According to a spokesperson for the Red Rose Transit Authority, the trolley bus carries 2,900 passengers a month. That comes to 96 daily and, based on the 12 hour daily schedule, an average of about 8 an hour. Businesses normally expand and upgrade when there is strong demand for their product and services. Does it […]
Category: Streetcar Series
Smithgall on Gray’s streetcar study: “A waste of time, effort and money”
According to the Intelligencer New Era of September 30, former mayor and Republican candidate Charlie Smithgall described the proposed streetcar scheme to a church group as ”a waste of time, effort and money.”…
Trolley Car Propaganda
The September 9th Sunday News ran a long article extolling the virtues of bringing trolley cars (they call them “street cars”) back to Lancaster. The article is available at http://local.lancasteronline.com/4/209236. NewsLanc comments item by item and endeavors to provide the missing balance: 1) The formation of the Lancaster Street Car Co., a Pennsylvania nonprofit corporation, […]
EDITORIAL: Despair
The following two comments to the article “Streetcar plan would have to pass PennDOT” came in rapid succession and stirred us to reflect on the sense of despair that, no matter what the public will, those few who are the puppet masters in Lancaster will do as they so please…
Streetcar plan would have to pass PennDOT
…If and when formal construction plans are developed for a streetcar system in Lancaster City, the project would have to pass a thorough review from PennDOT’s headquarters in Harrisburg. This is because both North Queen and North Prince are classified as State roads…
“The great American streetcar scandal”
A contributor makes the valid observation “You may wish to do a little research on why trolleys don’t exist anywhere in the states, save for a few cities. Your investigation could start by looking into who (or what special interest) might have benefited from getting rid of the trolleys.” We will conduct research into this matter as it concerns Lancaster and report further.
EDITORIAL: Mayor not asking most important question about streetcars
As reported recently exclusively in NewsLanc, Mayor Rick Gray’s chief of staff, Pat Brogan, outlined the three questions that are driving the City’s consideration of streetcar feasibility:
City may not engage full streetcar study
According to Pat Brogan, Mayor Rick Gray’s Chief of Staff, the City plans to first engage an engineering study regarding the feasibility of a streetcar system in Downtown Lancaster before investing additional funds in studying the economic feasibility of such a system. Brogan said that the City is taking this route in case the engineering study shows the proposed system to be technically unfeasible.
Red Rose Has No Position On Trolleys. Ridership Up 4.4% from Last Year
In response to a question from a NewsLanc reporter regarding the board’s position on the issue of trolley cars for downtown Lancaster, Executive Director David Kilmer said, “That effort is not being led by this authority” and “I think it’s too early to make any judgment about that and I don’t think we should be […]
Another Sunday News Puff Piece on Trolley Cars
In a 22 column-inch puff piece in the Sunday News of Nov. 18th headed “Streetcar group picks board, seeks momentum,” less than one inch is devoted to the merest mention of wide scale public disenchantment with the proposal. The article concedes in brief: “… there’s been considerable criticism from those who worry that a streetcar […]
Commissioners approve streetcar study with conditions
At the August 19 County Commissioners Meeting, the Commissioners approved the 2009 Lancaster County Urban Enhancement Funds, which includes a $20,000 grant contributing to a feasibility study regarding the installation of a streetcar system in downtown Lancaster. The Commissioners passed the funding, but appended deliberate requirements that the study be an independent and comprehensive analysis of such a system’s technical and financial feasibility…
Why trolley cars are wrong for Lancaster
By Robert E. Field My son Richard and I have been conducting business in Eastern Europe over the past 15 years. As such, I have had considerable experience with trolley cars. In fact, we have had to design entry ways in a manner to minimize the lethal risk that trolleys engender. They do run silently. […]
Street cars for Lancaster? Please excuse our skepticism
The March 3 Sunday News contained an opinion piece by Althea C. Ramsay headed, “Climb aboard an old idea.” The article mentions visits to various cities and purports that “Business in formerly blighted areas was brisk. Construction of new projects was ongoing along the routes…The riders on the streetcar were most often local residents, commuters, […]