On busy Market Street in downtown San Francisco, people avoid nearly empty buses but pack restored streetcars, many of which were built in St. Louis in the 1940s.
Across the nation — in cities such as Memphis, Tenn., Little Rock, Ark., and New Orleans — plans are under way to restore or extend downtown streetcar lines, which are popular with tourists and residents.
As many as a half-dozen modern or vintage trolley lines might soon join the nearly 30 such systems operating in U.S. cities — and St. Louis hopes to be one of those getting on board.
"Streetcars are making a comeback because cities across America are recognizing that they can restore economic development downtown — giving citizens the choice to move between home, shopping and entertainment without ever looking for a parking space," said Peter Rogoff, administrator of the Federal Transit Administration. "These streetcar … projects will not only create construction jobs now, they will aid our recovery by creating communities with the potential to be more prosperous and less congested."
St. Louis received a federal grant of almost $25 million last month, which would cover more than half of the projected construction cost of the planned Loop Trolley. The system would link the Delmar Loop to Forest Park.
Supporters say the Loop Trolley would bring more tourists, development and a bit of the Bay Area or Big Easy vibe to St. Louis. Skeptics say $44 million is a lot to spend on a streetcar line with little practical use in the already thriving Loop. Some add that the line would largely duplicate transit needs already met by MetroLink.
Six Loop business operators interviewed recently said increased tourism would be the trolley's main benefit. Some worried about loss of parking. John Racanelli, owner of the Market Pub House, said a trolley-like bus could be better than a train.
"My biggest concern is tearing up the streets to put in tracks," he said. "Why not just put the trolley on wheels?"
Mike Hobbs, owner of the Melting Pot, said the trolley "is going to make us a little San Francisco."
"I just hope we have enough people for the density to ride it," he said. "If we don't get the ridership we're looking for, then we've got some issues."
Charm or utility?
Whether the Loop Trolley would deliver more charm than utility is part of the larger discussion of the financial problems faced by transit systems across the country.
Tom Downs, an executive of Veolia Transportation — which operates commuter bus and rail systems nationwide — said transit ridership has fallen 4.5 percent in the past year. The drop was "not really too bad considering the 10 percent unemployment rate, but still a decline in revenues," he wrote recently for Citiwire.net. But Downs, who also is former Amtrak president, said that over the past decade transit ridership rose for the first time in more than half a century.
Plans for a Loop Trolley have crept along for years. But on July 8, the U.S. Department of Transportation gave the project a $24,990,000 "urban circulator" grant. Such grants also went to streetcar projects in Cincinnati; Charlotte, N.C.; and two in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The department picked the winners from among 65 projects seeking funding.
A total of $293 million in grants handed out last month is part of President Barack Obama's "livability initiative" to better coordinate transportation, housing and commercial development.
Unlike other winning projects designed to connect downtowns with other major employment centers, the Loop Trolley would span 2.2 miles and run between the western end of the Delmar Loop in University City and the Missouri History Museum at the northern edge of Forest Park. Plans call for nine stops, including ones at the Delmar and Forest Park MetroLink stations.
A model system
Portland's four-mile streetcar system, which connects Portland State University and Northwest Portland, has often been held up as the model. Opened in 2001, the line passed through what was then a decaying industrial area. The area, now called the Pearl District, has become a lively stretch of shops, restaurants, bars and condos.
Portland, Ore., developer John Carroll, a fervent advocate of the streetcar project, said the Pearl District's residential density is highest on the blocks closest to the rails. Daily ridership, projected at 2,700 when the line began service, is approaching 13,000, he said. Carroll said that key to the streetcar's success was making it "a driver" of economic development.
"Our punchline is that we're not going to be a photo opportunity for Grandma and the grandkids," he said. "It will be a vital component of the regional transportation system. Our basic plan doesn't involve cool ideas. We wanted to pour concrete that mattered to the community."
Carroll said he urges officials in other cities not to assume they can duplicate Portland's success. Each streetcar project should be evaluated for its own potential for economic development. Carroll spoke in St. Louis last year at a streetcar symposium and walked the Loop Trolley route.
"The takeaway I had is that you had a great anchor at one end and that there was a dead zone in the middle," he said last week. "But there was some incredible architecture."
Having Joe Edwards as an enthusiastic booster enhances the Loop Trolley's chance of success, Carroll said.
Edwards, owner of the Pageant concert hall, Blueberry Hill restaurant, Moonrise Hotel and other Loop properties, began promoting the Loop Trolley in 1997. He said the trolley "is not a vanity thing on my part" and disagrees with those who say it would do little but draw some tourists.
"It's going to mean a lot for St. Louis financially as far as conventions coming here," he said. "All other things being equal, the trolley could tip the decision in our favor."
Edwards said the line also could spur economic development along the largely desolate area of Delmar east of the Delmar MetroLink station. The Loop Trolley would pass through that area before turning south on DeBaliviere Avenue to Forest Park.
"I think very, very quickly you'll see people investing in not just commercial development but housing, affordable housing and condos," he said.
Funding sources
Edwards hopes trolley construction can begin by late 2011 and be completed in as little as six months. The historic-looking trolleys would be modern, electrically powered streetcars, each costing $1 million to $1.5 million and capable of running on batteries or powered by overhead lines.
Edwards' biggest hurdle now is getting the rest of the financing. Tax credits, corporate support and help from philanthropists "who care enough about St. Louis" are potential funding sources, he said.
Tax credit income could include $3 million from the sale of federal New Markets Tax Credits, according to a memo sent in May to the Federal Transit Administration from Barbara Geisman, the city's deputy mayor for development. Directors of the private Loop Trolley Co. have pledged efforts to raise $5 million to $8 million, the memo said. In addition, the East West Gateway Council of Governments might provide $6 million in future allocations of federal surface transportation and air-quality funds.
Also unresolved is how the privately operated Loop Trolley would mesh with MetroLink and cover its operating expenses. Edwards said those annual costs could reach $4 million, depending on hours of operation and frequency of service.
A transportation development district that levies a sales tax at businesses along the route could provide $500,000 per year to help pay trolley costs, Edwards said. Also available would be $2.5 million in tax-increment financing in the St. Louis portion of the line. Based on projected annual ridership of 800,000 to 1.3 million, fares could produce as much as $2.6 million in revenue.
Geisman said under consideration is a Loop Trolley 'smart card" that would allow a simple fare transfer from MetroLink trains.
Even the most successful transit systems don't meet their operating costs through the fare box alone. The popular historic streetcars in San Francisco get only 22 percent of their operating costs through their $2 fares, said Nathaniel Ford, executive director of San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.
Made by the long-gone St. Louis Car Co., the historic streetcars in San Francisco are painted the vintage colors of transit systems — in Philadelphia, Kansas City and elsewhere — that operated them more than 60 years ago. Among them is the olive-and-cream car the Illinois Terminal Railroad ran between downtown St. Louis and Granite City. Tourists stand in line to ride their "home" streetcars, Ford said.
San Francisco's streetcar line is an integral part of the Bay Area's transit system.
Ford said daily ridership peaks at 24,000 during the summer tourist season but added that the line also gets heavy use by daily commuters connecting to light rail and the city's subway system.
He said streetcars do more for economic development than buses.
"Rail projects are very expensive," Ford said. "But rail projects tend to be permanent. And you get the economic development around stops that you normally don't see with bus operations."
