[SButtonZ button="digg"]Streetcars were a common sight in U.S. cities at the beginning of the 20th century. But by the 1960s, the networks had been almost entirely dismantled and replaced by buses, which were thought to be cheaper and more comfortable. Only handful of cities like San Francisco and New Orleans preserved several of their lines and continued to run historic trolley cars.
Until recently, there has been little interest in the in building new streetcar networks, with communities tending to focus on faster — but more expensive — light rail transit systems, which operate in their own rights-of-way.
In 2001, Portland reversed the trend, opening a downtown streetcar line with brand new rolling stock, intent on using this mode of transportation to encourage transit-oriented development. The results have been impressive: $3.5 billion in new construction, 10,000 residential units, more than 5,000,000 square feet of office and hotel space. Politicians and transportation experts have flocked to Portland to see the results, and cities across the country are now pondering systems of their own. This map provides a description of current proposals for modern streetcar networks in metropolitan areas around the country and their development status. It also indicates where historic systems, either never terminated or newly restored, operate today.
See the full-sized version of the chart after the jump.
Click map for a larger version:
Yonah Freemark is an independent researcher currently working in France on comparative urban development as part of a Gordon Grand Fellowship from Yale University, from which he graduated in May 2008 with a BA in architecture. He writes about transportation and land use issues for The Transport Politic and The Infrastructurist.
Tags: THE RAIL WORLD
How did you leave out Buffalo, NY? They have had a street car line for about 20 years now.
Just for the record, electric buses/trackless trolleys run in San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver BC, Dayton OH and Boston. I was under the impression that the Philadelphia lines were not in operation, but maybe they’ve been restored since the last time I checked. Museum operations include Seashore Trolley Museum (Kennebunkport ME) and Illinois Railway Museum (Union IL).
The appeal of streetcars and light rail train to “riders by choice” (as opposed to “transit dependant” people) has been discussed many times in various websites. If there’s no electric railway available, I’ll ride a bus and not be too concerned about it, but there are some who “would rather die than take a bus to the hospital” (my ex-wife being a prime example.) As a transportation history enthusiast I even find buses interesting, especially the pre-1960 old-look models, although there may be more pre-1960 streetcars than similarly aged buses in running condition.
[...] Chart: America’s Streetcar Renaissance » INFRASTRUCTURIST – n 2001, Portland reversed the trend, opening a downtown streetcar line with brand new rolling stock, intent on using this mode of transportation to encourage transit-oriented development. The results have been impressive: $3.5 billion in new construction, 10,000 residential units, more than 5,000,000 square feet of office and hotel space. [...]
It may be interesting for you that the streetcar experiences a renaissance in Europe as well. In France they are à la mode since a couple of years, here in Paris the local transport company has recently built four lines and will double them in the next years.
Passengers prefer streetcars against buses for the reasons already mentioned by other posters. One may summarize most advantages by considering that streetcars (roughly) move in one direction while buses are often forced to move quite abruptly in two.
Hey; Lets get the facts straight “Pilgrim”.
Starting after WWII a holding company “National City Lines” started buying up streetcar and trolley operations in Cities such as L.A., Columbus, Dayton, Buffalo,
Minneapolis, and numerous cities across the U.S.
“National City Lines” was bankrolled by General Motors, Firestone Rubber, Texaco Oil,
Union Oil, and many automotive & truck vendors interested in building “busses” !!!
Get the PICTURE ??
The streetcar was “Toast” !
Cities methodically reduced schedules of service, abandoned routes, deferred
maintenance to equiptment, cryed a ” tale of Woe” about horrendous losses and no
“profit” and pleaded to shutdown their systems in the “Name of Progress”!
That was THE WORD in the 50′s and 60′s, “PROGRESS” !!!!!!!!!!!!
These events all mysteriously transpired after the cities involved had sold their
OPERATIONS to NATIONAL CITY LINES !! What a coincidence!
So here comes the stinky Busses! GM, White, Flexible, Blue Bird, Crown, you name it
they all jumped in the big Money Swimming Pool!
Some cities, San Francisco, Chicago,Dayton,had “half a brain”, like a gifted
scare crow and converted some of their Heavy Routes to “Trackless Trolleys”, with
new equiptment and infrastructure but not all that many cities cared.
Chicago had good segments on Irving Park, Diversey, Grand, and North Ave.
These intersected with the North Side “EL” trains complementing the El routes
as feeders for passenger traffic. Marmon Herrington 46 seaters where the work-
horse of the System. They did a “Hell of a Job” for 30 more years .
But for the rest of the Country the rails were “paved over” the copper was pulled
down, the substation rotarys were junked for copper and brass and the end of
a era of rational, practical, efficient transportation ended in the U.S.
“ANYBODY” would rather ride on a train or streetcar than a bus ! Ask them, they’ll
give you the “thumbs up”. Safety, Speed, Comfort, Seating, Surroundings, Thats it.
So What do you know ! The once “Largest Corporation in the World” is now in the
tank ! What do they say? “Every little Doggie has his Day”!
Too Bad, So Sad!
Maybe all the nasty, underhanded, unethical schemes they pulled years ago are
coming back to haunt. Such is the sad commentary on American Business and its
unethical practices.
Well, This is a good article about something important to our Transportation Future !
Pray for More Transportation Sanity in Congress. We’ve got good Cheerleader’s
in the Administration in Pres. O’Bama, V.P. Biden, Secr’y LaHood,Chrmn Oberstar,etc.
“Let’s get it DONE” !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Seattle’s system is really King, Pierce, and Snohomish county’s transit system which is made up of light and heavy rail rolling stock and bus rapid transit. The only street car is the — S.L.U.T. — trolley in the south lake union area and maybe the 99 King County Metro trolley if it comes back
“In 2001, Portland reversed the trend, opening a downtown streetcar line with brand new rolling stock, intent on using this mode of transportation to encourage transit-oriented development. The results have been impressive: $3.5 billion in new construction, 10,000 residential units, more than 5,000,000 square feet of office and hotel space. ”
What you dont mention, however, is that in 2009 most of that “development” is still unsold and empty. There are nearly 3,000 unsold condos alone right now in downtown, and this all happened before the economy went south.
All this development has buried our city, not helped it. We’re in hock to our eyeballs. (except the developers of course.) And all stuff that needed fixing in the rest of the city has been forsaken for the downtown projects, just so Portland can look “cool” to the rest of the world.
Don’t buy the hype folks.
“a downtown streetcar line with brand new rolling stock, intent on using this mode of transportation to encourage transit-oriented development. The results have been impressive: $3.5 billion in new construction, 10,000 residential units, more than 5,000,000 square feet of office and hotel space.”
That is a lot of post hoc ergo proptre hoc reasoning.
You falso failed to mention that Portland throws almost every development dollar they can at any bad idea wihthn a stone’s throw of the streetcar along with tax breaks for developers. In addition, now the streetcar is being used as justification for a $250M boondoggle called a convention center hotel – an idea that has failed everywhere outside of Orlando and Las Vegas. Let’s not forget that the monies that got diverted to streetcars came from pothole, police protection and schools.
THis lead to a ghost town in SoWa in Portland that only needs about another $500M to finish and gave us lovely 250ft tall condos less than 100 ft from the river bank. Great future.
[...] developer malarkey goes nationwide In 2001, Portland reversed the trend, opening a downtown streetcar line with brand new rolling stock, intent on using this mode of [...]
As a former resident of West Philadelphia, while the the Subway-Surface Trolleys (the green line to people not from Philly) might not be the most attractive vehicles on the planet they will last forever (intentional hyperbole). They were delivered in the early 1980s and they are holding up very well structurally, mechanically and cosmetically. As they close in on 30 years of service it is easy to see them lasting another 10-20 years with proper maintenance and overhauls, much like their cousins, the 80′s vintage Broad Street Line cars.
This speaks to the point, that streetcar and light rail vehicles (along with other electrically propelled vehicles like main line motors and emu’s, and heavy rail subway cars) tend to last significantly longer then their diesel powered counterparts. Buses vs street cars are the biggest example of this. Look at any transit organization in the country and I doubt you will find few if any buses still around from before 1990.
Living along Baltimore Ave in Philly along the Rt 34 trolley was a very enjoyable experience. That trolley brought that neighborhood together in a way that I doubt a bus ever could, at least in my experience exploring urban areas. Not that they are suitable for every situation but when planned properly can be a valuable addition to any neighborhood.
Chicago used to have the largest street car system in the world. They were replaced by “trackless trolleys” – buses that ran off the same overhead wires but ultimately were plagued by the same problems… they were constricted to the areas where the wires went.
That is one of the advantages of buses. They can go where they need to go and a rail line doesn’t need to be laid down to get them there.
But buses are limited in the number of seats they offer, whereas trolleys could just add a car and increase capacity. The idea is moving people from point A to point B efficiently and quickly, and rail does this the best. It also adds aesthetics as opposed to taking them away.
I’m not holding my breath on this, though. Chicago government is so inept and corrupt this won’t happen… but it’s nice to imagine!
I didn’t see a mention of the East Phoenix light rail line running thru Tempe and Mesa mostly along University Ave (in Arizona). For some reason, the locals hate it, hate the construction, hate the taxes and public funds being spent on it, and seem unable to see the potential benefits once it’s finished. Yet the same public voted to fund one of the largest water parks ever – in a desert. The public transit is insanely bad in Mesa and Phoenix – mostly ridden by non-citizens that don’t vote.
Also, the Seattle light rail thru SE Seattle (Rainier Valley) which I believe is up and running. They spent the last few weeks of the school year with presentations for the local kids in the hope that they would educate their parents. So far there are about 2 collisions a day (car vs. train).
And lastly, don’t forget the SLUT (South Lake Union Trolley – whoops – someone forgot to double check the acronym!), in operation for quite some time. It’s very popular and seems to be revitalizing that area of town.
You would think that a trolley, which lasts much longer than a bus, would be a very cost-effective investment. The trouble is, Light Rail Vehicles are now built in very small batches, often with one-off designs. Boston’s MBTA paid $3,000,000 each for Italian custom-made Breda low-floor LRVs (Type 8), which frequently derail.
Then, the MBTA overpays it’s employees, and allows them to retire with full pension and free medical insurance after 23 years.
What about Oklahoma City’s preliminary streetcar system? MTPokc.com. Our mayor is to speak on it September 17th and it is an official bid in our MAPS3 program. So, I’d say it’s happening.
C’mon! Don’t leave us out in the cold!
@Joe & Steve re: Portland –
The Portland streetcar (not its light rail) is cute, but it’s a nutty system because it GETS STUCK IN TRAFFIC. What were they thinking? I rode it during a busy shopping day before Xmas and the conductor announced, 3 blocks from a busy street-crossing, “folks it’s gonna take about 10-15 minutes to go the next 5 blocks so you may want to get out here and walk if your destination is one of the next few stops”.
And the streetcar doesn’t go anywhere that was formerly served by a busy bus line.
And each streetcar doesn’t carry any more passengers than a well-equipped accordion bus, thus there are no labor savings due to fewer drivers needed.
Streetcars are a great idea IF:
- they replace bus routes that are overcrowded
- they are installed so that they can travel faster than buses would over the same street
- they go somewhere people actually want to go, NOW, as opposed to going to new condo developments that are designed for car-culture (as they all are, with massive parking garages)
Toronto is upgrading its stock and tracks, but on many streetcar routes they are a serious cause of traffic slowdowns and backups. Some sections have their own lanes and rights of way but if you get stuck behind one on Queen or Spadina you could double your travel time. In winter especially when the right lane is blocked with vehicles and/or snow.
I’d prefer a monorail, which worked out so well in North Haverbrook.
Dan, Seattle has a network of trackless trolleys. About 14 Metro routes (the 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 10/12, 13, 14, 36, 42, 43, 49, and 70) are powered by overhead electric wires. (Our region has a hybrid of local and regional transit; Metro is King County, Sound Transit as referenced above is regional) They seem to be popular, and there’s a languishing proposal (http://crosscut.com/2009/03/18/transportation/18902/) to electrify more routes, but in addition to high capital costs (I’m told a 60 foot articulated trolley bus costs $1.1M vs. $600,000 for standard diesel ones), it sounds like they’re having an increasingly difficult time with maintenance. As fewer and fewer cities use these, the parts and expertise are harder to find. I think streetcars are much better than either conventional or trolley buses, but from a peak oil and long term budgeting standpoint it makes sense to me to electrify more bus routes (we have quite cheap 100% green electricity in Seattle).
FYI Minneapolis’ streetcar planning would be hard to characterize as “advanced” – there have been no studies on individual lines nor are any planned or funded as far as I know
Amazing comments so far! I wanted to note that Los Angeles IS making headway towards developing an urban streetcar system. Check out: http://www.lastreetcar.org
I’m an associate with Los Angeles Streetcar, Inc., and we’ve been working really hard to raise funds from local, federal, and private sources. We’ve gained quite a bit of attention and made a ton of progress in a short span of time. Take a look at our website for current conceptual alignments, and be sure to let us know your opinion!
Feel free to contact me directly if you have questions or comments (emetz@lastreetcar.org).
[...] is why, and here’s the good news, the streetcar is making a comeback. And Portland, Oregon is the Florence of its [...]
For all the people saying that streetcars provide less noise pollution than a bus: I bet you never lived next to one. You can feel even a modern streetcar through the floor on the sixth floor, and you can hear them from a block away. The principal advantage of metal-on-metal rolling stock is a decreased rolling resistance, and yes, there is a coolness factor. Still, I would much rather live on a trolleybus route than a streetcar route. Trolleybusses are almost inaudible. Trams are pretty much the loudest thing that’s allowed to roll through a city.
Actually, the Portland Pearl District development had much more to do with the heavy subsidies, tax abatements and impact fee abatements… (which the city of Portland Development Commission has refered to as “gift certificates” for developers.
See: http://www.americandreamcoalition.org/transit/ZeroSumGame.pdf
The advantages of streetcars/light rail is simple, even if done wrong (like here in Phoenix). Since they have their own dedicated part of the street which can’t be used by cars (dedicated bus lines are a great idea, except that there’s nothing physically stopping the cars from using and blocking them), they can move more efficiently. Problem out here is the vaunted high tech traffic lights which were supposed to give the light rail priority at intersections. Not only does that not work, a few of the intersections malfunction and can take 5+ minutes to return to normal timing (doesn’t sound like much, but try timing a traffic light, and you’ll see how bad that is), which is made worse by the frequency of trains during rush hour and special events. Still, during rush hour, the light rail moves through town faster than the bus, while only costing a small premium.
As to moving people on and off, that can be handled fairly easily, have enough stations, which reduces the number of people coming on and off, and have wide or multiple doors. Our cars have two, but based on length, give up a few seats, and you could raise that to three. Or set up a station that allows unloading from both sides.
[...] The Infrastructurist maps America’s streetcar renaissance [...]
[...] Times; Infrastructurist responds, arguing that California’s high speed rail, the nation-wide revival of streetcar networks, and the “smart grid” could all be considered “superprojects”. As [...]
Prague, Czech Republic, has the highest proportion of usage of public transport among European cities. The public transport system consists of subway, buses and trams.
There are 34 tram lines which are served by over 900 trams. The tram system is being expanded every year with plans for substantive expansion in next decade (especially in the suburbs).
During communist rule Czechoslovakia was the main supplier of trams for whole Comecon. Also the modern trams in US were built in the Czech Republic (i.e. Škoda trams for Portland, or recent shipment of Inekon trams for Washington D.C.). The Oregon Iron Works streetcar is licenced version of Škoda’s older design.
There are also other tram systems in the Czech republic, the smallest serve town of about 25k inhabitants (though it is connected with other system covering 70k town).
I guess it is quite safe to say, that tram networks really work well in the Europe, and especially in the Czech Republic.
More information about trams in CR:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_town_tramway_systems_in_the_Czech_Republic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_tram_system
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=621329
The idea that busses have an advantage because bus routes can be easily changed seems flawed.
Freeways, one could argue, were also seen as engins of development, and in fact did determine the shape of post WWII development, and they also cannot be moved.
Unless there is some new technology out there to pick up buildings or entire business districts, or perhaps a new trend towards putting new sub-divisions, big box stores, and strip malls on wheels, the ‘flexiblity’ of changing bus routes seems to me to be an aspect of busses that is insignificant.
Too bad I did not find this page until now, I suppose this post has an audience of one.
Great article, Buses vs street cars are the biggest example of this. Look at any transit organization in the country and I doubt you will find few if any buses still around from before 1990.
Wonderful story, and the Infrastructurist is to me a dream come true — an intelligently written site that “gets it” about the relationship between infrastructure and civilization/civilized society.
Regarding some of the comments a out why streetcars “work”, and buses don’t, here’s my take on that: it’s the money, honey.
Real estate interests look at streetcar lines and see something permanent; real estate investment (like any investment) involves risk, and risk analysis. A streetcar line requires significant upfront capital (unlike a bus line) by a city or some other politically-structured entity (county, regional transit authority, etc.); real estate interests note this fact, and judge areas adjacent to/served by such rail systems as a less-risky place for their investment (i.e., around the new streetcar stops/train stations that will spring up). That’s why streetcars work, and buses — which can be discontinued anytime, with little cost to the operator — don’t.
Thanks again to the folks who put together Infrastructurist. You are doing the Lord’s work. I’ve been doing that work for 21 years, and it’s great to have such good company.
Jim RePass
President & CEO
The National Corridors Initiative
jprepass@nationalcorridors.org
If I had half the money being spent on streetcars, I could create a fleet of buses that would be very attractive and get high use. They’d have silent engines fueled by propane or electricity, have musicians and/or upscale concession stands on board, and the passenger accommodations would be designed and decorated by talented artists, Look inside a rock star’s touring bus for inspiration.
These newer, better buses could go where they’re needed, get around traffic jams, and the don’t require bicycle-tire-grabbing tracks. (Downtown Phoenix is currently in the throes of a horrid design because of the bicycle tire problem.)
I understand the appeal of light rail, since I lived in a town with a trolly for five years. But buses have never had a fair fight. The less you look at today’s buses, the easier you can imagine how attractive a bus could be.
An amusing film in the iPhone4 vs HTC style concerning Toronto’s recent streetcar discussions during their mayoral election:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4DRtpO-r5U
[...] being reconstructed from abandoned street car lines. Take a look at this recent article from The Infrastructurist. We would love to hear your thoughts about how you think the Seattle’s new light rail [...]
Paul J.,
way to shed the light. Trolleys succumbed to this demise probably right after F.O.R.D. brought private passenger vehicles into the market in early 1900′s. Let’s stay on the pedestrian/bike friendly ‘bien de todos’ track this time and keep an eye out for special interest parties looking for a profit.
Sustainable transportation is the mode that solves the triple bottom line…..social/ecological/economical.
fletch
If you are stuck thinking about streetcar vs bus, light rail transit vs roads, bike vs car, etc., consider this argument: The Portland Streetcar works because it is part of a larger, integrated transit system that 1) connects the furthest reaches of the metropolitan area with high-capacity Light Rail Transit lines, 2) allows people to easily reach very specific destinations via a timely and pervasive network of bus routes, 3) accommodates and encourages bicycling to work, to play, and to the grocery store, bar, etc., and 4) works hand-in-hand with land-use planning requirements that foster urban density and walkable communities.
And this is not to say Portland is void of cars (in fact, the opposite is true, I would say). They’re an important piece of the transit system, too. And it’s this flexibility and selection that allows Portlanders to seriously and realistically consider what transportation options best support their lifestyle, their pocketbook, and their environment.
Also, it’s more of a tourist attraction, but Portland also operates a vintage trolley (not on the map above):
trimet.org/schedules/trolley.htm
Also, see what’s brewing in the Portland transit pot at:
trimet.org/projects/index.htm
Daniel Woodward
Sustainability, Transportation & Operations Enthusiast
alternativeoperations.tumblr.com
[...] Chart: America’s Streetcar Renaissance (Infrastructurist.com) [...]
Historic Lines? Wouldn’t Operating Lines make more sense? Boston, in spite of the trollocaust (the fear and loathing of the streetcar that exist among several government entities and the subsequent destruction of working lines), has hung on to a few lines which I find rather crowded. One day, people will find out that tearing up the tracks in 1960 was one of the worst things the Boston area ever did to its infrastructure.
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