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Panel leaders and several council members believe the question now is not if but when the streetcar proposal will be approved and how quickly the system could be built. If the city council approves the committee's recommendations early next year, construction could begin within a year or two, and a line could be built and running within three to five years. And two years ago, no one could have imagined that happening.
If a rail system really is in Fort Worth's near future, it's probably time to get a few terms straight.
Commuter rail is run on freight lines, like the Trinity Railway Express between Fort Worth and Dallas. The lines move commuters over long distances quickly, but usually have little development potential at the rail stops, in part because, following the freight lines, most stops are in old industrial areas.
Another option is light rail, like the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) system. For the most part, light rail runs on its own right-of-way, often paralleling freeway lines. The trains aren't as fast as commuter freight rail lines, and they have more stops. Costs are quite high, but development around the stops, as with Dallas' Mockingbird Station, is usually one of the payoffs.
Modern streetcars, used for the most part in high-density areas, are the shortest of rides, with stops every few blocks. Streetcars are known to be "pedestrian facilitators," meaning they attract riders who live within walking distance of the routes. And if the riders are using the streetcars to get to a part of town with restaurants or theaters, they are generally willing to walk a few blocks on the other end of the ride as well. Such systems typically are not used to go across town but to link "urban village" dwellers and users with other high-density developments, including downtown areas.
The Fort Worth committee has avoided using the term "trolley" because of the potential confusion with cars used more than 50 years ago. Modern streetcar systems differ from old-fashioned trolleys or streetcars in that they hold more riders and provide easier access from the street. "Historic" streetcars are used in some cities, including vintage cars like the McKinney Avenue line in Dallas. And new streetcars will have nothing to do with the trolley-looking buses that Fort Worth uses to take tourists from downtown to the Stockyards.
If the streetcar proposal goes forward, Fort Worth is going to use modern cars, made mostly in Europe, which can accommodate 100 to 150 passengers standing and sitting. The cars are low to the ground, providing easy access for riders getting on and off, especially handicapped patrons.
Why not just expand the bus system, especially if the buses already run on the same routes as the proposed streetcars? Many critics have argued that these urban rail lines are merely mass transit geared toward wealthier people, and that they will steal funding from cheap bus systems that serve those who cannot afford cars.
"Categorically, it is silly," said Michael Quinn Sullivan, president of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, an Austin-based government watchdog group. "Buses are a much more efficient way to move people around. But they aren't sexy and cool like streetcars, so we waste hundreds of millions of dollars to appeal to the latte crowd."
"If the City of Fort Worth wants to improve their mass transit system, then take the amount of money they are going to spend on streetcars and use it to build a better bus system," Sullivan said.
But experience in other cities has shown that people from all economic strata generally prefer using some form of rail over buses, even along the same route. Tacoma started a 1.3-mile modern streetcar line in 2003. A bus that had run that route prior to the streetcar line carried 200,000 passengers a year. The annual ridership on the streetcar last year was 900,000.
The difference is what is known as "choice riders," an unfortunate term that is often misconstrued. The term doesn't refer to choice as in "preferred" (or as in yuppiefied folks who use streetcars to get to hip entertainment venues) but as in those who have a choice. Choice riders are those who have cars but opt to leave them at home and ride mass transit, not only to go to clubs or the theater but to get to and from work and to do the shopping. For whatever reason, most such riders will leave their cars at home for a rail car, but not so much for buses.
"I just think it is largely psychological," said Fort Worth Assistant City Manager Fernando Costa, who has overseen the city staff's work with the streetcar committee. "But the studies are indisputable. What will make streetcar lines work in Fort Worth is a growing awareness by public officials and business leaders and ordinary citizens that it makes sense to pursue alternatives to automobile transportation. Commuter rail and streetcars together represent a good way to move people from one point to another, but also [are] a good way to promote economic development within the city."
Commuter rail costs about $3 million to $25 million per mile to get up and running. Light rail like the DART system comes in at $20 million to $60 million per mile. Modern streetcars cost anywhere from $10 million to $40 million per mile. Where Fort Worth will go for that money is still up for debate.
The city staff figures the cost of the Fort Worth system on the high side, averaging $40 million per mile. But with more than 60 cities in the U.S. pursuing streetcar systems (both modern and historic), those costs could come down. And Fort Worth and Dallas - which is also planning some streetcar lines to link downtown with close-in developments like Victory Park - have begun talks about combining their design expenses and car purchases to save some money.
Costs of the system could also be cut hugely by using single-track rail lines instead of double-track lines. The current plan is to use double tracks on all but the downtown loop and small sections of the east and south lines. Double-track streetcars systems have lines running in opposite directions on the same street. Single-track design puts one line on each street, used alternately by cars going both directions. A center-point stop with a short double track allows the cars to pass each other.
But there are some problems with the single-track design. If streetcars share the roadway with automobiles, they cannot run against traffic. Thus they must either have their own lane on the road separated from the traffic (by a high curb), or they run down the center, which makes access for passengers more difficult.