Streetcar Study Moving Along

Photo via triborough's flickr

There has been talk of streetcars returning to New York streets for a long time (at least for five years), and now there's more chatter of them chugging through Brooklyn again. In May, Mayor Bloomberg was showing some support of their return, and the Department of Transportation was readying for a five-month study of a mile-long line from the Red Hook waterfront to the edge of Brooklyn Bridge Park. That study is now underway, the DoT announced yesterday.

Streetsblog calls this "the beginning of the beginning," so don't think you'll be relieved from waiting on the B61 anytime soon. Just what are they considering in the possible comeback of a light rail? The DoT's statement on the start of the study noted that, "once a staple of New York City’s streets, [trolleys are a] viable option to connect the residents and businesses of the rapidly growing Red Hook neighborhood. The analysis will take into account factors including potential costs, operations, routing, vehicle technology, construction issues and economic development effects. It will also examine comparable North American streetcar systems to determine what lessons can be learned from the experience of other urban areas."

Hopefully we've come a long way since the early 1900s, when there were plenty of accidents—including this one where a man's legs were severed off by a trolley.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Carlson in News on September 10, 2010 4:38 PM

Comments [rss]

Manitoba

There's been talk of a Red Hook trolley for the last 15-20 years. I remember volunteering to work on it back in the mid 90s. I can't remember the guy's name, but Greg O'Connell basically let him store the cars for free in the lot that is now the Fairway parking lot; Greg cleaned up converting those Civil War era buildings (which he paid next to nothing for from the city) into swank condos. Most of the few newer tracks were covered up and the cars destroyed except a few token ones.

The guy who was "organizing" the whole effort was unfortunately kind of a nut and pretty disorganized, but this should have been done more than 10 years ago. Red Hook could really use it.

jlocke

That "nut" is Bob Diamond, he runs the interesting and informative Atlantic ave. tunnel tours every once in a while. He talks about pretty much everything you'd ever want to know about New York City and the rail lines. A+ would tour again.

http://www.brooklynrail.net/index.html

Control

Absolute money throw away - details:

http://ltvsquad.com/Blog/?p=1444

oinonio

A lesson to take away from Boston: don't buy a streetcar system that requires a second driver just sitting in the second car...it seems like a horrible waste of manpower and resources.

The Great Bandini

Light rail doesn't require anywhere near the infrastructure that Subway lines require. This would be a very economical way to connect parts of the city that don't currently have Subway service. I've read that a trolley can hold double the amount of people a city bus can.

http://wanderingbrooklyn.wordpress.com/

rarelement

Light rail has been a technique for many cities to reach and revitalize their "urban fringes." I'm amazed it's taken this long to get to the STUDY phase, AFTER the boom of Red Hook came and went. Maybe it's time to buy RE in Red Hook again?

And @Manitoba, it doesn't matter if Bob Diamond was disorganized, the city should have seen his initial efforts as a way to promote mass transportation that isn't removing bus lines and granting licenses to gypsy vans like the recent MTA jumble.