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 […]
Tag: Downtown Streetcars
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, […]
COMMENTARY: Budapest vs. Lancaster: Good Planning vs. No Planning
A decade ago, McCaskey graduate and later real estate developer Richard Field and his father visited the planning office of District 9 in Budapest, Hungary. They were shown a detailed plan comprising dozens of blocks describing precisely which buildings were to be razed, which renovated, the type of new construction to take place in designated […]
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…
EDITORIAL: Are commissioners being taken for a ride?
Despite the valid concerns they raised during their discussion at Tuesday’s work session, the County Commissioners are taking a giant step towards being taken for a ride by the Streetcar idiocy. Street cars were taken off Lancaster Streets many decades ago because they were no longer practical. We can recall tracks remaining in the streets.
Commissioners express caution regarding streetcars
At the August 18 County Commissioners Work Session, Commissioners Stuckey, Martin, and Lehman all stressed that the feasibility study for downtown streetcars be as comprehensive and definitive as possible. Discussing a number of concerns regarding the proposed project, the Commissioners also asserted the study should result in an unequivocal conclusion as to whether or not the project will proceed.
EDITORIAL: Shameful abuse of the public trust
The PA Dutch Convention & Visitors Bureau (PDCVB) is largely funded by tax payers dollars, a good portion of its budget coming from its share of the Hotel Room Sales Tax imposed in order to subsidize the development and operation of the Convention Center. A poll was published in the Lancaster Newspapers and attributed as in part coming from this semi-public organization. The press release from the PDCVB claimed that the respondents overwhelmingly favored a street car system.
COMMENTARY: Street Car “survey” full of propaganda and distortions
When certain establishment forces behind the Lancaster Alliance decided to bring back streetcars to again clog city streets, they created the Lancaster Street Car Company. It in turn had the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention & Visitors Bureau conduct a recent “poll” alleging that meeting planners supportthe notion.
Trolleys are for broad avenues; not narrow streets
The photo was taken from a seventh floor hotel balcony in Szeged, Hungary. As shown, street cars should have their own right-of-ways and loading platforms in the middle of broad avenues. These conditions don’t exist in downtown Lancaster.
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, […]
LETTER AND RESPONSE: Why not do a real streetcar poll with response?
I have been following your street car discussions and have just read with interest your article on the survey and its bias. Why don’t you do your own survey. This could be either online, door to door, or mail-in. I think the results would be very interesting if the people of the county actually got […]