{"id":17782,"date":"2011-01-12T07:00:44","date_gmt":"2011-01-12T12:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ecolocalizer.com\/?p=17782"},"modified":"2011-01-12T07:00:44","modified_gmt":"2011-01-12T12:00:44","slug":"why-streetcars-are-important-cool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/why-streetcars-are-important-cool\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Streetcars are Important (& Cool)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Almost\u00a050 years ago, streetcars in Washington, D.C. stopped running and most of their tracks were removed. Now\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0back<\/a> and ready for a revival, with parts of the first two lines slated to open next spring. In this post, we talk to\u00a0Dan Tangherlini<\/strong>, the former DDOT director under Mayor Anthony Williams, who committed to building one of the first two lines, about why streetcars matter for the nation\u2019s capital.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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DC Streetcar System Plan (click to enlarge)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That’s the intro to a great piece on The City Fix, The Case for Streetcars<\/a>, on D.C.’s new streetcar system and on\u00a0why streetcars are so cool. His answers as to why investing in streetcars is more valuable than only focusing on buses or cars are spot on, from my experience studying this matter in-depth and attending regional and national streetcar conferences and workshops as well as broader national transportation conferences.<\/p>\n

Here’s more on “the case for streetcars” portion o f the article linked above:<\/p>\n

Economic Development.<\/strong> Tangherlini says that one advantage streetcars have over buses is that the tracks \u201cgive a sense of permanence, and that encourages long-term investment.\u201d\u00a0 Portland, Ore., which started operating North America\u2019s first modern streetcar system in 2001, can attest to that.\u00a0 A\u00a02008\u00a0study<\/a>by the city says that since streetcar plans were unveiled in 1997, \u201c$3.5 billion has been invested within two blocks of the streetcar alignment.\u201d\u00a0 The study lists \u201cgrocery stores, restaurants, galleries, shops and banks\u201d as amenities that have been built near the streetcar lines.<\/p>\n

Of course, bus rapid transit (BRT) routes have also encouraged development in places like\u00a0Curitiba, Brazil<\/a>.\u00a0 But Tangherlini says BRT is most useful when you have stops separated by large distances, like on lines that bring commuters downtown from the suburbs.\u00a0 The goal of the streetcars, though, is to transport people between activity centers in the city.<\/p>\n

Tangherlini emphasizes that economic development isn\u2019t merely a by-product of streetcar lines but, at least in D.C., part of the point of building the streetcar.\u00a0 He says when DDOT was planning the streetcar routes, it first mapped out current and future development, things like office buildings, shops and housing.\u00a0 The city is intentionally using streetcars to connect established activity centers, like Union Station, with emerging ones, like H Street in Northeast, which isn\u2019t connected to a Metrorail line but is trying to sustain new businesses and attract more visitors.\u00a0 Transportation isn\u2019t just for getting around, \u201cit\u2019s for making places for people to go,\u201d says Tangherlini.<\/p>\n

Increased Capacity. <\/strong>The X1, X2, and X3 Metrobus lines, which run along H Street and Benning Road NE, are 34 percent over capacity, and many other bus routes have similar crowding issues (the\u00a0District of Columbia Alternatives Analysis (DCAA)<\/a> has a list of overcrowded routes).\u00a0 Tangherlini says adding streetcars can help alleviate overcrowding.\u00a0 He estimates that a typical Circulator bus holds 50-60 people, while the streetcars will hold around 100.\u00a0 More than 95 percent of Metrobuses hold between 26 and 78 people and less than 5% hold\u00a0100 passengers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Not A Zero-Sum Game. <\/strong>\u201cWith each new level of transit, the assumption is that the older ones will disappear; that\u2019s not true,\u201d says Tangherlini.\u00a0 He says at public meetings, bus riders were wary of the streetcars because they thought bus service would disappear.\u00a0 But all along the plan was to have the streetcars and buses form an integrated network, with streetcars at the network core and Circulator and Metrobus lines radiating out from there.\u00a0 That\u2019s one reason that the Circulator buses and the streetcars are both painted bright red; they form a continuous network.\u00a0Buses that already run on proposed streetcar corridors will keep running, too.\u00a0 And in some cases bus service on those corridors will even increase.\u00a0 Metro recently\u00a0announced<\/a>, for example, that they added another bus route, the X9, to H Street and Benning Road.\u00a0 The streetcar will simply be one more transit option along these corridors.<\/p>\n

You Know Where It\u2019s Going. <\/strong> <\/strong>\u201cRails have a good psychological effect,\u201d says Tangherlini, \u201cbecause you know where it\u2019s going.\u201d\u00a0 And, according to a\u00a02003 WMATA survey\u00a0of non-bus riders, this is a big deal: 30 percent of the survey respondents said that \u201cbetter information about the services offered\u201d was one of the most important improvements WMATA could make to its bus service.\u00a0 It\u2019s likely that anyone who\u2019s been on a bus that took an unexpected turn would agree.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Image Credits: DDOT via The City Fix<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Almost\u00a050 years ago, streetcars in Washington, D.C. stopped running and most of their tracks were removed. Now\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0back and ready for a revival, with parts of the first two lines slated to open next spring. In this post, we talk to\u00a0Dan Tangherlini, the former DDOT director under Mayor Anthony Williams, who committed to building one of …<\/p>\n

Why Streetcars are Important (& Cool)<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[350],"tags":[486,516,518,696,670,352,571,508,668,669,238,65,356,528],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Zach","author_link":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/author\/zshahan\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Almost\u00a050 years ago, streetcars in Washington, D.C. stopped running and most of their tracks were removed. Now\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0back and ready for a revival, with parts of the first two lines slated to open next spring. In this post, we talk to\u00a0Dan Tangherlini, the former DDOT director under Mayor Anthony Williams, who committed to building one of…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17782"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}