We need street cars, not planted medians

All over the City of St. Louis you can see newly constructed medians along our wider boulevards – Delmar West of Union, Russell near Jefferson, and most recently along S. Grand from I-44 to Arsenal. Unfortunately, these aesthetic improvements serve as a barrier to what we really need – street cars.

MetroLink is great but it currently only covers a small fraction of the region. Soon it will extend out to Clayton, Brentwood & Maplewood. But, much of the city & region is served only by bus service. Even when the south & north MetroLink routes are constructed much of St. Louis will not be within walking distance of a station.

Light rail is far more costly to construct than streetcars. In cities such as San Francisco – both fill an important need. The BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) rail system in SF is only about a 5 minute drive from my brother & sister in-law’s house which is nearly an hour drive from San Francisco. Taking BART into SF I am able to get around quite easily on their system of streetcars and cable cars.

While I have ridden the bus here and in other cities I don’t think it is the best way to get around town. Not sure what it is but buses just seem like second class transportation. Street cars, on the other hand, are very enjoyable. Waiting for a bus is different than a street car – I can’t quite put my finger on why this is. Figuring out bus lines, especially for a visitor, is maddening. Street car & light rail lines are easily seen on a map. I think it is mostly a mental state of mind I need to get over. Still, street cars have proven to be very popular in other cities – if it will get more people out of their cars when why not?

Currently I know of only one planned streetcar line for the St. Louis region – serving Forest Park and the Delmar Loop. Given that the Loop got its name from an old streetcar line making a loop in the area, it seems fitting to return streetcars to this area.

• Heritage Trolly – St. Louis; a good description of the proposed streetcar line.
• Trollys To Go was created to promote the new Delmar Trolly/streetcar.

Here are some other streetcar lines I’d like to see in St. Louis:
• Grand Blvd from the North Water Tower to Arsenal. This line would pass the MetroLink stop at the Grand Viaduct. Future MetroLink stops at Natural Bridge & Chouteau would make this line critical for getting mass transit to areas in North & South St. Louis that will never be served by our light rail.
• Jefferson from Natural Bridge to Broadway/Chippewa.
• Broadway from downtown to Lemay.
• Tucker/Gravois. Starting at Tucker & Cass heading South through downtown and following Gravois as far into St. Louis County as is feasible.
• Dr. Martin Luther King or Page. Start at Tucker & MLK and head West
• Union & Goodfellow.
• Chippewa from Jefferson/Broadway West to Watson Road/River Des Peres.

Such streetcar lines, combined with MetroLink and bus service would add needed diversity to our transportation system. I’d much rather invest in mass transit systems than pretty flower beds. Another blogger, Citywmn, posted her thoughts on Grand today – click here to read her take.

– Steve