Portland Streetcar

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The Portland Streetcar is a streetcar system in Portland, Oregon that serves areas surrounding downtown. It is one of the first streetcar lines in the United States since World War II and the first to use modern vehicles. Like some of Portland's original streetcar lines,^[1] redevelopment has been a major (and successful) goal of the project.^[2]

Like trains on the heavier-duty MAX light rail network which serves the broader Portland metropolitan area, streetcars are operated and maintained by TriMet personnel. However, the system is owned and managed by Portland Streetcar Incorporated, a non-profit public benefit corporation whose board of directors report to the city's Office of Transportation. The line has also been called "The Screechcar" because of its high-pitched electric motor hum and nasal female voice used in stop announcements since its inaugural run.^[3]

Contents 1 Funding 2 Route 2.1 Initial segment 2.2 RiverPlace and South Waterfront extensions 2.3 Eastside 3 Vehicles 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Funding

Funding for the streetcar operations comes primarily from TriMet, fares, and city parking revenue. Fares have been difficult to enforce because much of the line is in Fareless Square.^[4] Another source of funding for the streetcar is sponsorships of vehicles and stops, in contrast to the shorter-term advertising found on TriMet buses and MAX. Sponsoring organizations can have their name placed on the side of the vehicle, stop shelter or in the stop announcement, as well as a small advertisement placed inside the vehicle or shelter. Brochures and ticket sales can also be sponsored.

[edit] Route

As of 2006, Streetcars run on one, 3.6-mile (one-way) route, including counter-clockwise around an initial 4.8-mile loop and on a 1.2-mile extension. They arrive at fourteen-minute intervals (less frequently on nights and weekends). Much of the route is in mixed traffic on neighborhood streets, minimizing construction costs and disruption to traffic flow and parking. However, this can also mean longer travel times, since streetcars are bound by the regular traffic signal system.

[edit] Initial segment

Portland Streetcar, started with a 4.8-mile (7.7 km) loop of single track that opened on July 20, 2001, running from the campus of Portland State University (PSU), north through the Pearl District west to NW 23rd Avenue and then back to PSU on adjacent streets. Most of the US$57 million used to build it came from local sources, and only $5 million came from the U.S. federal government.

[edit] RiverPlace and South Waterfront extensions

On Friday, March 11, 2005, the southern end of the line was extended to RiverPlace, a distance of 0.6 miles (1 km). This $18 million extension (including the addition of two more streetcars) is one phase of an ongoing plan to serve Portland's South Waterfront redevelopment area, including a new outpost of Oregon Health & Science University. An additional 0.6-mile (1-km) extension south to the lower terminus of the Portland Aerial Tram at SW Gibbs Street began construction in August 2005 and opened on October 20, 2006. This extension differs from the rest of the streetcar system in that much of it runs on its own right-of-way (formerly used by the Willamette Shore Trolley), allowing the streetcar to run at higher speeds. The extension cost $15.8 million, including the purchase of three additional streetcars, with the intent to allow streetcars to run every 10 minutes.

Presently, work is underway to extend the line south from Gibbs to Lowell, further serving new high-rises in the area. This may also allow convenient rail-to-rail transfers with the Willamette Shore Trolley; it is also planned to convert the rest of its Riverplace-Lake Oswego line to streetcar use.

[edit] Eastside

In June of 2003, the Office of Transportation adopted the Eastside Streetcar Alignment Study, a study into an extension of the streetcar to the Lloyd and Central Eastside Industrial Districts.^[5] In part, the desire for an eastside streetcar arose from the July 2001 report, Lloyd District Development Strategy. Proponents of it see it as a component of a potential transportation hub in the Lloyd district, bringing together the streetcar, MAX, and bus service. Additionally, they hope that the streetcar could provide a connection between the Lloyd and Central Eastside districts, which are divided by I-84, and spur development in those areas.

The route proposed by the study leaves the present line at 10th and Lovejoy. It would cross the Willamette River on the Broadway Bridge and then, after possibly deviating further east into the Lloyd District, use the Grand Avenue and Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard couplet to head south. The route would pass the Lloyd Center and the Oregon Convention Center, possibly having a southern end near OMSI and a future MAX line.

[edit] Vehicles

The streetcars are a Czech design, built by Škoda-Inekon in Plzen. They have a low-floor center section between the wheels and use MAX-like bridge plates to allow easy boarding of wheelchairs. Compared to MAX cars they are shorter and narrower, a result of having to run in mixed traffic on neighborhood streets, alongside parked automobiles. The cars are lighter than those used by MAX, allowing cheaper, less-intense track construction. Furthermore, couplers on the streetcars are hidden behind bumper skirts and only used to move disabled ones back to the yard. This safety feature protects any hapless motorists who may collide with the end of a streetcar.

Many organizations from other places have come to tour the system, hoping to replicate it in their hometowns. For example, in 2005, officials of the Toronto Transit Commission visited Portland and evaluated the Skoda cars for possible future use on Toronto's streetcar system, as the smaller size is suitable for the city's extensive street-running mixed traffic operations.

As of November 2006 the fleet contains Škoda streetcars. Cars 001 through 005 have been in operation since 2001, while cars 006 and 007 were added in 2002. In addition, their fleet also contains some of the Portland Vintage Trolleys; prior to the extension to Riverplace, they were used to supplement the Portland Streetcar fleet on weekends. Use of the old-style cars has been discouraged because they do not show up on the real-time arrival system, have trouble climbing the incline from Riverplace and are not accessible.

Three additional vehicles have been ordered for use in operation to Gibbs. They are being constructed in Ostrava in the Czech Republic by a partnership of Inkekon and the transit agency in Ostrava, Dopravní Podnik Ostrava. The Inekon/Škoda partnership has dissolved since Škoda was acquired by a holding company. The vehicle is known as the Trio car and will have a high degree of spare parts compatibility with the existing fleet.

Under the most recent Federal Transportation bill, $4.5 million has been allocated for construction of a U.S.-manufactured streetcar vehicle. Congressman Peter DeFazio has indicated that this contract will go to Oregon Iron Works in Clackamas, Oregon. Portland Streetcar would operate the prototype vehicle. This is significant because if future streetcar expansions use Federal matching funds, vehicles would need to comply with the 60% U.S. content provisions of the "Buy America" act.

Streetcar tracks in Portland are the same gauge as MAX tracks, but of a lighter and shallower construction (the rail bed is only one foot, or 30 cm, deep). Because of this, a streetcar could run on MAX tracks (for example, if it had to go to another location for maintenance), but a MAX train would be too heavy to operate on the streetcar's tracks and too wide for portions of its right of way.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Portland Streetcar
• Real-time arrivals and live maps
• Metro: Eastside Streetcar
• Portland Streetcar at nycsubway.org
• Streetcar at PortlandTransport.com

v • d • e Currently operating light rail and streetcar systems in the United States

MBTA Green and Ashmont-Mattapan Lines | Hudson-Bergen Light Rail | Newark Light Rail | River Line | Buffalo Metro Rail | SEPTA Subway-Surface, Suburban and Girard Avenue Trolley Lines | Norristown High Speed Line | Pittsburgh Light Rail | Baltimore Light Rail | Hiawatha Line | New Orleans Streetcar System | Kenosha Transit | RTA Rapid Transit Blue and Green Lines | TECO | LYNX (to begin 11/26/07) | Charlotte Trolley | MATA Main Street Trolley | River Rail Streetcar | DART | M-Line | METRORail | Galveston Island Trolley | St. Louis Metrolink | Muni Metro, Cable Car and F Market Lines | VTA | RT | LACMTA Blue, Green and Gold Lines | San Diego Trolley | MAX | Portland Streetcar | Portland Vintage Trolley | TRAX | Old Pueblo Trolley | TheRide | Platte Valley Trolley | Fort Collins Municipal Railway | Tacoma Link