As for the hybrid stuff. Even if you have them, you still have to provide road space and parking for them all. Not to mention our urban patterns will continue to create a situation where we waste a lot of money on water, sewer, road and other infrastructure that could be spent elsewhere, or kept in your pocket. Transit essentially is a quality of life issue.

Right now I live in a transit rich and walkable neighborhood of San Francisco. I walk to the store, the bar, and to transit. I take transit to work and to hang out with friends. I drive my car once a week to my Gramma’s about 25 miles away. All in all this saves me on $12 a day parking, a $4 bridge toll, $4 in gas daily. I dunno about anyone else in this world, but that starts to add up and the more you drive the more wear and tear on the car. But that savings allows me to live in a cool neighborhood. It might cost me more but it costs less in transportation costs. It’s my “green dividend”.

I hope Fort Worth residents get to choose something similar soon. It doesn’t need to be as dense as San Francisco, but it could be just as transit and pedestrian friendly and I believe that should be the goal of the streetcar.

I think seeing the railways in place is comforting to a commuter who’d otherwise shy away from mass transportation. When the tracks are visible, you know a streetcar’s eventually coming your way… and you know your route will be reliable.

I ride the bus from the Cultural District to the TCU area (and I’m a “choice” rider, I might add). It made me uncomfortable at first. In fact, shortly after I started riding, my route changed without me realizing it.

“Umm… why isn’t this bus turning down Vickery today?”

I ended up ringing the bell and hopping off a couple of miles further away than anticipated (in dress clothes on a hot summer day, I might add).

Other times, it seems you are waiting an eternity for the bus to appear (whether it was a tad early… or my watch was off, I don’t know). The 45 extra minutes you wait for the next bus to arrive gives you ample time to walk back home and drive yourself to work.

I guess in my mind, I imagine the streetcar will be more reliable than the bus. (I believe Portland’s system arrives every 15 minutes or so.) And at least they can’t change the route without visible evidence

Of course, I just said it out loud, and now I see that I’ve been emphasizing the wrong thing. They’re not “choice” riders — as in, they’re more likely to spend money at transit-oriented developments — they’re “choice riders,” or those that CHOOSE to ride instead of drive. (I blame you, Kevin. Next time, define your terms better. i.e.: “Choice riders,” or those that could drive, but CHOOSE to use public transit.)

But, even by that logic, couldn’t those “choice riders” just as easily CHOOSE to ride the bus? All changing the mode of transit does is remove the stigma of riding the bus.

Maybe the problem isn’t so much one of class or race as it is “Americanness.”

All the words you’ve said about streetcars are true, but the simple fact is that more people don’t use buses because they’re perceived as the last resort of the poor and ONLY for people who don’t have cars.

All over the rest of the world people ride public transit (including buses), regardless of class or income. Americans have decided that a car is the best indicator of rising above that, and we’re spreading that disease across the world to developing nations as well.

I’ve heard TCU students complain that they’d be willing to ride the bus, but the schedules are “SO confusing!” The next time I hear that, I’m going to ask them how, if it’s so confusing, poor folks (who are assumed to be uneducated and/or unintelligent, otherwise they wouldn’t be poor, right?) and mentally handicapped manage to do it every day.

I’m off my meds. I’m sorry if I implied that you were a racist. Every time there’s a ballot initiative to get public transit in Arlington, there’s a group called the “Concerned Taxpayers of Arlington” who starts taking out ads and writing letters to the editor about how buses will just bring “undesirables” to Arlington. Maybe that’s from whence my defensiveness on this issue stems.

Man, you have completely misread me, and “choice riders” isn’t even my invention. It’s simply a reflection of the pretty often recognized situation that a bus system only manages to attract the transit-dependent, but modern streetcar systems have been attracting people who could be driving but choose not to. No race involved – or don’t you think middle-class black people, hispanics, or Asians would ride the system as well?

Go ahead say what you mean when you say “choice riders” — middle-class and upper-middle-class white people. Politically Correct speech (or even Orwellian double-speak) doesn’t suit you.

There’s a bus that runs between your house and the TCU area right now. I ride it quite often.

Please allow me to insert my own foot in to my own mouth.

My apologies for remarking on a subject that I’m clearly not up-to-date with. When I departed Cowtown earlier this year, the last I had heard of light-rail discussions was exclusively for the CD area. Clearly I hadn’t done my homework or kept up with the topic! Blog entries and RSS feeds are no substitute for attending those workshops, it seems.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to find some floss. I have hairy feet

Perhaps you missed earlier posts on the subject – one of the planned routes is a route between downtown and the Stockyards. The routes shown in the whitepaper would be:

Downtown to the Cultural District
Downtown to the Near Southside and TCU
Downtown to the Stockyards/Mercado Village
Downtown to Evans & Rosedale/Texas Wesleyan
Downtown to Six Points/Race Street

It is expected that all routes will originate from the ITC.

Now, obviously the routes themselves aren’t set in stone yet in terms of pathways, but those are the destinations that will be in the planning. From my own discussions with various higher ups, I’d expect the Cultural District and Near Southside lines will be first.

The CD line will just be one of several.

As an example: a streetcar connector between the ITC, up along Samuels Ave through the upcoming Rock Island (err, Trinity Bluff) neighborhood, and terminating in the Northside around the stockyards. I can assure you residents in that part of town are more concerned about $4-5 a gallon than the folks that live in the Westside and Downtown. Excluding maybe the Linwood neighborhood, which I wager will be completely devoid of single-family residences in about 8-10 years.