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Wall Street Journal Smarter than FTA?
An article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal nicely contrasts the transportation benefits versus development benefits of Streetcar. The Federal Transit Administration is having trouble understanding the two sets of benefits, as illustrated by the fact that all the projects funded so far under the new ‘Small Starts’ category have been BRT projects. That should change…
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Call for Streetcar Corridor Ideas
Do you think a Streetcar would benefit your neighborhood or local main street? Here’s an opportunity to share your idea! On July 27th, Reconnecting America will hold one of four regional Streetcar conferences here in Portland. In conjunction with this, on Saturday morning, July 28th, we’ll hold a local brainstorming session to identify Streetcar corridor…
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Regional High Capacity Transit System Plan
Since the Regional Transportation Plan is fully underway, and grabs most of the headlines, I thought everyone should also know about what Metro is doing with regard to high capacity rail planning. First of all, we in Portland owe much to the dedicated and visionary leaders and planners in the 1970’s and 1980’s for the…
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Streetcars to Return to Vancouver, BC
Apparently the learning flows both ways between Portland and Vancouver. Inspired in part by Portland’s example, Vancouver is planning a new Streetcar line.
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Finally, the Trio Cars
I had the pleasure of riding one of the new Inekon Trio cars today (Vehicle # 009) for the first time today (at least on this continent). Apparently the safety paperwork finally cleared a couple of days ago, and they’re starting to go into service. I’d like to take the opportunity to express my appreciation…