Opening of the new Portland Streetcar Line

Had the opportunity to attend the grand opening of the new Portland CL line this past Saturday. This is the third new rail opening I have attended, the first being the opening of the original TRAX line in 1998, the second was when I was invited on the VIP run of UTA's Front Runner commuter rail service between Ogden and Salt Lake City, and finally the opening of the this new streetcar line.

My first ride on the new line occured before the actual ceremony as I rode the new CL line from 11th and Jefferson to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) which I happen to be a member of.

The MC of the event was the mayor of Portland Sam Adams who will be leaving office at the end of his term in a few months. He took time to blast a attack article in the Oregonian and pointed out there is already investment going on along the streetcar line.

Another speaker during the ceremony was Neil McFarlane who is general manager of TriMet. For anyone who follows transit blogs in the Portland area, they will know that he is often blasted and called some rude names in many circles including on a blog run by a disgruntled former bus driver. 

He actually rode the same streetcar that I did from the Portland State University area and will have to say that I found him to be very approachable and talk to several people on the streetcar. 

There was several other excellent speakers during the ceremony including one of the people responsible for the streetcar itself Michael Powell who happens to own a bookstore of some notoriety that is served by both of the streetcar lines now.

After the ribbon cutting the VIP's boarded the Oregon Iron Works prototype car that was making its inaugural run in revenue service. There has been some complaints about Oregon Iron Works because they are behind in production of the cars by a couple of months but one of the speakers noted that the previous cars were 8 months behind in arrived so Oregon Iron Works is actually doing pretty good. 

I rode the next streetcar to the Lloyd District and took these pictures of that streetcar returning to OMSI. The area I took this picture is pretty desolate because the area is surrounded strictly by high rise non-mixed use office buildings that are ghost towns on weekends. You may also notice in the picture above that to the right there is a Honda Accord parked in the bike line which is supposed to be the lane on the right with parking to the left of the bike lane. 

After grabbing a bite to eat I made a point to catch this streetcar on its next trip back to downtown. The car had a minor problem with its wheelchair ramp that was quickly taken care of and the we had a good trip back to 10th and Clay where I got off.

The line is currently U-shaped but in less than three years will become a true loop when the new bridge over the Willamette River is completed by TriMet and the streetcar will use it along with TriMet light rail trains.

It will be interesting to see how this line performs over the long haul. Right now frequencies are not what is needed and the area is no Pearl district however that may actually be a good thing. Do we really need lots of new high rises that bring the suburbs to the urban center, or should we see development that is more human scale? There is plenty of potential along the new line and time we tell what will be made of it.

Related articles

• Portland's new Streetcar loop debuts
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Streetcar Basics

The interior of a Portland Streetcar. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: A car of the Portland Streetcar system at the eastbound Portland State University stop, on Market Street at the South Park Blocks. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A few years ago the thought of streetcars returning to our streets was a fantasy. Today several cites have either installed new streetcar lines, constructing lines, or in the advance planning stages. I support streetcars as I feel that they are a great step between basic bus service and full light rail service (notice I did not include BRT - Badly Repackaged Transit). 

The question is, what should be the priorities of new streetcar lines. The most famous new streetcar line is off course the Portland Streetcar. To be honest, I rode it on Monday but overall I rarely do. Now that I spend more time downtown at Portland State I most likely will be riding more especially to head to Powell's Books. 

People opposed to the streetcar line say is nothing but a subsidy to developers. It is easy to call it that, after all it goes through a part of town that was about to rapidly development. On the other hand the same people who make those kind of comments turn a blind eye to all the subsidies suburban sprawl developments get every day of the week. We could quarrel all day about the that, but instead lets see what the streetcar does do. 

1. The streetcar provides service along a corridor that has never had service. While the two ends of the network (in the northwest side of town and south of PSU), the bus service was not in direct competition with 

Tri-Met buses. In fact the one line that follows the streetcar in the northwest will be rerouted in September in a budget cut move that actually eliminates duplicate service. 

2. The streetcar provides an alternative form of transportation that makes that part of the Portland much more livable. While I don't go to Powell Book's everyday, maybe once a month at the most, it is much more convenient to take the streetcar than trying to drive and find a parking spot. 

The question is, what should the priorities be for a streetcar line? The problem with making a blanket statement is that every city has different priorities so what is important for Portland, is different for Salt Lake City, Cincinnati, Atlanta or any of the other cities that have projects in progress. 

While Portland is a great example here is some things that could improve the current Portland system and any future extensions: 

1. One problem was that the system was designed only to have single cars. From my understanding this was a compromise to ensure support along the line. However, one of the benefits of rail transit is when you add additional cars to a train to make it more efficient and carry more people. Any future lines should have the capability to run multiple car trains. 

2. There is no private right of way. The streetcar gets stuck in traffic. While in an ideal world the streetcar would have its entire right of way reserved, we know in the real world this is just not possible. However, I see no reason why on 10th/11th Streets the streetcar cannot have its own reserved right of way in stretches and other areas to. 

3. The streetcar should have signal priority plus priority at the four way stops like Couch and 11th were the streetcar gets stuck for extended periods of time. 

In September Portland will open its new East side streetcar line. Until the loop is completed with the opening of the Milwaukee MAX line in 20515 I am not overly enthusiastic about how well this line will do but we shall see. 

That brings up a good question, for a city looking to extend a streetcar line or put a new one in, what should the priorities be? As I said early every city has its own most important priorities but this is some general guidelines. 

1. The first priority of a streetcar line should be to provide an essential transportation function. If the city already has a light rail or rapid transit system, the streetcar should function as a feeder between the major rail line and important business and residential sectors. Salt Lake City is a perfect example of this. The streetcar will provide service from all three light rail lines to the Sugar House district which is currently a major retail center and will have high density housing going in. 

In a way the east side streetcar in Portland will provide this function also as it will connect from the Lloyd District light rail stations to the Pearl District offering customers an alternative to the current ways to get to the Pearl. 

Once the Milwaukee MAX line is completed, the Portland streetcar will provide an excellent feeder from that line to the northwest part of town that is not currently available because of the alignment of bus service (31.32,33 and 99) and the streetcar line. 

Another good route in  Utah would be from the Ogden Transit Center to Weber State University which is being studied at this time. This would create a feeder from the Front Runner Commuter trains to busy 612 bus line on Washington Blvd and onto the University replacing route 603. 

2. Another important priority would be to supplement a overburdened bus route along a busy corridor. In its transit plan Portland is looking to supplement bus service with streetcars in such corridors as Sandy Blvd. I mentioned this at one time where it will allow the 12 route to become limited stop along this section of route speeding up Trimets longest route (which is being split up in September and won't be so long anymore). 

Another good example would be the Barbur Blvd/Capitol Highway corridor. Currently there are in the study phase on this project for Badly Repackaged Transit or Light Rail, but as I see it know there is a slim chance of a good system being built. Chances are some half baked BRT plan will get built that will end up not having a major impact. 

You could run the streetcar down Barbur and Capitol Highway to the Hilsdale area. This would allow TriMet to cut routes such as the 45 at Capital/Sunset and make routes such as the 44 and 12 faster through the area speeding up bus rides for those through travelers. 

When it comes down to it, streetcars can function both as a feeder from major rail routes to major employment and dense residential areas. It can also be a relief valve for busy bus routes along major dense corridors. What it comes down to is that streetcar routes need to be done right the first time. No matter how successful the route would be there will be naysayers, however if a route is well designed and does the job it is easier to counterbalance the CAVE (citizens against virtually everything) types. 

Related articles

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• No federal money for KC streetcar

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• Arlington to Vote on Streetcar Agreement with Alexandria

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• Morning Poll: Streetcar vs. Articulated Bus

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• Councillor Ball renews push to get streetcar service back on track

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• The Star's editorial | Pursue KC's streetcar line but re-examine funding

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• Another Streetcar Line

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Boosting Bus Service with Streetcar

Image via Wikipedia
Whenever a new light rail system opens, we often see bus routes being modified to service the light rail stations. While some complain about the loss of a one seat ride, others complain that preferential treatment is given to light rail.

Meanwhile Portland will soon be in a different situation as its streetcar system continues to expand.

The starter Portland Streetcar which has become famous for many reasons does not duplicate any existing bus service except for the northwest section where the existing 77 travels along a portion of the streetcar line.

However, as the streetcar system expands as it is doing right now, it will soon start to duplicate existing transit lines. The new eastside loop will follow a portion of Tri-Met's existing route 6 which itself was modified from parts of old route 5 with the opening of the Yellow Line several years ago. Whatever Tri-Met decides to do with route 6 when the streetcar line opens in 2012, it would not have a dramatic effect on transit service in that area. My observations from riding the 6 line while at Railvolution is that most of the ridership tends to be from the Convention Center north (although my observations where limited so if someone from Portland wants to correct me on that...).

What will have the ability to dramatically change transit service in the region is the next set of route proposals for the street. Specifically one of the top candidates to get another streetcar line is Sandy Blvd and Burnside which currently hosts one of Tri-Mets longest if not the longest line Route 12.

Not only is the 12 route a very long bus route it is also a very busy route specially in its spine territory from Parkrose/Sumner Transit Station to Tigard. While many buses shortline in King City and Parkrose/Sumner, a bus traveling the full route from Gresham to Sherwood takes more than two hours to complete the journey.

However once the Sandy/Burnside trolley line is built there will be new opportunities to change the 12 for the better doing the opposite of what is normally done when a new light rail line opens.

If this was a light rail line opening the natural inclination would be terminate buses at the end of the line in the Hollywood section of Portland and in downtown for buses coming from the Sherwood area. The main reason for this is if you continue running the bus route that parallels the light rail line the light rail line doesn't perform up to its potential and the bus becomes a major drain on resources with little ridership.

Instead of terminating the 12 at the end points, you can instead have the 12 become a limited stop route along the portion that will duplicate the streetcar line. As I have already said the 12 is a very, very long route. While it currently takes only 20 minutes to get from 42nd street to downtown currently by making the 12 a limited you can shave off about 5 to 7 minutes by making the 12 a limited. One good place to drop the number of stops is on Burnside where there is currently multiple bus stops within a few lock area.

Also to improve the route even more Tri-Met should look at making the 12 a limited all the way through downtown and down Barbur to Beaverton-Hillsdale Road since that portion of the route is also has the 44, 54 and the 56 in the corridor. With these improvements you could shave off 10 minutes off the route.

While 10 minutes is not anything earth shattering in speed increase, you would be saving 20 minutes over a round trip which could save you bus or two on the route. Those hours could either be used to increase service on the 12 or provide additional service on other routes that could use additional service.

As the Portland Streetcar expands to new markets in the future, it will create new opportunities to make the existing bus service more efficient. This will create new marketing opportunities as streetcars provide the close to downtown urban service and buses providing faster regional service in areas that do not have light rail service.

Safeway Store

Here is a photo I took while in Portland last week.

This is one of three stores that Safeway has opened that service the urban area.

While some stores have a difficult with the concept of a pedestrian friendly store, it is nice to see that one chain has been making them work.

I shopped at this one and the one in the Pearl District along with checking out some locally owned competition.

Portland Day 3

Day 3 in Portland was a very busy one. I was hoping to attend one of the morning mobile workshops but they where all filled up but as it turned out I would have some personal business to take care of so it all worked out.

I started off by getting up very early and catching the first route 20 bus to the Beaverton Transit Center. My purpose in this early morning jaunt was to ride WES which is Tri-Mets new commuter rail system from Beaverton to Wilsonville which is the first true suburban to suburban commuter rail system (unless you want to count some of the Conneticut DOT shuttles such as Danbury but thier primary purspose is to connect up with the New Haven to New York commuter trains).

I could have caught the first train after my bus arrived but I wanted to get some OJ but despite the early morning time (6:00AM) there was a good crowd getting off the train and a few people getting back on.

I caught the train that left at 6:28AM. There was a fully seated load getting off and a few people getting on. There is only 3 mid route stations but most of the passengers would board at the last two of those stations which suprised me. By the time we arrived in Wilsonville there was a full seated load. The Wilsonville station is kind of isolated but it does have connecting bus service to the state capital of Salem so many may have been state workers.

WES operates with DMU's (Diesel Multiple Unit) cars made by the late Colorado Railcar. These are the only DMU's that meet the current Federal Guidlines to operate on regular rail lines and fortunately despite the demise of Colorado Railcar another company US Railcar is taking over production.

The WES maintenance facility is located next to the Wilsonville station and I could only see one spare DMU car along with two RDC cars which are 50+ year old DMU's that the private railroads used extensively with the decline of passenger rail service in the 50's and 60's.

Leaving Wilsonville for the trip back we had a half a car load seated which comprised mostly of women which is unusual for commuter rail. However, the numbers evened up by the next stop at which time we had standing room only conditions. There was one lady talking loudly to a couple of friends who took up two seats so no one else could sit down next to her and a guy behind me who I saw later at Railvolution who made it clear no one was going to sit next to him. Some people are just down right rude and very inconsiderate.

The train remained SRO until we arrived Beaverton. I will discuss in more detail WES once I am done traveling.

My first Mobile Workship of Railvolution was in the afternoon and was "Portland's Maturing Streetcar Neighborhood's" which discussed how the Pearl District and its surronding neighborhoods came to be and we had question and answer sessions with one of the architects, devolopers and business owners that made the streetcar and the neighborhood successful.

One of the biggest surprises was the developer responsible for making the Pearl District what is is today was actually a suburban developer originally that is now solely focused on urban development.

Once will do several articles in the coming weeks going into more detail of what I learn at Railvolution and how it can apply to other cities across the nation.

Portland Day 2

Today was spent more time on foot than on transit taking time to check out near the downtown area. I had the opportunity to check out south, west and north of downtown including the Pearl District. However, I did make some trips on MAX and bus service.

Yesterday I missed riding the new Siemens S70 cars (or are they S90's?). These are the newest cars in the Tri-Met system and will soon be in service in Utah. However, today I finally was able to ride them not once but twice.

Riding both the older Siemens low floor cars that Tri-Met purchased for the opening of the westside line back in the mid-1990's and these new cars are better than comparable low floor buses and don't seem to suffer from the same downsides as on the bus side except for lower capacity.

One interesting aspect of the Portland cars is that only one side of the car has a operator cab. Since Tri-Met runs nothing but two car trains due to how short their blocks are, it made since to save the money and increase capacity by doing away with the second cab controls.

Tri-Met is able to save money by not requiring all the controls and electronics that are required in a cab and increases capacity in the car. UTA does not have this option since they can run up to 4 cars in rush hour but at other times can run anywhere from one to three cars. It is interesting to ride in an area that would be a operator cab if it was operated by any other light rail system.

Tomorrow I hope to have the opportunity to ride Tri-Mets WES commuter rail line in addition to going to my first Railvolution event which is a mobile workshop on Portland's maturing streetcar neighborhoods. It ought to be very interesting.

Portland Day 1

This blog is being made from the city of Portland, Oregon as I spend a couple of days in the city before attending Railvolution which starts on Monday.

The entire time I am in Portland I will be using Tri-Met bus and rail service to get along. I wish I could say that the trip started on transit but I needed to be at the Salt Lake airport at 6:30am and that is an hour before the first UTA route 550 gets to the airport so I had to use the Express shuttle to reach the airport. Hopefully once TRAX is operating they will have earlier service for those taking those first flights of the morning.

After arriving in Portland I made the short walk over the the MAX station which is located near the baggage claim area of the airport terminal. It has been 6 years since I was last on the Red Line from the airport and there has been many changes. Back then the train didn't allow passengers off at the Mt Hood station, but today there has been a large amount of development along the line, sadly much of it auto centric such as IKEA and Target but there is also some hotels locating along the line and promoting their access to MAX.

At the Gateway Transit Center I transferred to the Green Line since it is the only MAX line I have not ridden. The train I caught from Gateway came from the Ruby Junction carhouse on the far end of Blue Line in Gresham so there was not many passengers.

The Green Line epitomizes why freeway transit lines don't work well. Except for the SE Main station which serves Mall 205 which is also an auto centric shopping center, most of the stations are difficult to reach and have difficult access from street level. The one exception is the SE Flavel station which is at street level and has bus service directly in front of it. However, the most of the high density residential development in the area is actually located on the opposite side of the freeway from MAX with the freeway creating its usual wall between neighborhoods.

The final station is at the Clackamas Town Center Mall. However, to reach the mall you have to pass a multi story parking garage which also houses the bus stops of the transit center and then the main mall parking. Once again the transit center is on the mall property but does not integrate with the mall. Hopefully over time mall management will see the opportunity of blending the mall with the transit station.

I then headed into downtown Portland on the Green Line while I had been down the transit mall in a bus a few years ago, today I rode light rail down the famous transit mall. I was hoping to ride the new Siemens S series cars that Portland has and will soon be in service for UTA but every train I rode had the older Siemens low floor cars.

I also had the opportunity to ride the Portland streetcar on the short stretch that I have not previously rode from Riverplace to the current end of the line at SW Lowell. I was hoping to ride the Willamette Shore Trolley along the proposed route of the Lake Oswego Rapid Streetcar but their website said they have mechanical problems that will have it out of service until sometime in December.

I also shopped at the Safeway Store at Jefferson and 10th which is on the streetcar line. This store is actually a pedestrian friendly store. Despite what Kroger says, a pedestrian friendly store can be built and be successful.

Portland is an outstanding town to explore by transit and by foot and I will be doing more of that tomorrow.

More on the Davis Transit Plan

Image by Steven Vance via Flickr

Opposition reroutes UTA's corridor plan

While most of the media attention on this line has focused on the people up in Centerville, it looks as though there is also opposition down in Bountiful which would really benefit from this line, especially the small business owners.

Sadly the people that are forming the opposition seem to be confusing what exactly UTA is proposing here. Of course part of the problem is that there is only two modern streetcar systems in the United States so far, so many of them have not been exposed to what is being proposed.

In the article Cecilee Price-Huish calls the system light rail which is not being proposed here. I can understand her fear picturing the construction that takes place when a true light rail system is being built since that is the experience Utah has. However, while any construction is going to be disruptive for the construction period, construction for the Portland Streetcar in now way disrupted the area like its MAX light rail service.

In fact once construction has been completed, the local stores in the community would greatly benefit from the presence of a streetcar especially if marketed properly.

Having been a small business owner, and having a mother that was a retail business owner, I know the struggles that they go through. Having to compete with "government enhanced" competitors such as Wal-Mart, Costco, Cabela's, IKEA and so on, it is hard to compete. In addition like most of the United States, many small business owners carry too much debt and do not have an emergency fund to deal with construction plans.

However, having heads in the sand is not a solution to these problems. A trip to Portland to see the success that is along the streetcar system may open some eyes.

Of course this puts UTA between a rock and hard place. If they paid for people to travel to Portland to see the streetcar success they would get bashed for it, but of course none of these people will actually go check things out for themselves and if they did they would take their tunnel vision with them and not see the true success of the system.

Bountiful has an outstanding walkable downtown area, a streetcar would enhance the experience by creating the freedom of a new option to access the area.

Blog Postings

Image via Wikipedia

From Streetsblog San Francisco:

Concrete Giveaway: Free and Exclusive Parking on the Public Street

Problems created in San Francisco by the requirement for off street parking on residential development that dates for the 1950's. People are actually being killed over parking spaces.

Accomodating Bike Speeds by Re-timing Signals on Valencia Street

Retiming traffic signals making bicycling safer. Of course there is always the problem with pedestrian signals and their short times that cause problems for the elderly.

The Impending Failure of San Francisco’s Pilot Bike Share Program

The San Francisco bike share program will have few bikes but will have high ongoing cost which limits the chances of success.

From the Mobilizing the Region Blog:

1% of Stimulus for Public Transit = Disappointment #1?

Transit is busting at the seams but gets little from the stimulus package.

From the California High Speed Rail Blog:

Destination Lindbergh

The San Diego airport is hemmed in by development, the bay, and downtown San Diego so expansion is out of the question. The proposal to replace the Miramar Naval Air Station with a new airport has not worked out so what is the solution? Using the proposed California High Speed Rail line to take some of the workload off the airport just like many European cities.

From the Xing Columbus Blog:

Picturing Smart Growth

Turning suburban sprawl into something more livable and substainable.

From the Transit Miami Blog:

A Transit Paradox

More on the problems that many transit systems are facing: increasing ridership and declining operating revenue. When I was in Miami a year ago, the Tri-Rail rail system ran full on all the trips I took including off-peak and reverse peak trips. Now it may be cut by more than 60% despite huge capacity increasing projects over the last few years.

The Marlins Ballpark: A Lost Opportunity

Another poorly designed stadium is closer to being built. Instead of looking to the successes like San Francisco, Baltimore and others, Miami's new ballpark continues the poor planning of the past.

From the Trains for America Blog:

Amtrak studying Pioneer route return

Amtrak doing a study about returning the Salt Lake City/Portland/Seattle Pioneer. However the question is, if this trian started, what equipement would be used? Also there is no talk of riving the Desert Wind from Salt Lake to Los Angeles via Las Vegas despite how well the train did especially from Las Vegas to Salt Lake and beyond.

From the Seattle Transit Blog:

Transit Commuter Types

Take a break from the serious links and look at the transit commuter types. What types do you see and what type are you???

From the Portland Transport Blog:

Wither Fareless Square?

Portland just like Salt Lake City has a fareless zone in its downtown area. There is talk that after the Green Line to Clackamas Town Center opens in September, the fareless zone will apply to Rail only.

From the Jacksonville Transit Blog:

THEORY - WHY LRT-STREETCAR OUT PERFORMS THE BUS OR BRT

No need to comment on this one...

From the Intermodality blog in Houston:

The way to Santa Fe

The Intermodality blog talks about the New Mexico Rail Runner commuter trian service which runs between Belen to Santa Fe via Albuquerque and uses the exact same equipment as Front Runner.

In the middle of the article the author mentions what he feels are the 8 ingrediants to successful commuter train service. The one thing lacking when it comes to Front Runner is stations you can walk or bike to but that will come in time.

Articles from the week...

Image via Wikipedia From the Mobilizing the Region Blog out of the New York area comes this:

Highway Removal Olympics: Who Will Win the Gold?

San Francisco became famous for becoming the first area to remove a freeway after the 1989 Earthquake did serious damage to the largely completely freeway along the Embarcadero. Instead of a stub freeway they now have a beautiful pedestrian friendly boulevard with streetcar service.

Sadly, here in Utah we went the old direction with the rebuild of I-15 so we lost all the potential that could have been done with putting the freeway in a ditch and then a cap on top of it.

From Light Rail Transit Online comes:

TOD vs."TAD"

This has some good information about TOD developments. We are starting to see some developments coming on line and will see more in the future. I have noticed that more advertisements for housing stating that they are close to a TRAX line.

From the Denver Infill Blog:

The Denver Union Station Story

A great story about the history and future of Denver Union Station. While Salt Lake City let Boyer have their way with the Union Pacific Station, Denver is working to rebuild their magnificent Union Station. While it will not be a perfect situation (the light rail tracks will be about a block away from the completed station), it shows the what can be done.

That article was referred from the Denver Transit Stop Blog which has this story:

Sprawling From Grace

This talks about a video that is going to be shown at the Democratic National Convention in Denver this week. What I found interesting is the part of the video that talks about preventing gentrification and keeping character and diversity in a neighborhood.

From the Transit Sleuth comes this entry:

Last Night Wondering

Adron talks about his day doing things in Portland after work including how transit played a pivotal role in his activities. What this really points out is how Portland has become a city in which you can leave the car at home and hopefully Salt Lake will be there soon.

From Transit Miami comes:

UM: Wising Up To Transit

Apparently freshman are welcome at the University of Miami but their cars are not. The university is located on a Metrorail line and like the U Of U has their own shuttle service around the campus. When I was attending Railvolution last November I made a trip over to Coral Gables which included transferring from MetroRail to a bus to head over the Biltmore Hotel to take some pictures. In the 10 minutes I waited for the Metro Bus I counted at least six U of M shuttle vans stopping at the transit center on their trips around the campus.

From Streetsblog comes this:

The Parking Cure, Step 1: Diagnose the Problem

Previously I talked about how new school guide lines have made new schools walking unfriendly over the course of the last several years in this entry: Schools and Sprawl.

This situation in New York is very similar in that regulations have been enacted over the years that are pedestrian and transit unfriendly and need to be changed.

From the Seattle Transit Blog comes:

News Stands

Could news stands at certain TRAX stations help the newspaper and magazine businesses? They seem to work well in some of the major cities (obviously Seattle is not one of the them...yet), but what about Salt Lake City? Can't use the weather argument because cities with worse weather than us have them.

From the RT Rider comes this information from Sacramento:

RT's worst-case scenario at a glance

RT's current $2.00 fare may go up to $2.25 and severe bus cuts may be necessary. Once again Sacramento like most California systems are dependent on funding from the state and the Govenator is busing trying to transfer funds from transit to highways so they transfer that to other programs.

From Portland Transport:

Streetcar Loop Moves Forward, Your Input Needed on Future Routes

Portland is looking to extend its streetcar line across the Willamette River to the east side of Portland. Portland has been dealing with the federal governments bias toward buses over rail for in trying to get the streetcar off the ground.

From Cap' Transit Rides Again comes:

Cities are Born in Moments of Transition

Interesting perspective on why downtown areas died including highway bypasses.

Becker Supports Streetcar

Portland Streetcar
Originally uploaded by The Impression That I Get

Here is an article from yesterday's Salt Lake Tribune about Salt Lake Mayor Ralph Becker throwing his support to get the Sugarhouse streetcar project moving faster.

There is an interesting comment from the owner of the SugeHouse BBQ. He worries about loosing parking because he is currently illegally using some one else's property to allow his diners to park. In this case it happens to be UTA former Union Pacific former Rio Grande railroad property. Now can you imagine the screaming that would go on if UTA passengers were using someone else's property to park N' ride. Seems to be a little of a double standard there. At least the owner supports the line.

There has been plenty of comments left by the peanut gallery including one that calls himself "modern transport" who calls for going back to 1950's transportation policies.

Portland Streetcar...

Since we have be discussing streetcars, here is a video of the Portland Streetcar.