Until they bring the streetcars back
That’s also the title of a book, by the way. It’s a fairly decent one written by a St. Paul author. The book is actually a quick read, short and rather fast-paced, but the story is engaging and it zips along at a healthy clip. The book isn’t exactly focusing on streetcars, but they do serve as a historical point of reference: The main character’s father is a streetcar driver at the time that the Twin Cities Rapid Transit was on the verge of dismantling the entire system.
A quick side note: I’ve seen the opinion that the biggest mistake of the removal of the streetcar lines wasn’t that it shouldn’t have happened at all, as many of the lines were unprofitable for the private company that was running them, but that some lines should have stayed. If you take a look at the three light rail lines that we will have running in the near future, Hiawatha, Central, and Southwest, these all basically follow some of the busiest lines from the old streetcar system. Had the streetcars been kept running on just the lines that got the heaviest use, we would be talking about just making improvements to our rail transit system today instead of trying to rebuild it from scratch. Anyway, continuing on…
My previous post griping about cuts to mass transit in my neighborhood made mention of the Southwest light rail line. There are three stops planned in my fair city of Hopkins. One, the Blake Road station, is at the intersection of Blake Road and 2nd Street North and is of no consequence to this blog post. The other two are closer to my side of town, the Downtown Hopkins station at Excelsior Boulevard and 8th Avenue South and the Shady Oak station, which is currently in the middle of an industrial area at the intersection of Excelsior Boulevard and 17th Avenue South. Plans are in process to create an entirely new mixed use residential/commercial neighborhood around the Shady Oak station, which, incidentally, is not on Shady Oak Road or even close to Shady Oak Lake.
Of greater consequence, it seems, is that the Downtown Hopkins station is, like Shady Oak and its namesake station, not actually in downtown Hopkins. The city already sort of shot itself in the foot with the rerouting of Excelsior Boulevard in the 1980s (1990s? I’m not sure), as the original route went straight down what is now called Main Street. But, instead of allowing the on-street parking to be removed for the purpose of making the road two lanes in each direction, the city got the county to shift the road two blocks south to preserve the parking and pedestrian spaces downtown. So, kudos to the city for being able to preserve the downtown area, but they’ve been scrambling to maintain a viable business district what with everyone now zipping past two blocks away.
The Southwest line will be of no help, as the Downtown Hopkins station will essentially be a quarter mile walk from downtown Hopkins. I know that at some point the idea was floated to attempt to get the light rail to be routed much, much closer, but it was something that was apparently shot down long ago. This light rail line has the unfortunate characteristic of many of the suburban bus routes: A focus on park-and-rides outside of Minneapolis with a goal of just getting people downtown.
The City of Hopkins is looking to rectify this with, yes, a streetcar. The plan (PDF, page 19) to turn 8th Avenue South between Main Street and the Downtown Hopkins station into a boulevard with wide sidewalks and classic downtown-style buildings to get people to walk from the station to where the businesses are is pretty much a go, but one thing that they want to do is also provide some sort of shuttle as well. One method, what I hope is the preferred, is a streetcar. The idea is that people are taking the light rail because of the perception that rail transit is far superior than busses, so that’s what should be provided.
I agree, and in so many ways I want to ask: Why stop with just those three blocks? Why not have a route that takes people up and down Main Street as well? Why not do like the City of Minneapolis is hoping to do, as they have a plan in place to replace their high-frequency bus routes with streetcars? Heck, why not extend a streetcar network beyond downtown and funnel people both into downtown Hopkins and to the light rail stations as well?
Yes, the initial investment in streetcars is so much more than busses. I mean, with a bus all you have to do is buy the vehicle and send it on its merry way down the streets that already exist, right? Long-term, though, the bus just isn’t as financially attractive. Busses have a higher replacement cost, as they need to be replaced much sooner. The energy cost is higher, as the fossil fuels used in engines today cost more than the electricity used for streetcars. Busses also destroy the roads much faster, as their considerable weight puts much more wear and tear on the asphalt than a car. And the overall image of a streetcar is just that much better. We all love those exhaust fumes, right?
About the only thing that busses have over streetcars could also be their biggest disadvantage as well. It’s easy to just buy a bus and decide it’s going to go down a certain street. But it’s also just as easy to take it away, as I’ve learned a couple times in just two years of living on what I had assumed was a higher-frequency mass transit line. Streetcars have permanence. The tracks and canternary take some effort and money to put in, so chances are that if you decide to put your home or business near the streetcar line that it’s not going to just go away any time soon. In an age of disposability, it’s reassuring to know that something like your means of transportation will be there for you for years to come.
So, yes, I am sitting here with the improbably hope that, since the light rail line won’t be trundling down Main, a streetcar will pass close by my house someday. Â And I’ll be able to hop on and head out to do my shopping or (by that point) head to work, or I’ll take it to the light rail station and head into Minneapolis. Â Until then, I’ll just suck it up and ride my bus and keep on wishing until they bring the streetcars back.
