An article in The Sunday Oregonian explores Portland’s plans for future streetcar lines. “City leaders” want to expand the streetcar network throughout the city.
A streetcar could generate business and political momentum for clusters of midrise housing and commercial centers that could spread the walkable feel of popular urban neighborhoods.
I understand it’s politically expedient to emphasize the benefits to business when the government is selling a plan, but what strikes me about the streetcar discussions is that actual transportation gets nary a mention.
The current streetcar route, and the planned Eastside streetcar loop don’t serve commuters much, though developers salivate. Whereas a line out Martin Luther King Boulevard, or NE Broadway, or Sandy, or Belmont, or Hawthorne, or Woodstock, or . . . wait a minute.
The ZehnKatzen Times points out the new streetcar plans look a bit like, and perhaps should look more like, Portland’s world’s finest trolley system circa 1940. Portland already has relative density, and therefore potential streetcar riders and commuters, along many of the city’s main thoroughfares, most of which formerly accommodated streetcar lines.
In fact, Portland’s most revered inner city neighborhoods and business districts were originally developed along streetcar lines. For evidence of this in visual form, check out Historic Portland Trolley System Maps.
Though transit often gets short shrift in discussion of Portland’s streetcar future, most of those routes under discussion appear to be good transit routes too, so I assume the planners are taking that into account even if they don’t talk about it in public.
Some folks do, however, talk about transit in public. Below are some sites I highly recommend.
PDX Transit
Transit, commuting, and mobility in Portland Oregon Metropolitan vicinity.
Portland Transport
A conversation about access and mobility in the Portland/Vancouver region.
HawthorneStreetcar.org
Advocating for a streetcar line along Hawthorne (a transit, though not political or property developer, no-brainer).
The Overhead Wire
Sending up transit and TOD with a little unconventional wisdom
Not Portland specific, but relevant to the discussion. Make sure to check out the right column Fixed Guideways, aka Blogroll, to find lots of other blogs and sites about transit, urban planning, rail, transit oriented development, etc.
“What strikes me about the streetcar discussions is that actual transportation gets nary a mention.” I’d guess that’s because streetcars aren’t the best option for actually moving people around, especially if you consider cost. I mean, have you ever tried catching the streetcar on its current route? I have, and 90% of the time I’m better off walking to my destination than waiting for the streetcar to come and plod its way there. Plus, it costs a lot of money and exists on a fixed route. So you can’t serve neighborhoods that suddenly become popular. If they try to put in a streetcar on Division and decrease or remove bus service, I will scream.
Dave,
I enjoyed reading your article on the Portland streetcar. When I worked downtown about 4 years ago, the MAX dropped me off about two blocks from my job. I loved riding it. However, my experience with the Streetcar has been that is difficult to catch and walking proves to be just as fast in some cases. I feel its a novelty for a lot of people. Still, as more businesses, shops, and housing open along its route the more powerful a transportion medium it will become.
Keep up the great work and thanks for linking to us!
Bailey
Dave –
Thank you for mentioning the Hawthorne Streetcar web site.
One thing to note about the current streetcar is that it is not primarily intended as a commuter or interurban service (although if Lake Oswego ever gets a line, that portion of the streetcar system will operate more like a commuter service or as a hybrid)… Rather, the streetcar as implemented is intended as a local circulator in dense corridors.
If you’re only going two or three stops, and you’re in average or better physical condition, there is no real reason not to just walk. But if you’re going say from Powell’s to picking up a few groceries at Safeway, then heading down to an apartment on Harrison, the streetcar makes sense.
Clearly the streetcar makes sense as a mode of transport to a large number of visitors and residents to the corridor, because ridership has exceeded all expectations, over 10,000 daily boardings in the last count as I recall. (It doesn’t hurt that about 57% of the streetcar’s route is in fareless square.)
The problem facing the streetcar now is crowding… the recent vehicles that came online in late summer have reduced peak headways to 12 minutes — but that puts a lot of streetcar users in a situation where, if they’ve just missed a streetcar, they have to decide how far they can walk in 12 minutes rather than wait for the next streetcar, and nowadays even face the risk of being turned away because a car is full.
This summer, on a weekday afternoon around 2PM, I got off the streetcar at the Galleria and counted 8 individuals who could not board because the car was packed full. (This wasn’t just a case of people clustering by the doors — the car was completely full with standees from end-to-end.)
Some good news on the horizon is that the Pearl District neighborhood association appears to be supporting reconfiguring Lovejoy and Northrup into a couplet (this is not to be confused with the Burnside-Couch couplet proposal), which will improve traffic flow of all kinds in that neighborhood and especially improve flow on the slowest stretch of street that the streetcar serves. (It should be noted that a bus would fare no better on Lovejoy because there is currently only one through-travel lane in each direction … no passing for any type of vehicle is possible.)
If a few minutes are shaved off of each streetcar round-trip, headways can be reduced without adding new vehicles or new operator-hours.
– Bob R.
Go Dave go! That was the best analysis of the streetcar I have seen in a Portland blog.
~n