Quote:
Originally Posted by milomilo
Sorry if the Portland comment sounded as more of a poke at streetcars - I honestly am interested if they are successful in Portland. It's hard to filter articles.
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Modestly so; it performs well in terms of ridership relative to the other comparable US short-line central streetcars (Seattle, Tacoma, Salt Lake, Tucson) as well as all the heritage street cars (Tampa, Kenosha, Memphis etc.). But it has much lower ridership relative to most contemporary true (dedicated ROW) LRT systems.
I put together a bit of a comparison with three other downtown transit alternatives; in Calgary, the free fare zone, in Vancouver, two regular bus routes that circle the downtown and West End, and in DC the three lines of the Circulator bus system, a dedicated special frequent service low-cost bus. (The DC Circulator operates three other lines; one is new so there is no ridership info and the other two don't really go downtown at all and are unsurprisingly much less efficient.)
It seems clear that an attractive service can gather riders regardless of the vehicle type, and that Portland spent $250 million on capital where the other agencies just dedicated a handful of buses. Anything Portland gets a sheen of urbanism, but it's not that great from a transit perspective, particularly when compared to Calgary.
Streetcar boosters also point to the redevelopment potential, but as MalcolmTucker pointed out, we just did the same thing in the East Village with nicer sidewalks.
Mostly though, I'm just glad that the streetcar discussion is in the transit fantasy thread, where it belongs.