Has street cars become the new status symbol for cities. (Cincinnati: 2013, neighborhoods)

[Coseau]

As in the same vein as sports franchises are has street cars become the next status symbols for cities? Bus transit systems has become stigmatized as low status and street car as high status. Every city in the USA seems to trying to implement street car systems to help spur economic development.

[bjimmy24]

Every city? Seems to be a fascination of cities currently ending long declines or the west coast. East coast doesn't have streetcars, but rather full blown subway systems.

[t45209]

Every time this sort of question comes up, I can't help but think of this:


Simpsons - Monorail - YouTube

[ohioaninsc]

Originally Posted by Coseau

As in the same vein as sports franchises are has street cars become the next status symbols for cities? Bus transit systems has become stigmatized as low status and street car as high status. Every city in the USA seems to trying to implement street car systems to help spur economic development.

Street Car systems and Light Rail systems spur development because they are fixed routes....a standard bus line can be rerouted any time...therefore taking away certain bus stops or what not
Another problem busses have that street cars don't have is the pollution from diesel exhaust...street cars and light rail cars are powered by electricity and produce no exhaust.
A 3rd issue are busses have stairs you have to climb up...steet cars and light rail because they are fixed routes are able to build up platforms to be at entry level to make it easier getting on and off.
Finally Street cars have the right of way in streets...which allows them to be a faster option than busses.

[hensleya1]

Originally Posted by Coseau

As in the same vein as sports franchises are has street cars become the next status symbols for cities? Bus transit systems has become stigmatized as low status and street car as high status. Every city in the USA seems to trying to implement street car systems to help spur economic development.

I wonder how many of the hippies, hipsters, and yuppies will be shocked once they realize they'll be forced to share seats on the streetcar with the same riff raff they try to avoid by not taking the bus.

There have been a couple posters here and on other forums that said while they would ride a streetcar, they would refuse to ride a bus that ran along the same route. That elitist, insular, classist, and arrogant attitude has no place in Cincinnati or anywhere in Ohio for that matter.

To anyone who says streetcars don't pollute... guess again. Remind me how 90% of Ohio's electricity is generated.

[CincyIU29]

Originally Posted by hensleya1

I wonder how many of the hippies, hipsters, and yuppies will be shocked once they realize they'll be forced to share seats on the streetcar with the same riff raff they try to avoid by not taking the bus.

There have been a couple posters here and on other forums that said while they would ride a streetcar, they would refuse to ride a bus that ran along the same route. That elitist, insular, classist, and arrogant attitude has no place in Cincinnati or anywhere in Ohio for that matter.

To anyone who says streetcars don't pollute... guess again. Remind me how 90% of Ohio's electricity is generated.

This is ridiculous. I don't think any of the "hippies, hipsters, and yuppies" have any problem with the "riff raff". It's just the Metro is incredibly inefficient and it takes forever to get anywhere. No one has the expectation that one type of people would exclusive ride one over the other. Rich and poor alike ride The L in Chicago so on and so forth. Light rail is the sign of a cosmopolitan city and would be boon for development if you could expand out. Trust me a lot of my Chicago friends take light rail from the North Shore into wrigleyville and downtown. It's huge and great way to connect other parts of the city with the core without having to deal with taxis. Most young people my age will have no desire to live in sterile suburbs such as West Chester. The preference will be for urbane living and if the city can position itself it could truly foster a rebirth not just in OTR, but all over the city such as in Walnut Hills. If Cincinnati does it right, with our small "towns" inside the city, Cincinnati could very well become one of the most dynamic cities in the country. The potential is there, the question is whether we as Cincinnatians can harness it.

[hensleya1]

Originally Posted by CincyIU29

This is ridiculous. I don't think any of the "hippies, hipsters, and yuppies" have any problem with the "riff raff". It's just the Metro is incredibly inefficient and it takes forever to get anywhere. No one has the expectation that one type of people would exclusive ride one over the other. Rich and poor alike ride The L in Chicago so on and so forth. Light rail is the sign of a cosmopolitan city and would be boon for development if you could expand out. Trust me a lot of my Chicago friends take light rail from the North Shore into wrigleyville and downtown. It's huge and great way to connect other parts of the city with the core without having to deal with taxis. Most young people my age will have no desire to live in sterile suburbs such as West Chester. The preference will be for urbane living and if the city can position itself it could truly foster a rebirth not just in OTR, but all over the city such as in Walnut Hills. If Cincinnati does it right, with our small "towns" inside the city, Cincinnati could very well become one of the most dynamic cities in the country. The potential is there, the question is whether we as Cincinnatians can harness it.

There were a couple kids flying off the handle about it in the 2013 election thread. Probably buried on page 13 or some such by now.

Sent from my iPhone

[Joeytraveler]

Originally Posted by hensleya1

To anyone who says streetcars don't pollute... guess again. Remind me how 90% of Ohio's electricity is generated.

With the cities electricity aggregation they likely could power the streetcar via purchasing electricity thru renewable sources. And while 78% percent of the states power is from coal it's likely a number which will decrease due to increased use of natural gas.

[ohioaninsc]

Originally Posted by hensleya1

There were a couple kids flying off the handle about it in the 2013 election thread. Probably buried on page 13 or some such by now.

Sent from my iPhone

I saw the post you talked about and while a few may have that attitude not most people. I have no problems riding the bus system save for the fact that it's very slow and inconsistent...
Rail transit is much faster and much more inconsistent.
AS for the electricity issue, you fail to remember that the city purchases all it's electricity from green electricity sources...so yes there is a significant reduction of pollutants from a street car/light rail car compared to a diesel engine....now I would be happy to see Cincy busses switch to biodiesel or even Compressed Natural Gas to reduce the pollutants they release.

[CincyIU29]

Originally Posted by hensleya1

There were a couple kids flying off the handle about it in the 2013 election thread. Probably buried on page 13 or some such by now.

Sent from my iPhone

Couldn't find it, not saying it isn't in there somewhere, but realistically with any public transportation I think it is a fair assumption that people will take the mode that has the most efficient route to where they're going. While it would great to dump the money into various neighborhoods, dumping money where there is no desire could arguably be a bigger waste. A light rail system will make all the neighborhoods on its path generally more desirable. People don't want to use cars if they don't have to. A car-centric city is not a good city.