Are Streetcars Losing Their Appeal

An article in MinnPost in April questioned whether the stunning economic development results that followed Portland's construction of streetcar lines was related to the streetcar or would have happened anyway due to a number of other favorable factors. The MinnPost articlequotes a report to the Met Council that states, "....actual impact of streetcar investments on the local economy versus other City policies and development incentives is elusive and debatable." And also "lamenting the lack of solid research into the economics that would allow planners to isolate the effects of streetcars from other economic factors." MinnPost continued, "Streetcars are also coming under attack from what might otherwise be a natural constituency — new urbanists who endorse more density and better transit." And, "St. Paul’s hopes for a streetcar are on hold until a study of light rail along the Riverview Corridor is completed. Nancy Homans, policy director for Mayor Chris Coleman, said the studies have asserted that there are no “fatal flaws” in the plans and the council has approved a starter alignment on E. 7th and W. 7th between Arcade Street and Randolph Street, part of the same route being considered for a potential Riverview light rail line between Union Depot and the airport." The Mineta Institute stressed the need for more study of the impacts of streetcars, and suggested that they should be built as a transportation alternative and not as an economic development tool. "While that seems intuitive, the researchers found that many streetcar projects were primarily development tools, driven first by developers and downtown interests. Poor ridership, therefore, was downplayed in other cities “because the streetcar was not seen as primarily a transportation investment but instead as something else.”