Streetcars in Oakland It's time for them to return

Why Streetcars? Streetcars provide a pleasant attractive form of transportation, that is often a destination in it's own right. You would never go to San Francisco to ride a bus, but you might take a ferry and ride a streetcar. The same can apply in reverse with streetcars in Oakland. A streetcar system requires a significant community investment. Property owners realize this and will make their own investments in a community near a streetcar line. They will not do this for a "here today - gone tomorrow" bus line. Streetcars provide a pedestrian-friendly means of transportation that produce no pollution where they run. Where would they go? Our initial suggestion - open to public discussion - is that they should run from Fruitvale BART along the Western Pacific right of way, removed in indecent haste after the Union Pacific takeover of Southern Pacific. It would then run the entire length of Third Street in Oakland - passing close to Jack London Square. After this it would run to Seventh Street close to Oakland West BART station. Continuing along Seventh, the line would turn north on Wood Street following the street until it runs into Beach then Halleck Streets in Emeryville and ends up near Emeryville Amtrak station - close to Emeryville Market Place. This would provide a new transit corridor that is currently served only by sporadic bus service. There are substantial current and proposed residential developments along most sections of this route. Click here for route map. What does this route serve? The route serves a well balanced range of housing, employment and entertainment destinations for everyone. Fruitvale BART and Fruitvale Transit Village Laney College 3rd St Oakland Warehouse District residential area Oakland Jack London Square C. L. Dellums Amtrak station Oakland Produce district Oakland Jack London and Broadway Entertainment District Oakland Jack London Ferry Terminal 3rd St Oakland Office development Amtrak Maintenance Facility Mandela Gateway affordable housing Oakland West BART station 7th Street Gateway District Oakland Main Post Office Existing and proposed housing along Wood Street 16th and Wood Street Railway History Museum Park More proposed housing along Wood Street Emery Bay Shopping Mall (requires pedestrian bridge) Emeryville Amtrak and Emeryville Marketplace Has anyone else accomplished this? Yes - all over the U.S. there are small, medium and large investments in streetcar systems. They help revitalize downtowns and make life more convenient and livable for everyone. It is not just limited to the U.S. either, there are numerous developments in Europe too. The following systems all have newly built streetcar systems. Some use historic looking equipment and some use state-of-the-art modern cars. Here are just a few of the cities that have systems: Memphis, TN; Portland, OR; Charlotte, SC; San Francisco, CA; Little Rock, AR; Bilbao, Spain; When streetcars are introduced in cities across the world - crime goes down, economic development and tourism increases. I keep hearing about Third Street Light Rail - is this the same project? No, this is not the same project although there are similarities. Both projects have the goal of re-vitalizing older neighbourhoods by providing a clean, efficient, human-scaled, rail transportation system. Light rail projects typically use larger streetcars, like those used in San Francisco's Muni Metro. They also often have elaborate and expensive stations with raised platforms. This project will probably use smaller streetcars and have less elaborate and more closely spaced stops. Will the system be ADA compliant ADA compliance is required for almost all project funding. So the project has to be ADA compliant to be funded. It's also the right thing to do. Modern streetcars have low floors so mobility impaired access is achieved by a fairly simple ramp to the boarding platform. Traditional looking streetcars require a wheelchair lift on the car. The only exception to this is that original un-modified historic streetcars are often not accessible. Due to the value and high maintenance cost of these cars, there will only ever be a small number of them, used infrequently. Will the tracks be as bumpy as those on Embarcadero No, the rails used for streetcar tracks have a groove in them so that the train wheels never touch the asphalt and cannot cause it to build up in big mounds.

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