Don't Pigeonhole Aspects of City

A great streetcar post today over at Overhead Wire. Here is an excerpt, but read the whole thing:

...So while a bus might be more flexible, as a circulator and distributor, the streetcar serves a community organizing purpose. ...We need to stop thinking in our silos and think about and articulate all the benefits of certain investments from all standpoints, not just transportation and moving people. After all, that's all the highway engineers do and look what it gets us, big roads that move cars faster while killing street life.

Good Living Downtown in Snowstorm

A great benefit to city life, is the ability to live your life without a car during a snowstorm. I love the deep snow. The city becomes quiet and beautiful. Snow is only a headache when you must drive in it.

I cannot understand why Cincinnati Public Schools did not cancel classes today. Last year during a mid-day storm like this it was very difficult getting the kids home from school.

This is also a good time to note that streetcars could provide a warm extension to our walkable area.

Development and Users of Rail

This will be my last big Portland post.

I will preface this by saying that am NOT a rail nut. I am however a city nut, and transportation is key to making a city livable. Especially important are transportation alternatives to cars (and to a lesser extent buses). This is because cars tend to destroy the things that make cities attractive. They make streets less safe for pedestrians, they add pollution, they segregate populations, and they make rehab of pre-auto cities difficult. But the biggest problems with autos in the city is that they require lots of dead space for parking and they generally lead to dispersed development. The whole attractiveness of cities is based on the concentration of activities not the wide dispersal encouraged by cars. The car and the removal of old streetcars in the 1940's destroyed cities like Cincinnati. Freeway construction and parking lot development demolished thousands of buildings. Housing and shopping was dispersed and the urban core entered a decline that it has yet to recover from.

It is a hard to ignore fact that most beautiful and successful cities have rail transport as part of their transportation solution. I would love to see a rail line in Cincinnati connecting UC, XU, downtown, Covington and beyond. And maybe we will get there someday. That day is many many years away, but a streetcar system is a near term possibility. What surprised me in Portland was that the Streetcar is not just a slower and cheaper stepchild of "real" rail transport, but that it is in many ways even better.

The evidence that it is better is the number and type of users, and the successful business districts surrounding it. Because of the ease of use, the clear route, the digitized stops, and the handicapped accessibility, it's use is very popular. It was obvious to me that many older and disabled people have become dependent on this for daily errands.

A streetcar would never be a quick way to get from Xavier University to downtown, or to the airport. These connections should be made with a faster, separated-grade system. The strength of the Streetcar is it's ability to tie the downtown area together and to make living, shopping and working here more competitive with the suburban alternatives. And this is something that cities all over the Midwest have been struggling to do for several decades. Many tricks have been tried, from subsidized parking lots to urban shopping malls. Still not many people live or shop in downtown Louisville, Indianapolis, Cleveland etc..

The problem is that most people here drive everywhere. If they are enticed to come downtown, they want to park near their final destination, and they are not going to take public transportation. They just aren't. What the streetcar does is lower the barriers. You could hardly come up with a simpler, easier to use and easier to understand system. And if you can get people separated from their cars, then you have begun to break the system that has destroyed cities and made them uncompetitive.

But a streetcar is not just for suburbanites when they come to the city to visit. Quite the opposite. It mostly serves those who live and work near it.

I'll start with some photos of developments in the Pearl District, along the Streetcar line. The Pearl District has some similarities to our OTR. However they are also very different. OTR has much more to offer both in existing population and sturdy buildings and infrastructure. The Pearl offered more low-rise and vacant land for larger developments. The Pearl:

New construction apartments in Pearl district. I believe this is an "earlier" development:

 

Old loading docks converted to condos on the streetcar line. There is some criticism of this kind of development because there is no street front retail here:

 

The Gregory. New condos styled to look like an existing building. This building, as most new buildings, has commercial storefronts at the street level. I believe this is a zoning requirement:

 

Condo tower in Pearl. Also notice a bus stop and one of the solar-powered centralized, well-marked parking meters:

 

What looks like a very expensive condo building, as seen from the bakery we found:

 

Playground in the Pearl District:

 

Park with out of season spray ground, surrounded by new condos in the Pearl District:

 

New smooth glass condo building, just south of CBD on the streetcar line:

 

There is a new downtown grocery near this project, and I believe this is the project in which the developer has reduced the number of parking spaces from the typical 1.75 per unit to .75 per unit.

Condos under construction in Pearl District:

 

Next I would like to show a few photos of new tower condos at South Waterfront. This area is somewhat comparable to our riverfront, and some of the condos look like what is now being built in Newport.

Here is a map of the area:

 

New kitchen in high-rise housing at South Waterfront:

 

View out of the South Waterfront condo looking down onto other condos and the Willamette River:

 

View of river and downtown from codo:

 

View down onto condos and the riverfront park and trail. Compare to Cincinnati's beautiful riverfront parks:

 

Next I would like to show a few photos of development around the suburban light rail stops. I think they are less successful than development around the streetcar. I think many books and articles have been written about the mixed success of such Transit Oriented Development (TODs). I you are interested in such things you can google TOD or Orenco and you will get some reading info. I think it is a decent attempt but I didn't see much mixed use. They all seemed heavily residential.

Suburban rail stop showing bus connection, concrete chairs and multi-family development:

 

New housing near Quatama, a suburban stop:

 

The Quatama stop:

 

Just to show that not all is new, here is a trailer park along the tracks:

 

 

And to round out the photos, I would like to show some other sites that I found interesting around the streetcar line:

Older apartment building, on the streetcar line:

 

Low rise condos under construction on the streetcar line:

 

Low rent apartments in downtown area:

 

Soup Kitchen near streetcar line:

 

This place was packed with older people with walkers and wheelchairs and getting here by streetcar would be very easy.

Goodwill, by downtown library and on streetcar line:

 

A few more points:

The streetcar is successful at supporting lively node of activities. People are attracted to these nodes. People want to go where other people are. This is what urban life is about.

The streetcar is a system that treats handicapped people as equals. This is true even more so than light rail, because with the streetcar, you truly can live car-free. I saw more bicyclists and travellers with luggage on the lightrail line. If you are in a wheelchair and get off at a suburban stop, you are potentially stranded. Also compare this system to other types of lightrail such as elevated trains and subways. Both of these require elevators, whereas the streetcar is inherently ADA friendly.

One last thing. The Deters argument and the gentrification argument:
Deters got lots publicity for comparing the streetcar to Jurassic Park, implying that the residents of OTR are criminals waiting to prey on trolley riders. Conversely, others are concerned that the streetcar is just a way to further gentrify the neighborhood. For both of these camps, I would point out that OTR is already changing. District One has the lowest crime rate of the City's five districts. Related to this, OTR already has lost thousands of residents, many of these since 2000. We had riots in 2001 and in 2003 Tom Denhart sold all his property. This neighborhood is not the old neighborhood. The question is, what direction do we want to go from here, and how successful will we be at attracting more people?

There are many people working to provide both condos (3CDC, Urban Sites, et al) and affordable housing (OTRCH, Model) in OTR. But the results will be mediocre if everyone who lives here still needs a car and dedicated parking spaces. Certainly the retail will never come back if it is auto dependent. And providing parking spaces for new apartments is expensive and a waste of space. This city must explore all alternatives to get people out of their cars. Being a pedestrian in a car-oriented city is no fun. The best way to support urban life is by supporting the pedestrian. Support pedestrians with stopsigns not stoplights, widened sidewalks, safer streets and low-barrier public transit like streetcars.

How the Modern Streetcar Works

OK, here is my streetcar post. The goal here is to just show the mechanics of it.

The first hurdle to public transit, especially those of us that ride it infrequently, is we never know how much it will cost and how to pay for it. Modern transit systems like Portland's deal with this by posting easy to understand directions and using machines that take cash and credit cards.

Trimet MAX and bus ticket machine, with a validator to the left. These tickets are also valid on the streetcar:

 

Then you approach a stop. This is what a stop looks like from the sidewalk or rear side. This one is cluttered with newspaper racks and a bike rack:

 

Here is the same stop showing the catenary and support post:

 

Notice how the stop is a raised bump-out in the street:

 

Since they are located near intersections, they do not remove many parking spaces, yet they do not block traffic because the loading is fast. The loading is fast for two reasons: prepaying and several sets of wide doors at grade.

Here is a less cluttered stop. Notice how there is a step up on this side. Most of the stops have a step at one end and a slope at the other end:

 

Inside the small stop shelter, there is a map and digital display:

 

The digital display tells you the time until the next two trains. After looking at this you can decide if you want to run across the street and get a coffee. The displays were very accurate, and I think they track the trains with GPS. I find this function very helpful:

 

If the display is malfunctioning, or you are a few blocks away, and want to know when the next train comes, you can use this tracking number:

 

They also list several websites for further transit option info, including cars:

 

A streetcar approaching a stop:

 

The entry is level enough for people with walkers and strollers, but if you have a wheelchair, you can push a button and a small ramp pops out. It extends in a few seconds and retracts after the doors shut:

 

This streetcar is moving away from us, but the front and rear looks the same:

 

Here is a streetcar mixing in traffic:

 

Once inside the car, there is a large level area, then this stepped-up area at each end. In this shot you can see where the driver sits. He has his door open, and can keep an eye on things if he needs to, or he can shut the door:

 

Here is a shot of a typical crowd on the streetcar.

 

There were many people in wheelchairs or motorized carts, but I didn't get any pictures of them. If you didn't get your tickets outside, there is a machine inside, shown here on the right:

 

Yellow ticket validator:

 

The yellow streetcar:

 

Here is a short video not by me, so you can hear it:



That is how it works. It is very low-barrier, easy to use and thus popular.

First Rail Post

I think I am going to break my Portland rail posts into the following:
1. The Streetcar and how it physically works.
2. The MAX Lightrail lines and TODs (transit oriented developments).
3. Development around streetcar routes and who uses the streetcar.

I'll post the first of these this weekend. These may turn into very long posts and I may have some other miscellaneous Portland observations. However after I do this, I plan on returning to my regular downtown parents blogging. If you are not interested in rail transit, then turn away for a week or so. However, I hope you will bear with me, as rail transit in all its forms is extremely family friendly. The ease of taking strollers, bikes, grocery carts onto these systems, not to mention wheelchairs, walkers and toddlers is a critical benefit that should not be overlooked.

Some basics. Portland has one streetcar line, that has been extended several times. It is the first modern streetcar in the US. It currently runs in a long loop that connect the South Waterfront to the University, then to downtown, then to the Pearl District and ending the loop at Nob Hill. They are currently installing a second line a few blocks from the first line that will extend across the river. This second line is expected to open next year.

Getting on and off streetcar:

 

They also have two light rail MAX lines, that run on the same streets in downtown, but split into separate suburban destinations. In the downtown area, the light rail runs perpendicular to the streetcar routes. The light rail is actually a pretty heavy operation. It is expensive to build, and runs on separated grades at higher speeds once it gets out of town. It runs from the airport in the east to a distant suburb/town in the west, with the city in the middle.

The MAX line in center city:

 

The Streetcar is a circulator. It makes living in the city easier and more competitive with a car oriented suburban lifestyle. It is not meant to get people in and out of the city. In a way, it is meant to keep people in the city.

As you could tell from my bicycle and drinking fountain posts, the streetcar is not the only thing I noticed in Portland. In fact, the first thing I noticed when I walked out of my hotel Friday morning, was that the streets are configured differently in several ways. First, many intersections were 2 way stop signs or even no apparent signage. Cars inevitably stopped for pedestrians, even when crossing where they shouldn't. I also noticed places with widened sidewalks with fewer on-street parking spaces. But then there were many areas that had back-in diagonal parking (which is safer that nose-in). I also noticed an extensive bus system. The signage, bus stops and integration of the system was much better than most US cities. Certainly better than most mid-sized cities.

I took the photo below to demonstrate how difficult it was for this old woman to get on the bus with her cart. However, also notice that the bus stops in traffic, and that the bus stop has seats, rain protection, signage etc....

 

These posts will be my impressions from visiting. I am NOT going to add research about costs and ridership etc etc. All that stuff is available multiple other places. My posts will just be my firsthand account of what I saw and how it works.

Qualls Streetcar Position

The Enquirer seems to think that Roxanne wants to circumvent OTR, but her own statement doesn't say that at all. My question: What alternative route is proposed? In my opinion, any route that does not come within a block of Findlay Market is a non-starter.

Equirer article

Qualls website statement

Sampling of European Rail Videos

John Massengale has some interesting youtube videos of streetcars, trams and light rail, in his latest post called "You Choose".