half mile apart in the cen-

14

ters, and then running at speed on

gers will be able to transfer between

other hand, building light rail lines into

private lines with more widely-spaced

bus routes, thus achieving intra-sub-

edge-city-type auto-oriented develop-

stops to other major activity centers.

urban transit mobility. This approach

ment, and then retrofitting that devel-

This was the rail transit concept ad-

to system design reflects recognition

opment to make it possible to walk

vocated by activists in the 1970s, but

on the part of planners that region-

between its various pieces and light

they met resistance from the American

al transit patronage is proportional

rail stations, does appear to be yield-

transit industry, most of whose leaders

to the number of jobs that are eas-

ing patronage results, as evidenced

stemmed from the National City Lines

ily reached by the transit system, and

by San Diego’s Mission Valley Line.

era.

Initial success in implementing

that as much as 97 percent of regional

Regions following these concepts

the idea came in mid-sized, rapidly

jobs are found in suburban locations.

with success include San Diego, Port-

growing metropolitan areas, first in Ed-

In some areas with integrated

land, St. Louis, and Dallas, among oth-

monton in 1978, followed by Calgary

bus and light rail systems, planners

ers. Light rail lines in these regions

and San Diego in 1981, and Portland,

are promoting the creation of denser

account for a small percent of route

San Jose, and Sacramento in 1986-87.

housing, commercial, and employment

miles but thirty to sixty percent of the

The regions that have made best use

centers adjacent to light rail stations.

total transit traffic measured in either

of the German light rail model have tai-

Plazas and pedestrian walkways in-

passenger miles or unlinked trips. At

lored it to the American reality that met-

terconnect the various parts of such

the same time, passenger traffic per

ropolitan areas continued their path to-

development, known as Transit-Ori-

capita is growing, unlike systems with

ward decentralization in an unrelenting

ented Development. Some planners

bus lines focused on the CBD (where

Trip Planner Magazine Fall 2009


passenger decline is severe), and op-

uses the self-service proof-of-payment

erating expenses per passenger or

system, so boarding and alighting oc-

passenger mile remain below indus-

curs through all doors. There is heavy

try norms for similar sized regions.

demand for the San Francisco ser-

More recently some groups advo-

vice, but cumbersome and slow fare

cating densification of American cit-

collection hinders its usefulness. In

ies are promoting revival of the classic

the author’s view a modern streetcar

American streetcar. To date they have

similar to the Czech technology offers

had more success in doing so in form

promise, but that promise will not be

rather than in function. Typically, genu-

fully realized unless planners achieve:

ine old American streetcars have been

found and refurbished or replicas have

passenger

been constructed for such services,

towns, major activity centers, and/

but a modern Czech streetcar now is

or

being manufactured in the Portland

demand

Applications

(linking

down-

neighborhoods); that

are

able

area for such use. Most applications

to serve high passenger

run cars around tourist-oriented track

faster,

loops organizations have built in the old

ly (and more quietly) than buses;

downtown areas that planners are at-

more

cheaply

and

demand clean-

Fare systems that allow pas-

tempting to revive. Streetcar drivers act

sengers to enter and leave through all

as fare cashiers, and service generally

doors and that can board and alight

is infrequent and slow. Although there

scores of passengers in seconds;

are exceptions, such services typically

Our sponsors make this publication possible. Please consider these companies for your product and service needs. And tell them you saw them in Trip Planner Magazine.

Applications that have high

urban-scale •

Sponsors

Integration of the service with

do not function as part of the regular

the bus transit system, and if applicable,

transit system; most tourist streetcars

light rail service, achieving service im-

do not, for example, replace pre-exist-

provement, productivity improvement

ing bus routes or serve as a tool around

and cost reduction in the process.

which bus service in a sector of the city is restructured, as is typical with light rail.

Exceptions include Portland’s

streetcar (using Czech vehicles), which does a nice job connecting two inner city neighborhoods with the downtown and a university. Two other exceptions include a similar type of service using the same type of vehicle, just opened in central Seattle, and San Francisco’s F line, which although primarily a tourist-oriented ride, evolved from a traditional trolley bus. The Portland service

Dr. Thompson helped develop light rail systems in Edmonton and San Diego. He is a professor of urban and regional planning and his book, The Passenger Train in the Motor Age: California 19101941 was published in late 1993 by the Ohio State University Press. His major research interest is studying the role of public transportation in autodominated societies, both historically and in the present day. Currently he chairs the research subcommittee of the Transportation Research Board’s Committee on Light Rail Transit.

works well in part because much of it is in a fare-free zone, and the remainder

Trip Planner Magazine

Fall 2009

15


The Space Between Shaping Community with Transit: in Charlottesville, Virginia

by Gary Okerlund, with Todd Gordon

C

Charlottesville,

16

a

city

where students and townies mix

fic

in central Virginia with a population

along the successful pedestrian mall.

parking, and small and disconnect-

of 40,000, has been home to three

These

destinations

ed land parcels. West Main is adja-

presidents, Madison, Monroe, and

are linked by West Main Street, a

cent to an Amtrak Station and is also

most famously Thomas Jefferson.

low-density,

served by a good local bus system,

He founded the University of Virginia

auto-oriented

of

including a popular rubber-tired “trol-

whose Rotunda graces the pages of

diamonds strung together with twine.

ley,” but congested traffic makes bus

humanities textbooks, post cards,

While the West Main corridor

service unreliable and choice rid-

and prints, and draws tourists from

could be an active and healthy link

ers continue to drive their own cars.

around the world. The jam band The

between Charlottesville’s two most

With a vision of a more vital, ac-

Dave Matthews Band got its start a

thriving areas, it remains constrained

cessible, and pedestrian friendly West

mile away in the popular downtown

by the narrowness of the street, traf-

Main Street, a grassroots effort began

Trip Planner Magazine Fall 2009

small

two

signature

pedestrian-unfriendly, corridor,

a

pair

congestion,

extensive

surface


P HOTO: BRAD SHEFFIELD

THOMAS JEFFERSON’S WOLD FAMOUS ROTUNDA GRACES THE CAMPUS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, TOP. CLOSED TO AUTO TRAFFIC IN 1976, CHARLOTTESVILLE’S PEDESTRIAN MALL, BOTTOM, HAS BECOME THE CENTERPIECE OF THE DOWNTOWN, AND A VIBRANT PROMENADE FOR SHOPPING, DINING, AND ENTERTAINMENT. BETWEEN THEM, WEST M AIN IS THE FAMILIAR ASPHALT STRAP OF COMMERCIAL DEBRIS COMMON TO

P HOTO: OKERLUND A SSOCIATES

AMERICAN CITIES.

in 2003 to explore Charlottesville’s transit future.

The citizens involved in this ef-

fort wanted to determine if better transit could not only make access to the downtown and university easier, but also extend the success of those areas to West Main. The result was a “Summit on Transportation and Transit,” a City of Charlottesville sponsored event in the fall of 2003. The Summit brought top transit experts to Charlottesville to give an objective assessment of the city’s transit needs and

P HOTO: OKERLUND A SSOCIATES

opportunities.

The results of their work

focused on West Main Street, where a strong transit link between downtown and the University could improve economic development, job accessibility, neighborhood vitality, and environmental protection. The Summit panel concluded that Charlottesville should explore the development of an urban streetcar system for West Main, a small electric rail system that would be an appropriate scale for the cor-

Trip Planner Magazine

Fall 2009

17


The Space Between (cont.) streetcar presented major barriers. With Portland, Oregon starting construction of the first modern streetcar system in America only 4 years prior, the public still thought of streetcars as historic relics.

An important di-

mension of this educational component is to recognize that it is less about choosing a transit system and more about choosing the type of community and quality-of life that the public wants, and implementing transit to support that choice. Following the recommendations of the summit, a number of organizations teamed up to further promote the streetcar concept. These groups were: The Alliance for Community Choice in Transportation (ACCT, a local non-profit promoting walkability and bikeability), the City of Charlottesville, and Okerlund Associates Urban Design, with financial support granted by The Blue Moon Fund (a private foundation). The strategy of this team was to

AS PART OF THE PRESENTATION SHOWN TO THE COMMUNITY, THE

ridor. While, if realized, Charlottesville

ground up, by educating neighborhood

would be the smallest city with such a

associations and community groups,

system, the summit panel argued that

and to promote the idea as a demon-

the population of the community mat-

stration project that could eventually

(PHOTOGRAPHED IN TACOMA, WASHINGTON) WITH THE NEWLY BUILT HOME OF THE LIVE A RTS,

tered less than the existing and poten-

become a larger, regional transit system

tial health of the corridor. It was agreed

with associated transit-oriented devel-

that downtown and the University have

opment. This strategy was helped by

A COMMUNITY THEATER IN

the density to support a streetcar sys-

the timing of other city efforts, includ-

CHARLOTTESVILLE.

tem and that the West Main Street cor-

ing a $6.5 million allocation for a Down-

ridor could also evolve to that level with

town Transit Center (since completed)

proper encouragement and investment.

and a $1.5 million allocation for bus

While the Summit left organiz-

transit and pedestrian improvements

ers with optimism, greater focus, and

along West Main Street, as well as re-

the fresh and energizing new idea for

cent key policy initiatives such as the

a streetcar system, the newness and

approval of a new city-wide zoning or-

lack of public familiarity with modern

dinance promoting increased densities.

TEAM USED PHOTO SIMULATIONS LIKE THIS ONE, WHICH JUXTAPOSES A MODERN STREETCAR VEHICLE

DOWNTOWN

18

promote the streetcar concept from the

Trip Planner Magazine Fall 2009


The promotion of a West Main

makers and community leaders to visit

Streetcar began with what the involved

existing streetcar projects in Portland

groups termed a Technical Preview, a

and Tacoma. Participants in these trips

chance to gather information from tran-

included city councilors, university of-

sit engineers with streetcar experience

ficials, heads of non-profits, real estate

without undertaking a full and final de-

developers, and local media, among

sign of the project. For this task, ACCT

others. The trips allowed these lead-

and Okerlund Associates hired consul-

ers to experience streetcars in per-

tants who had previously worked as

son, meet with people involved in the

project engineers on the construction of

planning of these now-successful sys-

the streetcar system in Portland. This

tems, and see the development and

task resulted in a conceptual streetcar

community-building effects of street-

route, street section designs, and plan

cars.

of next steps, as well as a greater un-

had concerns about overhead power

A STRETCH OF SEVERAL BLOCKS KNOW COLLECTIVELY AS “THE CORNER”, THIS COLLECTION OF

derstanding that a streetcar for Char-

wires and integration of the street-

SHOPS AND RESTAURANTS IS A BUSY

lottesville was, in fact, a viable option.

car with traffic, these concerns were

While prior to the trips, some

The next step in the streetcar

greatly smoothed by this first-hand ex-

effort was to organize trips in the fall

perience. Secondly, participants were

of 2004 for key Charlottesville decision

able to see how convenient life in a

GATHERING PLACE THAT EXISTS

CHARLOTTESVILLE MEETS THE EDGE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA GROUNDS.

WHERE

Trip Planner Magazine

Fall 2009

19


The Space Between (cont.)

transit-rich region can be (no automobiles were

work document was prepared and presented to

used at any point during the transit site visits).

the city council to determine specific steps, re-

Following the Technical Preview and

sponsibilities and costs to move forward, involv-

Streetcar Site Visits, ACCT and Okerlund Asso-

ing a partnership among the city, development

ciates developed a comprehensive educational

community and the non-profit sector.

presentation to explain the streetcar concept,

time, the project remains at this step, waiting for

among a range of transportation options, and the

funding and a public mandate to move forward.

explorations that had already been done toward

This project represents a unique pub-

such a system for Charlottesville. In the form of

lic-private partnership between ACCT and the

a report, report summary, and graphic presenta-

City of Charlottesville. Past transit projects in

tion, this educational package was presented to

Charlottesville and in other communities across

neighborhood associations and non-profits, and

the country have been derailed or significant-

at community events in an attempt to build broad

ly delayed due to lack of political champions

public support for a streetcar on West Main.

and public outreach. This project emphasized

At this

public involvement and political champions in

Site visit participants were able to see how convenient life in a transit-rich region can be (no automobiles were used at any point during the transit site visits).

the beginning of the planning stages. A publicprivate partnership was proposed to guide and fund the next effort that would include the city, development community, and private sector. Due to currently less-than-full interest by decision-makers in supporting the entire effort, and economic pressures on the non-profit and de-

Through these efforts, the idea of a West Main

velopment communities that were asked to match

Streetcar became somewhat accepted, at least

funding, the effort is on hold. The project is far

in concept. People liked the high-quality, high-

from dead, but our experiences in Charlottesville

visibility transportation option, and to a lesser

show that even the best laid plans can go awry,

extent, saw that a streetcar could encour-

or at least be delayed. As with any major invest-

age quality infill development along West Main

ment nothing is guaranteed; Caveat emptor.

Street. However, the West Main Streetcar still lacked real leadership, a clear path from concept to construction, and a source of funding for what is, admittedly, an expensive proposition. In order to better explore the details and steps necessary to building the system, a Mayor’s Streetcar Task Force was appointed in 2006. The group was tasked with determining the next steps to assess the feasibility of a streetcar corridor as an element of a regional network and a stimulant for enhanced economic development opportunities along the corridor. The recommendations of this group were presented to the city council. Later, a scope-of-

20

Trip Planner Magazine Fall 2009

Gary Okerlund is an architect, landscape architect, and urban design consultant, is principal of Okerlund Associates in Charlottesville. His urban design plans and publications include Shaping Community with Transit, Transit-Oriented Communities for Northern Virginia, and Public Improvements on Main Street for the National Main Street Center.


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Cutting the Cord Emerging Technologies are producing Streetcars Without Wires by Steven M. Carroll

W

We tend to think of streetcars as operating on a fixed

guideway. The majority of the world’s streetcar systems, however, move between two of them, the unobtrusive rails in the ground and the power lines that run overhead and always in sight. The streetcar design philosophy is founded on simplicity and minimizing costs, blending with existing and new neighborhoods. Negative impacts to utilities and existing street infrastructure are minimized through the use of shallow track slab construction, and projects are designed for ease of con-

I AT THE A MERICANA AT BRAND IN GLENDALE, CA, THE MONEY SAVED ON OVERHEAD WEARS COULD APPARENTLY BE SPENT ON LAVISH APPOINTMENTS FOR THE STREETCARS THEMSESLEVES.

22


struction. Streetcar stops are simple and

are

spaced

relatively

closely

together (much like

THE GALVESTON STREETCAR, LEFT, RUNS ON DIESEL WHILE THE TROLLEYS AT THE GROVE IN L.A., BELOW, RUN ON BATTERIES AND PURE FUN.

local bus stops), in support of its role as a pedestrian

accelerator.

Most

street-

cars operating in the U.S., whether vintage

(origi-

nal authentic vehicles), heritage (built to resemble original vehicles) or modern state-of-the-art vehicles, are powered by an electric overhead wire, also know as a trolley wire that carries between 600 and 750 volts of direct current (DC), versus alternating current (AC) most people are familiar with in their everyday lives. Examples of these three types of vehicles include the Pearly Thomas Company vintage streetcars used on the St. Charles line in New Orleans, the Birney replica streetcars pro-

as it also requires substations to convert commer-

duced by Gomaco Trolley Company for Tampa’s

cial AC power to DC power and poles with mast

system, and the modern streetcar or European

arms to support the wire. Other considerations in-

tram style vehicle built by Skoda for Portland.

clude the visual impact of the many poles and the

To transfer the power from the wire to the ve-

spider web of wires needed to support and sus-

hicle, a spring loaded pole or a panagraph extends

pend the system, and the need to protect metal

from the vehicle and makes contact with the trolley

utilities from the corrosive effects of stray DC

wire, a piece of bare copper approximately one-half

current associated with these types of systems.

inch in diameter. Although this power distribution

To avoid these impacts and reduce the cost

system is much simpler than one typically associ-

of implementation, one well-established system

ated with light rail systems, the cost off installing

in Galveston and one recent new start in Savan-

such a power distribution system is still signiďŹ cant

nah have chosen to use streetcars with an onboard

Trip Planner Magazine

Fall 2009

23


Cutting the Cord (cont.)

24

electric generator powered by either

to the two examples in the U.S., two

dam, Netherlands and has operated

a diesel or gasoline engine similar to

historic districts in Nice, France are us-

off-wire for approximately one mile.

current hybrid cars. Alternative wire-

ing battery technology. This system is

In the on-board power source cat-

less solutions are rapidly gaining at-

combined with an overhead wire for

egory, there are only two systems in

tention. Two battery-powered vehicles

the remainder of the line and the bat-

use: fuel cells and fuel/electric hybrids.

systems are operating in California:

teries are charged from the overhead

Fuel cells charge batteries which drive

at The Grove in Los Angeles and the

wire. This system has been in revenue

electric motors. This technology is still

Americana at Brand in Glendale. Both

service since November of 2007. Ka-

in research and development, and cur-

of these complexes are large shop-

wasaki also has a similar technology

rently only being demonstrated with

ping, dining, and entertainment desti-

under development and in demonstra-

buses at Alameda County Transit in

nations. Streetcar and light rail vehicle

tion in Japan. In the U.S., the Gomaco

Oakland. Fuel/electric hybrids utilize a

suppliers around the world, similar to

Trolley Company received a contract

diesel engine attached to a generator

bus and automobile companies are

in August 2009 to retrofit a vintage

that powers electric motors. There are

exploring alternative ways to power

streetcar from Melbourne, Australia

a number of examples of these types

their vehicles and reduce environ-

with battery technology for a client in

of vehicles in revenue service including

mental impacts and visual blight.

Kingston, New York. Two other U.S.

the Galveston and Savannah systems.

Three categories of alternative

cities, St. Louis and Rock Hill, South

So, if you want a streetcar, but

technologies are either in operation,

Carolina are also considering this

you’re not sure you want or can af-

research and development or the

technology for use in replica Birney ve-

ford an overhead power distribution

testing phase. These include way-

hicles similar to those built for Tampa

system, there are a number of alter-

side, on-board energy storage and

and Little Rock. Similar to the system

native technologies being evaluated

on-board power source technologies.

in Nice, the system proposed for St.

and demonstrated. However, current

Wayside technologies require ex-

Louis will use a combination of battery

proven options are generally limited

ternal infrastructure to provide power

and overhead wire segments. Rock

to on-board storage and on-board

to the vehicle. The one wayside ex-

Hill is still in the planning stage and

power source technologies or a com-

ample currently in use is a surface-

could choose to go with just a battery

bination of the two. Another key factor

mounted contact rail—a third rail, if

or a combination similar to St. Louis.

is supplier interest. Before suppliers

you will—which utilizes a rail between

Ultra capacitors are another form

will make the investment in research

the running rails that is energized only

of on-board storage device capable

and development, they have to feel

when the vehicle is above it; the re-

of storing energy generated during

there is a large enough market for the

mainder of the time there is no pow-

braking. This device is not intended

technology. With the high level of in-

er to the rail. This system requires

for use as an off-wire power source,

terest in alternative energy sources

a significant wayside investment in

but it has been demonstrated off-wire

and green technology, wireless may

addition to the cost of the on-board

for a distance of approximately 0.3

be the future of rail technology.

vehicle technology and is only in rev-

miles. There are several suppliers and

enue service in Bordeaux, France for

a four year trial has been completed

a short segment in an historic district.

in Mannheim, Germany.

Flywheels,

Within the on-board energy stor-

similar to ultra capacitors, store en-

age technology category, there are

ergy generated during breaking. This

three types of devices: batteries, ultra

technology is not in revenue service,

capacitors and flywheels. In addition

but is in demonstration in Rotter-

Trip Planner Magazine Fall 2009

Steven Carroll is a Vice President of Rail/ Transit for HDR, Inc.with over 32 years of experience planning, engineering, construction, and operation of rail freight and rail transit projects. HDR is a multidisciplinary planning and engineering firm with over 8,000 employee owners and 158 offices in the U.S. and Canada. HDR is a recognized leader in the field of streetcar planning and engineering, and has led or supported over two dozen streetcar projects in the past six years.


  

                   

      



     


Through the Looking Glass It looks like transit, sounds like money, and smells like politics. It must be Philly’s Girard Streetcar Line.

by Samuel L. Scheib

P

Philadelphia is home to over 118

miles of bona fide, in-the-asphalt, exposed streetcar rails, the greatest quantity in the country. Many are not in regular use but they are left in place and uncovered and, like a strip tease, leave open the titillating possibility that regular streetcar service will return. On route 15, the Girard Avenue Line, it has. The green, silver and cream PCC cars hit the rails September 4, 2005 after a 13-year absence. Ridership is high, the city is happy to finally have these rolling museums back in service, and the area around Girard is slowly revitalizing. For the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) that operates the route things could not be much worse. Philadelphia was one of America’s great streetcar cities.

An order of Near-

side streetcars acquired between 1911 and 1913 represented the “largest single group of standardized cars ever acquired by any property anywhere in the world.”

Philly once had the longest and

the shortest streetcar routes in the world, the 25.5-mile round trip route 23 from downtown to Chestnut Hill and the 1.5mile round trip route 62. At its peak in 1911, the city boasted 3,999 streetcars on 678 miles of track (by comparison, today SEPTA has 1,360 buses in its fleet). As of 1965, Philadelphia still had 480 PCC cars, the most of any American city. But in Philly, as elsewhere, the street-

26

Trip Planner Magazine Fall 2009


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siemens.com/answers

Š Siemens AG, 2009 All Rights Reserved.

Wouldn’t more efficient travel make the daily grind less of a grind?


Through the Looking Glass (cont.) car fast became a relic. As soon as

at about the same time the rest of the

not augur well for streetcar service:

automobiles entered city traffic they

country was catching the streetcar bug.

even the police escort was powerless

began blocking the path of streetcars;

Later that same year the SEPTA board

against the delivery truck parked on

soon engineers adopted the opposing

made an agreement with then Mayor

the tracks. At this three-hour meeting

view that streetcars were interfering

Ed Rendell to restore streetcar service

citizens leaned on their transit agen-

with the progress of the automobile.

to those routes after resolving a budget

cy and at the end of it, then General

In a 1924 essay titled “Philadelphia’s

crisis. It could not have taken long for

Manager Jack Leary announced SEP-

Traffic Problems and Their Solution,”

SEPTA to get used to the money it was

TA’s plan to restore the Girard Line.

J. Borton Weeks wrote of the fric-

saving by operating buses, roughly $2

From SEPTA’s perspective, route

tion between streetcars and autos:

million per-year per-route. Streetcars

15 is a better bus route. The streetcar

“Surface railway cars in the busi-

did not enter service again until route

is an anachronism: motorists initially

ness district of a great city constitute

15 was reinstated at the end of 2005.

did not realize they needed to stop for

a great economic waste. Every inch

streetcar passengers exiting the cen-

of usable space on the downtown

ter-lane vehicle into traffic; people liv-

streets is of high value. . . If the car

ing along the route are upset that they

tracks were removed and auto bus

have lost some parking spaces to make

lines instituted, the bus would stop,

room for the train; tall service trucks

as it does in London, flush to the

frequently tear down the wires that

curb, unloading and loading its pas-

power the vehicles.

sengers directly from the sidewalk

mance for trolleys is about 10%,” then

and still leaving two open lanes of

General Manager Faye Moore said in

“On-time perfor-

our May 2007 interview (although a

travel, with complete safety to the

The Girard Streetcar is a fascinat-

bus users. With existing conditions,

ing story of nostalgia colliding with

more current figure is 60%).

the street car today, the instant it

politics. A group of active and vocal

block the lane and the trolley can’t

stops, completely blocks at least

citizens known as Trolley Jollies was

get through.” Automobiles are not al-

two of the three lanes of travel.”

intent on seeing streetcar service re-

lowed to use the streetcar lane save for

By the 1990s, Philadelphia was a

turned to the three lines suspended

one crucial exception: when making

member of a very small club. The City

in 1992. Residents of Chestnut Hill,

unprotected left turns. That is a little

of Brotherly Love, Boston and New Or-

a cute turn-of-the-century streetcar

like saying, “I don’t smoke much, only

leans, were the only cities with original

suburb at the end of route 23 with

when I party,” and you are Paris Hilton.

streetcar lines in regular service and

wine shops and other boutique store-

Worst of all, the Girard Line was

Philadelphia still had much of its sur-

fronts, went so far as to charter a 1947

reconstituted on pre-ADA infrastruc-

face streetcar track in place. The last

PCC car to take them to a September

ture in an anno ADA America. Here is

of Philly’s surface streetcar routes, 15,

1997 Philadelphia City Council spe-

how Steven D’Antonio, manager of city

23, and 56, were suspended—osten-

cial hearing on the status of the three

service planning, describes the prob-

sibly temporarily—in 1992, ironically

lines. The journey to the meeting did

lem: “The islands where people stand

“Cars


were there from the days when streetcars were common. They are very narrow and we have to serve people in wheelchairs in the middle of a small island. The bus route [of 15] was completely ADA compliant, but [for the streetcar] about a third of the stops had to be discontinued because there is no safe place to accommodate loading and unloading.” Moreover, the wheelchair lift retrofitted on the 60-year-old cars is a schedule killer. The lift “is very time consuming. The driver leaves his seat out the

If the ridership is great on [route 15], then

front door, walks to the back, uses a key

I think it would bode well for us to look at

to lower the lift, and loads the wheelchair

the other lines.”

A Trolley Jollie seeing the

A BUS STOP IN

which goes on sideways, taking some time

ridership on Girard may conclude that route

HILL,

to maneuver in place. He then goes back

23 streetcar service is imminent, hence the

inside the front door, walks to rear through

stickers seen all around Chestnut Hill read-

the crowd to get the wheelchair and secures

ing “Where is the Trolley SEPTA Promised?”

it in place before going back to his seat and

Ridership numbers in a great tran-

TROLLEY JOLLIES LEAVE THEIR CALLING CARD ON

CHESTNUT ABOVE. A

STREETCAR MAKES ITS WAY ALONG THE 19TH CENTURY INFRASTRUCTURE OF GIRARD STREET, BELOW. I N THE CENTER OF THE OPPOSITE PAGE,

Sometimes the next car is

sit city like Philadelphia can be mislead-

right behind and there is no way to pass.”

ing. Girard was a streetcar line, then a bus

It can take ten minutes to load one chair.

line, then a streetcar line again, but “route

STREETCARS FROM THE

SEPTA, however, is at a real disadvan-

15 never went away,” says Mr. D’Antonio.

EARLIEST DAYS.

tage in arguing with the public about this

“Only the mode changed.” Route 15 op-

route because it is so productive, carry-

erates between an elevated rail and a sub-

ing 3.2 million passengers in 2006. Of the

way line, through transit dependent neigh-

true American streetcars (see Round Up

borhoods, and is five blocks from Temple

page 36 for a complete list) only the F Mar-

University and its 34,000 students.

ket Line (5.1 million trips) is busier. SEPTA

would have to coat the handrails with swine

board member Pasquale T. “Pat” Deon said

flu syrup to keep people from riding it.

at a press conference when Girard was

“The trolley-jollies want the trollies,”

launched, “Returning streetcars to Route

said Ms. Moore, “but they don’t ride them.

23, let alone Route 56, depends on the suc-

Our riders say they want to get to work on

cess of Route 15. The real issue for us is the

time.” Interviews with route 15 passengers

financial viability of running these trolleys.

confirmed this. Monica Allen was typical,

driving away.

They

DELIVERY TRUCKS BLOCKED


Through the Looking Glass (cont.)

Automobiles are not allowed to use the streetcar lane save for one crucial exception: when making unprotected left turns. That is a little like saying, “I don’t smoke much, only when I party,” and you are Paris Hilton.

30

Trip Planner Magazine Fall 2009

waiting on an island in front of a Rite Aid:

fixes it.

And of course, the 15% FTA

“The trolley is okay, it looks nice, but the

spare ratio prevents keeping extra buses

buses are usually more on time.” A street-

in reserve for problems with a streetcar.

car operator who requested anonymity put

This author rode route 23 its entire

it more bluntly: “Most of the passengers

length, following the tracks that would be

don’t care if it’s a bus or a trolley. If you pulled

a Chestnut Hill trolley. Having the longest

up in a horse and buggy people would get

streetcar route in the world again would

on it.” In fact, ridership was higher on route

make for lousy bragging rights. It is pain-

15 in 2004, the last year it was bus-only.

fully slow, so much so that it became a

In restarting streetcar service SEPTA

one-way trip. The ride back on the train—

worked to prevent a gaping wound from

and there is heavy rail parallel to the length

opening in the budget. The original plan

of route 23— was faster and more com-

was to bid for modern, low-floor cars but

fortable. That 23 is the busiest route in the

they decided to renovate the PCC cars

SEPTA system is politically problematic for

as a less expensive alternative. Still, the

the agency, because in the minds of some

restoration cost of a PCC car was $1 mil-

(a vocal “some”) high ridership makes a

lion, compared to $600,000 for a new bus

good candidate for streetcar. The city of

and per-vehicle-mile maintenance costs

Philadelphia insists on having the service

are $4.88 compared to $3.01 for buses.

while refusing to give SEPTA what it needs

These come on top of the requirement

most to make it effective: a dedicated right-

that SEPTA maintains both the rails and

of-way for streetcars. Again Mr. D’Antonio:

the road within 18 inches of any track,

“When the agreement was signed the

even where trains are no longer running;

city agreed to help with enforcement [of

any place a pothole opens near the rails,

cars on rails] but hasn’t come through.”

SEPTA—not the city of Philadelphia—

What is particularly frustrating for staff


at SEPTA is that this is not an agency that has abandoned streetcars on the whole. There are still number of trolley routes—called subway-surface lines— in active service: routes 10, 11, 13, 34 and 36 operate on the street for over

THE TWO FACES OF GIRARD AVENUE. ABOVE LEFT AN HISTORIC MARKER STANDS IN FRONT OF NEWLY RENOVATED HOMES, THE EXCEPTION, WHILE FURTHER DOWN THE ROAD, WINDOWS ARE BOARDED UP IN THE MORE COMMON APPEARANCE. OPPOSITE, DOWNTOWN IS CLOSE BUT TOO FAR FOR VISITORS TO MIND ROUTE 15. ON GIRARD THE STREETCAR IS TRANSPORTATION NOT TOURISM OR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT.

80% of their length. When she was

found lowest per-passenger cost was

gen, then coming on line, but a capital

at SEPTA, Faye Moore said there was

twice the projection, and the typical

project like that would have knocked

“talk from city hall about putting trol-

cost 4 to 5 times as high.

All other

the farebox ratio completely out of

leys down Market Street to the water-

transit agencies have to build public

whack. However, according to Rich-

front. Guess what? That’s the same

support for rail long before the steel is

ard Maloney, SEPTA director of public

route that was used in 1915 and that

ordered. SEPTA’s problems with routes

affairs, a new Act 44 of 2007 eased that

is why we built the subways, to get

15, 23, and 56 have been the oppo-

standard, putting in place a series of

the trolleys off the streets.” The sub-

site: citizens with a voice in the halls

performance measures by mode that

ways cover that other 20%.

“Ironi-

of power were, and are, screaming

would be compared with peers and

cally,” says Mr. D’Antonio, “these

for streetcars, ridership was very high

corrective action taken if necessary.

subway-surface lines are able to

from day one, and the transit property

Politics is the art of the pos-

get on-time in the most congest-

had to be brought along, kicking and

sible, and much becomes possible

ed part of the city, the downtown.”

screaming, to operate the damn thing.

in transit when citizen activists and

Philadelphia’s streetcar trajecto-

This is Wonderland and the white rab-

city leaders are demanding more of

ry has been unusual to say the least,

bit is checking on-time performance.

it. This civic energy in favor of tran-

in

sit could be directed at other rail proj-

ies were trashing them, canning three

2005, SEPTA was under a state DOT

ects where buses are not an effective

lines when other cities were building

mandate (Act 3, Act 26) to have a 50%

mode.

new ones. U.S. transit agencies have

farebox recovery ratio (farebox here in-

commodating government have ap-

tended to over-predict demand on rail

cluding all revenue).

Considering the

plied pressure on the transit agency

projects to disastrous financial results.

constant demands for service and the

to run a mode not in its or its custom-

Miami underestimated the cost-per-

added expense of the streetcars, it is

ers’ best interest.

passenger for its Metro Rail at $1.73

easy to understand SEPTA’s reticence.

can make a “bad” project happen,

compared to the actual of $16.77, an

Faye Moore spoke longingly of wanting

imagine what would happen if they

872% difference. D.H. Pickrell stud-

an LRT for Philadelphia similar to New

were enlisted in support of the good.

ied ten systems, including Miami, and

Jersey Transit’s enviable Hudson-Ber-

saving stock and track when other cit-

When

Girard

reopened

Citizen activists and an ac-

If those activists

Trip Planner Magazine

Fall 2009

31


Streetcar Maiden,USA Portland doesn’t just have modern streetcars. Now they are made there too.

by Arterio Dominguez

S

Skoda is a legendary firm dating

[manufactured] product must be of U.S.

sner Urquell beer, Semtex plastic ex-

from 1859 that has made weapons,

origin” (661.5), except for buses and

plosives—Skoda came to America.

brewing equipment, bridge parts, air-

other rolling stock “if the cost of com-

Twenty miles outside Portland in

planes, and automobiles (now a sepa-

ponents produced in the United States

Clackamas, Oregon, Chandra Brown,

rate division owned by Volkswagen).

is more than 60 percent of the cost of all

vice president of Oregon Iron Works

Today the Czech company makes

components and final assembly takes

was surprised by the news. “I heard

steam turbines and condensers, but

place in the United States” (661.11).

there were no modern streetcars be-

the few Americans who are aware of

The German company Siemens

ing built in the United States and I

Skoda probably know the company

has a plant in California to make light

thought this was ridiculous. Street-

because of its transit products. Eyes

rail vehicles for the American market

cars were invented here.

popped in 2001 when the Portland

because of Buy America, but they do

we could build this.” In 2005 Oregon

Streetcar opened, powered by shiny,

not make streetcars.

The Gomaco

Iron Works decided to look into it.

sleek, and quiet Skoda T-10 tram cars.

Trolley Company in Iowa makes heri-

Oregon Iron Works is a diverse

Portland wanted a modern system

tage (reproduction) cars, but no one in

company, building boats, bridges,

like those in Istanbul, Prague, Helsinki

the United States was building mod-

space launch complexes, and hy-

and so many other Continental cities,

ern cars. Portland requested, and FTA

droelectric machinery, among other

but all the railcars used in those places

granted a waiver for non-availability

things, but is always looking for new

were built in Europe. The Buy America

and like so many Czech exports be-

opportunities, the next generation

Act says, “All of the components of the

fore—composer Antonin Dvorak, Pil-

of products. Renewable energy is a

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I thought:


new product market and wave

PORTLAND CELEBRTES THE ARRIVAL OF THE FIRST U.S.-MADE MODERN STREETCAR

energy devices, for instance, are one product OIW is looking into; streetcar too fits into that green revolution in manufacturing. It can be difficult for a foreign manufacturer to break into the American transit market; because of Buy America the transition is most effective with a U.S. manufacturing plant like Siemens’ noted above or Canadian New Flyer’s bus factory in Minnesota.

By teaming up with an es-

tablished American company, Skoda could eliminate headaches, expenses, and a steep learning curve. For their part, OIW had the capabilities to build a streetcar, but not to design one. Through a new subsidiary called United Streetcar, OIW inked a deal

somewhere. But it was an experiment.

excited to see a [modern] streetcar

with Skoda whereby the Czech com-

The frame, the boggie, the bod-

built in the U.S.” says Ms. Brown. “We

pany licensed its already well-known—

ies, and the roof were made by United

have cities coming out to see the fac-

“beloved” is Chandra Brown’s word for

Streetcar, and they handle final assem-

tory in addition to going to Portland

it—streetcar design to United Street-

bly as well.

The propulsion system

to see them in operation.” Portland

car but the Americans would use the

comes from the Czech Republic, but

is expanding its streetcar service with

Skoda-built propulsion system. This

because of Buy America “most of the

an Eastside loop in the works. United

way the streetcar meets Buy America

[other] components had to be replaced

Streetcar has an order for six cars for

and Skoda Electric sells more units.

with American-made components so

that portion and is building seven units

Secretary of Transportation Ray

we were really building a new industry,”

for the Westside loop. They also won

LaHood was on hand for the unveil-

Ms. Brown says. “Those products were

an RFP for seven streetcars for Tuc-

ing of the first car in Portland on July

not here. This is a whole new product

son, “and we are looking to Charlotte,

1, 2009, a red and blue number that is

line for tons of other companies across

Miami, and others for selling cars.”

indistinguishable to the average pas-

the U.S.”

In the past, seats might

The maiden voyage of that first

senger from the wholly Czech-made

have come from European companies,

modern American streetcar is a home-

predecessors (testing will continue un-

but that would not work now. United

coming of sorts. Unlike the automo-

til October when the car goes in active

Streetcar had to find American sup-

bile, the streetcar is an American in-

service). In fact, it is quite different be-

pliers to send seats, windshield wip-

vention. The prodigal son returns and

cause of the supply chain. The first car

ers, headlight covers, handrails, etc.

as the market expands, we can expect

was a prototype, an imperfect word

The rise of United Streetcar means

modern streetcars to be coming home

because it was delivered and used

the U.S. market will be seeing more

rather than relegated to a showroom

modern streetcars.

to places it has never been before.

“People are so

Trip Planner Magazine

Fall 2009

33


Making Modern

How to make a modern streetcar in six easy steps. Feel free to try this at home.

6

The streetcar has a low floor to allow easy entrance/exit. Due to the low floor there is no space under the car to place the major electrical components. Consequently, they are placed on the roof, along with the 6 HVAC units and the pantograph.

4

The streetcar is a three body, doublearticulated vehicle. The three individual body shells are connected together via articulation joints. Each end body has a large fiberglass front piece attached to the metallic structure.

34

Trip Planner Magazine Fall 2009


5

After the vehicle body is assembled, the electrical wiring, major electro-mechanical and outfitting components are installed. There are almost ten miles of wire in every streetcar

3

The truck assemblies (or the “bogies”) are the vehicle propulsion systems. The truck assembly includes the axles, the gear boxes, the suspension, the motors, the friction brakes.

1

United Streetcar starts with the design and manufacturing of the welding fixtures. Each segment of the roof, like the example shown, will have its own fixture (“fixture for midroof,” etc.). Once a fixture is built, it can be used 500 times. Typically one fixture would be used to complete an order for, say, 20 cars. But if the order were larger, a 100 or so, they would build additional fixtures to facilitate the process.

2

The major body sub-assemblies are welded together to create the individual body shells. The three body shells are the main structure for the new car.

Trip Planner Magazine

Fall 2009

35


Streetcars There are essentially three functions a streetcar can

popular with the public, and readily supported by MUNI.

fulfill: transit, economic development, and tourism. None

By contrast, the Girard Line is in a rough area of West

of these are mutually exclusive; Portland has a system

Philly on the fringe of the downtown, and disliked by both

that has generated enormous investment in development,

the riding public and its operator, SEPTA. The success

is useful to tourists as a downtown circulator, and is

of Girard is entirely due to its connectivity to the greater

a popular form of public transportation for Portland

system; it operates between an elevated heavy rail line

residents (a famous neon sign on one downtown building

and a subway line.

implores, “Go By Streetcar”).

There are, however, some basic conclusions that can

The cities represented in the streetcar table below

be drawn. Population size and density are significant

vary widely from suburban southern communities to high-

factors for high ridership; looking at the 2005 ridership

density northeastern cities to the up-and-coming transit

(the most recent year for which we have complete data*,

hubs of the northwest.

In fact, each streetcar system

except for Katrina-stricken New Orleans, for which per

is so different from the others that they are difficult to

capita was figured with 2004 numbers) the streetcars with

compare. For example, San Francisco’s F-Market line

ridership over 1 million trips are in dense urban centers,

and Philadelphia’s Girard Street Line are both in dense,

although Tacoma’s population is one of the smallest in the

older cities and use extant lines and vintage PCC cars,

data set, but has the third highest per-capita ridership.

but the F-Market line goes through the most important

Connection to the greater transit system is also important

tourism and employment areas of the downtown, is very

as the Girard example shows.

Began Per Mile cost modern dollars Streetcar systems service (millions) Line Miles Type of Car New Orleans 1835 na 13.0 Vintage San Francisco-F Market Line 1995 na 4.2 Vintage Portland Streetcar 2001 11.9 4.8 Modern Tacoma Link 2003 50.3 1.6 Modern Boston Mattapan-Ashmont 1929 na 2.6 Vintage SEPTA Streetcar 2005 na 8.5 Vintage Tampa-TECO Line 2003 21.0 3.2 Heritage Memphis Main Street Trolley 1993 3.8 10.5 Vintage Little Rock-River Rail 2004 7.8 3.4 Heritage Galveston, Texas 1988 1.9 6.8 Heritage Kenosha 2000 3.1 1.7 Vintage Seattle Benson Line 1982 4.8 2.1 Vintage Charlotte Trolley 1996 8.0 2.0 Vintage Dallas-McKinney Avenue 1989 1.9 3.6 Vintage 2003-2004 numbers are for Girard Street, route 15 when operated by bus. In Sept. 2005 route 15 switched to streetcar.

36

Trip Planner Magazine Fall 2009

% in mixed traffic 25% 60% 95% 30% 5% 100% 0% 5% 85% 100% 15% 0% 0% 100%


Tr an sit

Boston Red Line

SEPTA - Girard

San Fran. F-Market Line New Orleans

Memphis

Portland

Charlotte Trolley

Tourism 2000 pop 484,674 776,733 529,121 193,556 589,141 1,517,550 303,447 650,100 183,133 57,247 90,352 594,210 540,828 1,240,499

. ev .D

Seattle Benson Line (suspended 2005) Little Rock River Rail

Tampa TECO

2003 trips 2004 trips 6,340,217 8,919,686 5,050,008 5,061,882 1,872,133 2,191,097 266,793 794,582 Not available 2,957,672 3,298,728* 503,698 519,564 1,562,396 1,010,442 44,457 54,335 40,566 67,556 58,913 403,590 398,580 Not available

on

Dallas-McKinney Ave.

Ec

Kenosha

Tacoma

2005 trips 2006 trips Hurricane Katrina 5,555,980 5,134,829 2,587,033 2,964,576 884,895 885,553 1,958,872 Not available 2,862,718 3,252,416 565,002 520,270 891,968 919,638 154,745 154,432 47,706 37,024 60,386 52,936 374,327 Construction 330,041 175,329 not available.

2005 Per capita ridership 18.40 7.15 4.89 4.57 3.32 1.89 1.86 1.37 0.84 0.83 0.67 0.63 0.61

Trip Planner Magazine

Fall 2009

37


No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking. - Voltaire

See samples of our transit thinking at thinkcreative.com/transit


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