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Ding, ding: Streetcars in Indy?
Posted: Feb 05, 2008 in Things to do
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College Avenue streetcar #896, with conductors aboard, on the track next to College-Broad Ripple streetcar #45. Shows the old and new style of streetcar.
Photo credit: Bass Photo Co Collection, Indiana Historical Society
Aerial view of a downtown Indianapolis street. The intersection is crowded with pedestrians. People are waiting in the street for the approaching streetcars. There are four lanes for automobiles.
Photo credit: Bass Photo Co Collection, Indiana Historical Society
View of a bustling downtown street corner with streetcars, horse-drawn carriages, and people on the street.
Photo credit: Bass Photo Co Collection, Indiana Historical Society
According to the IBJ, officials may be quietly trying to bring streetcars back to downtown Indy.
It's still very early in the process (as with all things, it's a LONG process including studies, funding proposals, etc.), but having that kind of mass transit available and circulating downtown, I think, would be an amazing boost to Indy.
Streetcars used to run throughout the area up until the 1950s. How cool would it be to have them back again?!
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the IBJ couldn't blow harder if it tried. propaganda rubbish. don't believe anything they say.
and if on the way off chance this is true, COME ON INDIANAPOLIS! you're better than that! it's 2008!
Don't be an idiot, this is VERY positive news for the city of Indianapolis.
streetcars are positive for Indianapolis in 2008? that's awesome. i hear the police will be using billy clubs on anyone who is caught purchasing liquor during this time of prohibition. come on guy. get with the times.
OH YEAH! Go get 'em Dober-Man!
Anything to be able to get around downtown quickly and conveniently would be cool. The Red Line and Blue Line are helpful. But streetcars? It would completely change the culture of downtown. People who live and work downtown could really, truly not have to use their cars to go three blocks to get their groceries, or to go party on Meridian instead of on Mass Ave.
We're SO car-reliant here. It may be old fashioned, but I think it could be a definite positive for the city. Although . . . as projects like these tend to go, I wouldn't get my hopes up for anything happening any time soon.
IBJ does suck.
IBJ does suck.
Does it? Why?
I've never really read it, except recently started getting their enewsletter so I could at least read the headlines and get info that the Star doesn't have time to cover.
i hear you kimiko but every time i hear about a city needing mass transit i just have to laugh. people love their cars. people whine and moan about traffic but they do nothing about it and will continue to do nothing about it. you would think cities like Los Angeles would be first to jump onboard with new transportation ideas to lessen traffic but people just can't accept it.
i hear you kimiko but every time i hear about a city needing mass transit ...
LA is a whole other mess. The bureacracy that it would take to provide mass transit for the entirety of Southern California (because, essentially it's just one HUGE city) is a logistical nightmare. All those cities and counties working together? Ha.
You're right. People do love their cars. I'm firmly in the minority. If I never had to drive ever, I'd be perfectly happy. But then again, it's a chicken vs. the egg debate. IF we had better mass transit, would people use it. Do people love their cars because mass transit in it's current form doesn't meet their needs?
I dunno. I just think it'd be cool to have San Fransisco style streetcars dinging along the streets. Even if it's just for tourism.
OK, look how cool these pics are.
We all know it'll never happen.
I don't know how to feel about this. Part of me thinks that it would be very cool...especially if they had special routes that would ferry people to different Downtown attractions or different districts of town (Mass Ave, Fountain Square, etc. It could even be used to stimulate development of business along the Canal, which is currently held back by how out of the way it is from everything else. I'd love to see the Canal get to the point where it was an all day destination with restaurants and shops, like the river walk in San Antonio.
On the other hand, how will street cars be more beneficial than the bus system we already have? 9 months out of the year are either too hot or too cold for open-air street cars, so they'll essentially be enclosed buses on rails. They are both street level transportation, so there is no difference in the amount of traffic congestion they contribute. Street cars don't have the ability to re-route in the event of construction, traffic jams, city events that close streets, whereas the buses do. And both options only effectively circulate traffic Downtown, in a city that is largely commuters. I recently tried to figure out how to get my from my place in Broad Ripple to the IUPUI campus before 7:00 AM on IndyGo, and it's not possible. The Downtown Red Line circulator doesn't start running until 7:00 AM, which is precisely the time I have to be at my desk.
I also think that choosing street cars over say...elevated rail systems with branches that go out to the surrounding neighborhoods, is essentially saying "We plan to stay this size forever. We don't aspire to achieve anything more than what we already have." Rather than building a system that is "too big" and growing into it, we'll perfectly tailor a shoe for this adolescent city and quickly outgrow it.
streetcars are positive for Indianapolis in 2008? that's awesome. i hear the police will be ...
This is a really poor argument.
The idea that people "won't accept" mass transit is completely ignorant as well.
I don't view this as being "cool" but rather a stepping stone to legitimate mass transit in this city.