Columbus Needs a Streetcar on GlueSpace.org

By: Walker

22 Comments

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  Walker February 20, 2008 6:37 pm

  Nerdspeed wrote Columbus would need all of those systems (bus, subway, trolley) integrated in different scenarios. Even Streetcars!

  I couldn’t agree more. ;)

  Nerdspeed wrote -Streetcars would be effective in a very specific scenario, providing frequent short-range service to a small number of very popular destinations. The question (for me, and hopefully others) is: does Columbus have popular enough destinations to make the expense of such a service useful and wanted? And isn’t this a service that Buses could perform?

  I say that yes, we do have enough popular destinations to make the service useful and wanted. The proposed line running along High Street would bridge neighborhoods and amenities including OSU, The South Campus Gateway, The Short North, Italian Village, Victorian Village, The North Market, The Convention Center, Nationwide Arena, Huntington Park, The Arena District, Downtown, and potentially reach down to German Village and the Brewery District. This is the densest zone in Columbus and would be able to serve the widest demographic of workers, visitors, students, and residents.

  To address whether or not this could be serviced by busses… yes, it could. The number 2 does it now, but to a lesser extent. The negative aspects I previously listed about COTA bus service turns a lot of people away from riding the bus which wouldn’t affect ridership of a new streetcar system nearly as much.

  Nerdspeed wrote 1.Reorganize both the bus routing system and update its rider interfaces for the first meaningful time since 1973?

  Yes. This does need to be done. Badly. Whether we get rail transit or not. I’m a fan of this plan actually.

  Nerdspeed wrote 2.Re-equip a portion of the fleet with fully electric systems and the necessary powering stations?

  Sounds doable, but doesn’t address many of the positive aspects of rail transit or negatives of bus transit. Also sounds little gimmicky. ;)

  Nerdspeed wrote 3.ReBrand, Reposition and Reach out to the students, yuppies and progressives that clog this city and its streets in their cars? -who find buses to be yucky.

  Definitely needs to be done. But marketing and education can only go so far to cause a mindset shift. Real experience is what’s going to do it and the Streetcar can serve as a catalyst for that.

  Nerdspeed wrote I realize that action is necessary, but its a lot of our money, and I fear its about to go down the tubes.

  Whoa! Hold it right there. No formal plan has been announced yet on how the Streetcars are going to be funded, but the Streetcar Working Group has said over and over that they’re not going to be taxing the city to pay for it. Perhaps it will be part of the 2012 bond package, perhaps there will be state or federal assistance, and perhaps they’ll get private business dollars in the form of sponsorships, but from what we’ve been told so far, the taxpayer impact is supposedly going to be nil.

  Besides. It’s unfair to act as if the Streetcar is a burden on taxpayers when the state spends billions upon billions of taxpayer dollars every year on roadway construction and maintenance. Busses are funded through taxes as well. So if you want to call this money a “waste” then you need to call all government transit spending “a waste”.

  And one last thought on the costs… the proposed High Street Streetcar line is estimated to clock in at $100 million. It sounds like a lot, but when you compare it to ODOT spending $134 million worth of taxpayer money on a single highway interchange it doesn’t really sound like a bad deal to me.

  Nerdspeed wrote The Pro-Streetcar folks seem to be on the precipice of admitting that it’s a primarily aesthetic decision, not a utility based one.

  Really? I think it’s more of an economic decision rather than a utility or an aesthetic decision.

  Nerdspeed wrote This whole ‘Sure, I’ll ride the streetcar once we have it’ attitude reminds me alot of the ‘Sure, I’ll go out more once the smoking ban happens’ …and that didn’t really happen.

  This is another topic for another conversation, but has the nightlife/restaurant scene around here really been hurt too much by the smoking ban? I’m sure a few smoke shacks have had to shut down, but just judging from my personal experiences, places still seem to be pretty hopping. I haven’t seen any stats on this issue though, so I could be off. But I don’t think Columbus nightlife is in a sad state due to the ban.

  Nerdspeed wrote So, how many of you are actually riding the bus now?

  We did an informal poll back in June. Nearly half of the poll takers said they rarely or never ride, with a small minority being regular riders. I was a bit shocked because the regulars here on Columbus Underground seem to mostly be of the urban-minded demographic. I can imagine a more broadly based poll in the whole Columbus Metro Area would turn out with even slimmer displays of bus ridership.

  Nerdspeed wrote The truth is, getting people out of their cars requires a lot of assurances, which requires a lot of substance (trust), not a gimmicky Streetcar. Substance, developed over years of consistent, clean, efficient, inexpensive service for the entirety of the metro area.

  I agree that people need assurance and substance, but whether you want to achieve that with bus transit or rail transit, you’re pretty much starting from scratch today. If you expect to convince people that they’ve already had years of quality bus service in the past then you’re going to be fighting a huge uphill battle.

  I like that you call the Streetcar gimmicky (which is why I called the electric busses gimmicky earlier). Some people might call the North Market gimmicky. Some might call Nationwide Arena gimmicky. Short North Arches? South Campus Gateway? Red White and Boom? Doo Dah Parade? Oktoberfest? The Wexner Center? Yep. All gimmicky in the eyes of some people. Others might consider this stuff “culture”. I guess it all depends upon your perspective.

  Nerdspeed wrote Everyone has the same goals; making things better in our fantastic city. To have convenient, sexy, reliable public mobility that goes until 3am and is tourist-friendly and business attractive.

  Agreed. We do have the same goals.

  Nerdspeed wrote I cannot support the Street Car project because it doesn’t address the larger issues regarding public mobility in our city.

  Huh? You started off your post by saying: The truth is, in building a TRULY effective, useful public mobility system, Columbus would need all of those systems (bus, subway, trolley) integrated in different scenarios. Even Streetcars!

  So which is it? Are Streetcars a valid part of a larger transit system, or is it unsupportable because of your specific set of expectations?
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  Walker February 24, 2008 1:53 pm

  BetsyB wrote I will never see this as the answer nor do I see how this is going to bring as big of an economic impact as people think.

  From here: http://www.ibj.com/html/detail_page.asp?content=11605