Now that Portland Streetcar has a whopping 16 mile-long loop running through downtown, over to the east side of the river, and back, they naturally want to add more lines. Because how cool is that? The new plan is to take out more Tri-Met bus lines and replace them with streetcar lines, in a sort of Back to the Past paradigm - bus lines replaced streetcars in the early part of the 20th century because buses were faster, more comfortable, and more nimble since they aren't confined to a set of fixed rails. But they just aren't as cool as streetcars, as far as today's Democrat politicians are concerned.
"Quite simply, the streetcar must prove that it is making speed and reliability better rather than worse, compared to the bus lines that are there now," said Jarret Walker, a Portland-based public transportation consultant. "If a streetcar plan fails that test, then it is likely to make travel times and reliability worse while consuming money that could have been spent on making them better. This is going to be controversial."
No kidding; if streetcars worked, they'd not have been abandoned in the first place.
At $251 million to build, "It's the single best investment the city has ever made," said Hales, who promoted the streetcars both as the city's transportation commissioner as a private-sector consultant.
That's why he's known as Streetcar Charlie.
$251 million to build 16 miles of streetcar tracks. How many potholes would that have filled?
