To conduct a streetcar engineering study, the City of Lancaster expects to contract with URS Corporation, which played an instrumental role in developing Portland’s streetcar system. NewsLanc did some exploration on the Internet and has come up the following information:
“They run in mixed traffic and, except at platform stops, accommodate existing curbside parking and loading. The Portland Streetcar is owned and operated by the City of Portland. Streetcars run on a 8.0-mile continuous loop (4.0-mile in each direction).
“A total of 46 stops are located along the alignment located about every 3-4 blocks. There will be no charge to riders who only travel within Fareless Square. Fareless Square is south of NW Irving and east of I-405 through the PSU campus to RiverPlace.
“Operations Budget – $4.90 million / Fiscal Year 2008:
Sources:
TriMet $3.00 million
City of Portand, Office of Transportation $1.60
Fares/Sponsorship/promotion $0.30”Like most transit agencies, the money allocated to TriMet for building our transit system is different from the money for operating it.
The majority of TriMet’s operating revenue comes from business payroll taxes.
TriMet’s operating funds pay for the day-to-day administration and operation of bus and rail service, and most of the cost to replace and rehabilitate vehicles, equipment and aging infrastructure. We receive about 55% of our operating funds from a payroll tax paid by businesses located within the TriMet district boundary. Another 21% comes from fares, which is typical for transit agencies. When unemployment goes up, revenue from the payroll tax goes down, which means less money for TriMet operations.”
NewsLanc’s research of street car system after streetcar system has either disclosed they were running on special right of ways, they were without charge to the public, or they were losing a ton of money which had to be made up by the taxpayers.
