The streetcar category, however, is what really made my heart sing because before 2011 streetcar and light rail were considered the same thing by NTD.  That was no problem if you wanted numbers from Tampa or Little Rock which have only one line, but Portland, Seattle, and Charlotte, for  instance, are all cities that have both streetcar and light rail and the only way to get the parsed data was to contact the transit agency.  The last time I collected ridership data on true streetcars was in 2006 and it was very challenging.  Looking at the new streetcar category actually highlights why.

The first number that jumped out at me is Philadelphia’s 28,447,095 streetcar boardings in 2011 (see chart below), an enormous number by any standard.  By comparison, Philly’s single-car-length streetcar system had more boardings than the multiple car, modern light rail systems of New Jersey, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Charlotte, Denver, Houston, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Dallas, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, Denver, San Jose, Sacramento, and Phoenix for the same year (LRT ridership not shown).  Of that list, Dallas’s LRT ridership was closest to Philadelphia’s SR with 22 million boardings, still not that close.  Only LRT in San Francisco, San Diego, and L.A. outperformed the Philadelphia streetcar.

The challenge was, I was interested in data on true streetcars, ones that either operated on the street in mixed traffic (mostly the modern ones like Portland or Tacoma) or met the historic image of a streetcar (Tampa’s streetcar, for example, uses reproduction Birney cars but has a dedicated right-of-way and does not run in mixed traffic).  Philadelphia’s SEPTA does run such a streetcar, route 15, the Girard Ave line (click here to read my article about this fascinating political mess of a streetcar) which runs on restored PCC cars.  Route 15 is not putting up 28 million passenger trips per year; most of that is coming from the subway-surface lines.  SEPTA runs single car, electrified, railed vehicles called LRVs that fit the historic description of a streetcar except they look boxy and contemporary and they run in tunnels in the most congested areas of the city (downtown).  In other words, they put up such huge numbers because they act more like subways than streetcars.

The more separated a transit vehicle of any kind is from traffic—whether busways in Pittsburgh, streetcars in Philadelphia, or heavy rail everywhere—the higher the quality of service.  There is no better way of promoting transit than demonstrating transit as an alternative to being stuck in traffic.  But NTD now has a definition for streetcar: “Rail systems operating routes predominantly on streets in mixed-traffic. This service typically operates with single-car trains powered by overhead catenaries and with frequent stops.”  This is what is so maddening about the modern streetcar movement:  streetcars can be put in dedicated rights-of-way with off-vehicle payment, and limited stops.  Streetcars can be effective and fast transit.  But the new SR designation in NTD codifies the streetcar as a mode worse than a bus, a lumbering vehicle which operates in mixed traffic and stops frequently, but one that also has the ability to maneuver around obstacles if need be and at a small fraction of the cost of fixed rail.

Downtown Fort Lauderdale (FL) will soon have a 2.7-mile modern streetcar running in mixed traffic.  It will be similar to the ones under construction in Atlanta, Cincinnati, and Tucson.  If these streetcar lines had been designed to be fast, efficient, crowd movers we would have just called them light rail, but they are supposed to be slow.  They will be put in the SR category, and really that is nothing to get excited about.

My first reaction to seeing a news story on Tampa getting an advanced bike sharing program was, “Here they go again.”  I recently wrote a piece about the amenitization of America, this trend where cities attempt to get people to come downtown (as opposed to live downtown) or attract tourists with gimicky activities or investments like children’s museums (aka science centers), toy transit (streetcars, people movers), naval vessels, acquariums/zoos, etc.  Tampa is the poster child of amenitization and they have had them all:  the downtown mall (Harbour Island, now defunct), the Harbour Island People Mover (demolished), performing arts center, convention center, vintage streetcar (hemorrhaging cash), acquarium, hockey team and arena, pedestrian mall (Franklin Street, since reverted) and science center/IMAX (in the city but not downtown).  When I saw the comedian Gallagher in Tampa in 1989 he noted Tampa had the world’s largest collection of empty buildings, a line that got a lot of laughs from an audience that knew well the many efforts to get people downtown.

On second thought, however, I am inclined to think Tampa may have a winner with the bike sharing program for one simple reason: it is designed for the people already there.  The problem with amenities is two-fold.  When the target is to get people to “come downtown” there is rarely enough of a compelling reason to do so.  The classic example was Harbour Island, a place in every way a suburban mall except it was not in the suburbs.  People in Carrollwood (northern Tampa) already had malls and didn’t need to get on the interstate to see another one.  At best people might be willing to come downtown once or twice in a year–perhaps with an out-of-town guest–to use the streetcar, but really the heart’s desire to feel the experience of this slow, uncomfortable, and dull ride can be fulfilled in a single trip.  People are just not going come downtown to experience amenities if there is not some other reason to be there.

On the point of using amenities to attract tourists the problem is these things tend to be repeated thus removing the novelty.  The science center is a case in point:  they have a trade association and the Wikipedia list of U.S. science centers runs to 423.  London and Seattle both have ferris wheels now; expect one in your home town soon.

Bike sharing has become pretty common.  They have excellent programs in Denver, DC, Madison (WI), and Miami.  Paris started it all and that is pretty great company.  The great thing about Tampa investing in bike sharing is that it actually fills a need.  Before they roll up the sidewalks at 5pm, people working down there do need to get around for lunch or other errands, perhaps to go to another office building, or maybe even to and from the Marion Transit Center, the central bus terminal.  The nearest the streetcar gets to Marion is 3/4 of a mile; passengers could take a bike from the bus to the trolley.  Bike sharing has an undeniable utility and could even make downtown a more attractive place to live and that is great news. 

I have been very critical of my home city but I find myself hopeful for once.  Tampa has many terrific resources in or near the downtown: Davis Island, Bay Shore Blvd (the longest continuous sidewalk in the US, right on the bay with, exercise equipment  and obscenely expensive houses across the street), historic Ybor City, the lovely old University of Tampa, AND A RIVER! (screaming here because the river has always been underutilized and many cities would kill to have one).  Even the streetcar could be greatly improved by chucking the old-time cars and operating new ones at a higher speed on the dedicated right-of-way built for a vehicle going 8 mph.  Tampa really could be a great urban space, a showpiece for the state, but the city has never focused on getting people to live there or in making the core more functional for those who must work there.  Bike sharing, however, is a peddle in the right direction.

Reader Jim Totter sent this image from the Marion Transit Station. The streetcar doesn't go there bus bikes might.

Having rail vehicles stuck in traffic may fulfill the desire to have “kinetic art” (Greg Thompsons sublime phrase for watching streetcars go by in an attractive setting.  See: Girard Ave Line), but it solves no transportation problem at all and transportation is the purpose of transit.

A Brill streetcar stuck behind an unloading truck, Philadelphia, 1919. From Surface Cars of Philadelphia 1911-1965 by Harold E. Cox.

Beach Bus Signs. Photo and materials by Bow Stearn.

There are three things to love about this simple and effective campaign for the Beach Bus, a service offered by Panama City Beach in the great northwest of Florida that we can all learn from.  The first two are important on the public side, the third from the perspective of the transit agency itself.

The Wrap - Bow Stearn (rhymes with Cow Burn; it is naval terminology), a Florida-based marketing and PR firm that does mostly transit work, produced the bus wrap and accompanying materials for the Beach Bus (they don’t pay me.  I just think they do good work.  Check them out).  The Beach Bus wrap is eye catching and with whimsical elements like the flip-flops and splashes of water, it looks fun and inviting.  In just 11 short words—excluding the URL—you know what it is (the Beach Bus, a simple, alliterative phrase which implies specialized transit near the beach and not some other kind of fixed-route service),  where the route goes (along Front Beach Road), how to board (wave a bus down anywhere along the route.  Wave also has a beach connotation), and what it costs (free).  The only missing data points are the span of service (how long during the day) and the frequency, but they have complimentary marketing materials that communicate the details.  Keeping the vehicle uncluttered and bright trumps answering every question.

The Campaign – The Beach Bus is a complete campaign and while the bus wrap is the most important and readily visible part, the accompanying materials—signs, website, posters—are very important too.  The sign in the image above is collocated with Bay Town Trolley bus stops even though a “flag stop” (the industry term for waving a vehicle to stop) will get a passenger on the Beach Bus anywhere along the route.   Having those designated stops where people can see the sign is particularly helpful for ADA as the stops should be compliant.  There is a hidden benefit in these signs as well: logograms.  The three images showing the bus, a waving hand, and flip-floppy feet communicate the program to people who may not speak English well.  That could be hotel workers, persons with disabilities, or filthy rich tourists from abroad.

The Vehicle -  On the other side of the equation is the operator, in this case the Bay Town Trolley, which sounds like a tourist company but is really the public transit agency for Bay County and Panama City.  The vehicle shown here is a standard bus rather than a toy vehicle like one of those old-fashioned trolleys that mimic old streetcars.  The importance of using a standard bus cannot be understated.  First, the wrap would not work on a toy bus because those don’t have flush sides like standard buses, and anyway why would you make an attractive presentation on trolley-style bus?  The
point of using those hokey things is for the people inside to look ridiculous so there is no need to cover them up.  Second, a standard vehicle will be made for the rigors of transit.  Buses work very hard and no less so on a tourist route.  Using anything but a heavy-duty vehicle is a waste of money.  Which brings me to three; a standard vehicle will be the same as the rest of the fleet.*  That means the parts room will have transmissions, brake pads, door hinges, etc. on hand for the tourist vehicle just as it does for the regular fleet.  That means not having to have a parallel set of parts and not training mechanics on another type of vehicle.   Having a uniform fleet saves a lot in costs and headaches

*An odd post-script.  Lest I be accused of not knowing my stuff, there is an irony here that the Bay Town Trolley, as the name implies, actually uses old-timey toy buses for its regular fleet and regular buses for this specialized service.  BTT grew from a beach/tourism only service to one that serves the greater transit riding public and as a result has run into capacity problems.  Toy buses don’t handle as many people as regular buses so they have been ordering standard buses.  And lastly, the Beach Bus isn’t free anymore.  You can wear your flip-flops and bring your surfboard, but make sure you also have a buck.  It costs $1.

These images are from Minor Differences. Click here to view the full comic.