The following is from the Lancaster County Planning Commission – Master Planner Course, Debora S. Mengoni, October 25, 2007:

“At the top of the list of Curitiba’s (Brazil) achievements is the Bus Rapid Transit system. The city was given Federal money to build a subway, but Lerner discovered that ‘heavy rail’ like a subway costs 10 times the amount of ‘light rail’ (trolleys), which in turn costs 10 times as much as a bus system, even with dedicated bus ways.”

The Planning Commission also published “Heritage Street Cars: Old Friend For A New Downtown Lancaster” by Elizabeth J. Bowman. However, it contains no evidence or even reference to the success of street cars in cities comparable to Lancaster, and only makes a passing reference to their presence in New York, Paris, London, Venice and Copenhagen.

We haven’t observed trolleys in mid-town or lower Manhattan.

Furthermore, our observation, as we previously reported with photos from Budapest, is European trolleys are multi-cars (like trains) and typically run in dedicated right-of-ways with loading platforms in the middle of eight lane steets!

NewsLanc is right on re: the trolley project … again.

This project is anything but dead! Not only will it be revived, it will do so with the support of LNP.

If the CC has taught us anything, we should realize that the power elite will not only use misdirection in their propaganda to pacify the opposition, no subsidy or attempt at planting their heads in the public trough is too large.

Mark my words, Jack Howell’s bad dream for Lancaster will rise again, and again, and again until someone at the federal, state, or local level is willing to put the taxpayer on the line to fund his private little railroad.

Senator Gib Armstrong said to more than one CC opponent, “Get on the train or get run over” … a questionable analogy about a hospitality project but one that is quite apropos about a trolley.

Interesting that Mayor Gray would be so political in his commentary knowing full well that he will prostrate himself for federal funds whether his guy wins or not.

The Sunday News article “City trolley put on slow track fails to get federal funding; not all on board with present plan” is hardly reason to celebrate. How often did we hear that the Convention Center / Hotel Project was dead just to have it be re-born at still greater tax payer expense?

The private Lancaster Street Car Co., consisting of persons self selected rather than elected or appointed through a public process, is determined to obtain funding from some government source, likely the state.

Which would mean that once again a truly worthy and necessary local project such as the Lancaster Public Library won’t receive a penny of what was budgeted for renovation and expansion in the state budget.

Tim Peters, Chairman of the Street Car Company, says “It doesn’t get ‘greener’ than streetcars.’” Apparently Peters doesn’t understand that electricity is largely generated by burning carbon fuels.

Trolley cars were a mode of transportation that came and went at the beginning of the 20th Century. The best thing Peters and his cohorts can do with the antique cars they purchased is to donate them to the Railroad Museum in Strasburg. Now that would be a laudable service to the community!

On LancasterOnLine.com, a contributor who self identifies as a driver “for the Historic Downtown Trolley (a bus in another costume)” states that there are only about 25 passengers a day and that most of them are “the original passengers from 4 years ago.” (Editor’s note: Terry Dohl identified himself as the driver in a “In My Opinion” column in the Spt. 14, 2008, Sunday News.)

The individual goes on to state “On a daily basis, if I could not change lanes on Queen Street, PrinceStreet, Duke Street or Vine Street, I would be a stationary object. Anyone who thinks a fixed rail line in Lancaster City would be viable is welcome to take a couple of rides with me.”

Excuse us for introducing an eye witness and facts into the discussion. (The lack of ridership is consistent with information provided by RRTA many months ago.) As observed from the Convention Center Project run up, it is only what money can be made by special interests that carry any weight.

Editor’s note: The following article appeared on July 7, 2007. According to a communication of Sept. 3rd from Berwood Yost of the Center for Opinion Research, Dr. [Terry] Madonna did not participate in the design, administration, or analysis of the survey.”

F&M is a member of the Lancaster Alliance and a prime contributor. F&M president John Fry served on the Convention Center Authority during a period of unsubstantiated expenditures. The then commissioners declined to re-appoint him.

A “push poll” is when questions are phrased in a manner that will evoke a sought after response.

On behalf of the Lancaster Alliance, the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin & Marshall College conducted a telephone survey of 408 Lancaster County residents living within a twenty mile radius of Lancaster City.

The poll never mentions, let alone asks, whether the system should be built with $20 million dollars of public money or that it would operate at a loss of over $300,000 a year.

The poll does not mention that trolleys would contribute to traffic congestion and pedestrian danger.

That so reputable an organization as the Center for Opinion Research should be party to such a propaganda effort does not do credit to them or to the college they represent. But it is evidence of the corrupting power of the Lancaster establishment and the monopoly newspapers.

Below is the information provided to those queried. Judge for yourself whether this is a biased presentation for the purpose of eliciting seemingly favorable responses:

“Lancaster is considering installing a modern, steel-shelled street car system. Street cars will look historically authentic inside and out, but will off modern amenities including air conditioning and barrier free access. Street cars will be pollution free and run I the lane of traffic at or near the speed limit, along a 6.2 mile route.

“Street cars will operate on the parallel streets of Queen and Prince Streets, between Liberty and Vine Streets. Street car service will be provide 14 hours per day, with stops every ten minutes with 15 stops along the way.

“Street cars will link a variety of destinations, including the train station, Clipper Magazine Stadium, the Fulton Theater, the Southern Mark, the planned convention center, and a variety of stores, restaurants and offices.

“The fee for riding the street car will be 50 cents or less.”

According a news article in the Aug. 21 Intelligencer Journal, Red Rose Transit Authority (RRTA) will offer a $.25 fare rate on all buses for the month of September. It’s executive director, Dave Kilmer explained “We want the community to have a chance to try RRTA as a part of their daily commute …”

Perhaps such a system wide discount for a day or even a week would have promotional merit, but how can RRTA afford not to collect most of its revenue for an entire month?

But more important is the implicit and correct message that a free or near free trolley bus loop would generate far greater riders, something that street cars at a regular fare are unlikely to achieve, given the low level of patronage of the faux trolleys already in operation.

NewsLanc has urged that the trolley buses be free, at least as an experiment, and rerouted to service from the Water Street Refuge Mission to the south, to the Amtrak station to the north.

If the reduction or elimination of trolley bus fares spurs ridership, tax payers would save $20 million in up front streetcar costs, operating subsidies would not be any greater than with street cars, clogging the most important north / south downtown streets would be avoided, and the public would get a real ride rather than being taken for a ride!

This is a first of a series of articles based upon “A City Transformed; Redevelopment, Race, and Suburbanization in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 1940 – 1980″ by Franklin & Marshall historian David Schuyler.

In referring to effect of the Housing Act of 1949, Schuyler quotes Judith Martin and Antony Goddard as observing , in reference to Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, “Urban renewal made a vast pool of [federal]resources available to cities but left decisions about where and how to spend the money primarily to local officials’ discretion.”

Schuyler then states “In Lancaster, the decisions made by local agencies compromised most urban renewal programs, especially residential projects. The combination of a massive infusion of federal and state dollars and generally ineffectual local governments had disastrous consequences.”

In our current times with federal, state and local governments providing or guaranteeing over 90% of the required funds for the Convention Center / Hotel Project and the Street Car Project, do we not have history repeating itself?

Rather than focusing on factual information and what is best for the future of Lancaster, the sponsors / prime movers concentrate on how to utilize and, in some cases, profit from the use of governmental generated funding. Feasibility reports are banned and, when others provide them, repudiated and ignored.

The approach: Accomplish the project by hook or by crook, and what happens afterwards will be the public’s problem.

In response to inquiries from NewsLanc, we received report from Virginia Fry, River Rail Streetcar, Little Rock, Arkansas.

Note that almost 75% of their cost are subsidized by federal and local tax payer dollars, despite the average charge of $1.00 per rider!

Despite the huge subsidy and five street cars clogging busy streets, they only transport an average of 32 persons per hour during operations, perhaps 8 passengers per street car ride. That isn’t even enough to begin to pay the wage of the operator!

The following, without deletions, is what Ms. Fry wrote:

“We have a fleet of 5 vintage Birney streetcars that run on a 3.5 mile track connecting the two cities of Little Rock and North Little Rock. We have no dedicated track except for over the Main Street Bridge (.4 miles).

” We travel in mixed traffic along a single directional track except for the Phase II portion of the system which consists of one mile of double track down to the Clinton Presidential Center. Our average speed is around 10 miles per hour.

“We have no dedicated funding and are 80 percent funded by federal funds.

“There are 3 entities that pick up the other 20 percent divided between the cities of Little Rock, North Little Rock and Pulaski County. Our operating budget for 2008 is around 778,000. We are only expected to cover 25 percent of costs through ridership which we have exceeded.

“Our system began in November of 2004 and we have carried over 500,000 passengers in that time. [390 per day.)”

Based upon the Little Rock’s experience, the idea of spending over $14 million to bring back street cars to Lancaster on the supposition that it will only require a subsidy of $300,000 is untenable.

What is it about the benighted establishment in Lancaster that it never undertakes conscientious feasibility studies but rather rams half baked ideas down the throats of the taxpayers?

“This is not some harebrained idea,” said Jack Howell of the Lancaster Alliance. Seems so to us!

River Rail Electric Streetcar Facts
The streetcars hold 44 people sitting down or 80 people sitting and standing.

Hours:
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 8:30 a.m. – 10 p.m.
Thursday, Friday, Saturday 8:30 a.m. – Midnight
Sunday 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Fares:
Adults 1.00 cents per boarding
Children Under 4 Free
Children 5 – 11 .50 cents per boarding
Seniors (65+) .50 cents per boarding
Disabled .50 cents per boarding
Day Pass $2

Jack Howell, president of the Lancaster Alliance and board secretary of the Streetcar Company, says that fares on the proposed trolley system will be voluntary. Although we believe street cars are a bad idea, voluntary fares is a good one and echoes NewsLanc’s suggestion for the trolley buses.

But there will be nothing free for the tax payers about the street cars. The public will have to pony up over $14 million to build and equip the system and then there is the predicted $300,000 a year of operating loss. Also street cars will back up traffic along the route.

Are free fares a bait and switch device to curry public support so that taxpayers’ pockets can be picked?

As indicated in the two photos of street cars in Budapest, Hungary, trolley cars can be an effective means of transportation when run in their own exclusive lanes.

The street shown is the equivalent of eight lanes: two lanes for vehicle parking, one in each direction; four lanes for vehicle movements, two in each direction; and two lanes down the middle for trolleys and their passenger islands.

The streets proposed for the Lancaster street car system have only four lanes.