history of streetcars in NYC

Working notes, still a work in progress.

DOT plans to finally take advantage of a $300,000 federal grant that Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-Brooklyn) secured for the six-month study in 2005. — "Trolley good news for Red Hook rail plan" by Rich Calder, NY Post. May 18, 2010

• 5 years between securing the six-month study's funds and it's start? Why?

DOT has determined a streetcar system would be better suited in a neighborhood with fewer physical constraints and potential conflicts (i.e. wider streets). In addition, in implementing a comprehensive planning approach, the neighborhood should be a higher density mixed-use zone, or have the potential for accommodating these supportive land uses. At the present time, these conditions do not exist in Red Hook. — Brooklyn Streetcar Feasibility Study, 2011, p 1

• Do the conditions of "higher density mixed-use zone" and "have the potential for accommodating these supportive land uses" now exist in Red Hook?
• Has the Red Hook / DTBK connection improved in the intervening years?
  • If so, in what ways? through what strategies?
  • If not, what went wrong? would a streetcar have been worth it in retrospect?

Although the B61 offers frequent peak period service in Red Hook (every eight to nine minutes), — Brooklyn Streetcar Feasibility Study, 2011, p 3

• this is not frequent by modern standards elsewhere in the world

Nearly 50 percent of residents commute more than 45 minutes to work. More than 50 percent of its employees also commute more than 45 minutes to work. — Brooklyn Streetcar Feasibility Study, 2011, p 3

• Where is this data?

wow there are two Dan Wiley's working in public infrastructure advocacy here, one on each side of the Hudson. NJ Dan Wiley, NY Dan Wiley (collaborator on the BK streetcar feasibility study)

gotta find out how to get Christopher Hrones' retrospective thoughts on this. He was project coordinator. - It looks like he also worked on this

While this system is not the only example of PCC cars in operation today, it does demonstrate the lessons learned, both positive and BROOKLYN STREETCAR FEASIBILITY STUDY 5 negative, of returning a former streetcar line into regular revenue service using heritage streetcar equipment. — Brooklyn Streetcar Feasibility Study, 2011, p 4

• Oh is this assuming a historical streetcar equipment? That could be a huge difference between today and then, right? Like this feasibility study assumed that the equipment was a given, and "historical" at that (read: out-of-date). This might be a key aspect that would need reassed.

Streetcars provide a historic, romantic appeal and have transformed blighted districts into vibrant areas — Brooklyn Streetcar Feasibility Study, 2011, p 5

• Bewildering take. Streetcars are practical, not "romantic"
• Might be informed by the nostalgia-fueled historic apparatus approach?
• Really shows how choosing case studies matters. AMSTERDAM? AS A CASE STUDY FOR NEW AMSTERDAM? MAYBE? The Philly line is infamously bad because it has no dedicated ROW.

TRANSIT DEMAND ANALYSIS TECHNICAL MEMORANDUM The Transit Demand Analysis Technical Memorandum projected future demand for higher capacity transit service in Red Hook. Existing met and unmet demands (existing transit riders and those not currently riding, respectively) were first determined using available information and travel patterns in peer New York City neighborhoods. — Brooklyn Streetcar Feasibility Study, 2011, p 5

• I wonder what NYC Open Data would have meant for this study? The law was passed in 2012 and the website created in 2017. It's wild to me that NYC Open Data, one of the best and most obviously-needed things I think the city has done in the 21st Century, was considered a "new data literacy pilot". I made this note to capture that: [[people are smart with tools]]

it is assumed a future Brooklyn streetcar would operate in mixed traffic (no nexclusive lanes), which would restrict travel speeds to those generally experienced by buses. — Brooklyn Streetcar Feasibility Study, 2011, p 6

• Welp. There's your problem.

…manufacturing zoned district. — Brooklyn Streetcar Feasibility Study, 2011, p 6 In fact, the NYC Department of City Planning has identified the Red Hook waterfront as a working waterfront, to be maintained in its current industrial state. — Brooklyn Streetcar Feasibility Study, 2011, p 11

• I wonder if this holds anymore, given the industry retreat from Euclidean zoning?

In addition, based on feedback received from the Community Advisory Committee, there does not appear to be community consensus on whether increased density of mixed use development is desired. — Brooklyn Streetcar Feasibility Study, 2011, p 11 This is important: need to get more support before the feasibility study window.

A streetcar would be better suited in a neighborhood with fewer physical constraints and potential conflicts (i.e. wider streets). In addition, in implementing a comprehensive planning approach, the neighborhood should be a higher density mixed-use zone, or have the potential for being redeveloped with supportive land use. — Brooklyn Streetcar Feasibility Study, 2011, p 11 where does this exist?

• United Streetcar did the Portland Loop streetcar set, and was the only producer of modern streetcars in the US in 2010 when the Brooklyn Streetcar Feasibility Study was written. However it went defunct by 2015, only ever shipping that single fleet for Portland.

  • United Streetcar was created when a local partner Oregon Iron Works and Škoda signed a “technology transfer agreement” to let OIW build Škoda machines locally. Could we replicate this elsewhere?
  • They were beat by Brookville, who is still operating and has ongoing contracts. Maybe they’re someone to look into?

• Citation to read from p2-20, “Bicycle Interactions and Streetcars: Lessons Learned and Recommendations” by Lloyd District Transportation Management Association, October 17, 2008.

• https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/541938485/?match=1&terms=streetcars

  • a young man in 1869 berating railroad companies for not building streetcars in brooklyn (time is a flat circle)

• https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/686261463/?match=1&terms=streetcars

  • Reader praises new "trackless trolleys" being piloted. Quieter, safer, and more maneuverable

• https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/686255205/?match=1&terms=streetcars

  • Reader wonders why BoT is piloting busses instead of just upgrading and maintaining the streetcars.

• https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/52912920/?match=1&terms=streetcars

  • Another, suspiciously similar letter to the editor praising trackless trolleys...
  • Ugh nvm they're just duplicate images

• https://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/Brooklyn_Trackless_Trolleys

  • Resources on the replacements for streetcars, these electrified busses. Where did they go though?

• Map of Brooklyn, 1887

• Tight timeline of streetcars in brooklyn, linking to de Blasio's proposal

• NYTimes reporting on de Blasio's proposal. God we were supposed to have this by a year ago.

• Book on Elizabeth Jennings, black desegregationist streetcar rider from 1854!

• Agreement between the City of Brooklyn and the Flatbush Railroad Company for the Brooklyn streetcar network. In-person at Center for Bklyn History

Reading list

• [ ] Wikipedia's page cluster on lists of NYC streetcars
• [ ] Google Map of routes! TODO: find how to get in touch with Alexander Rapp.
• [ ] The great American transit disaster : a century of austerity, auto-centric planning, and white flight
• [ ] Brookyn-Queens Connector Wikipedia
• [ ] Brooklyn Streetcar Feasibility Study 2011
• [ ] Brooklyn Queens Connector Report, 2018
• [ ] From streetcar to superhighway : American city planners and urban transportation, 1900-1940
• [ ] The lost subways of North America : a cartographic guide to the past, present, and what might have been
• [ ] The development of public transportation : stage coaches, omnibuses, railroads, elevated streetcars, subways
• [ ] Supplanting America's railroads : the early auto age, 1900-1940
• [ ] Street smart : the rise of cities and the fall of cars
• [ ] Tactical urbanism : short-term action for long-term change
• [ ] Track map of Brooklyn, Surface Lines Division, N.Y. City Transit System. In-person at Center for Bklyn History
• [ ] (sidequest) "Under the Expressway: Marking Time on Brooklyn's Third Avenue"
• [x] The Power Broker. Moses defunded the streetcar network in favor of busses, which were then perennially underfunded.
• [ ] Cato Institute "policy analysis" against streetcars "A Desire Named Streetcar How Federal Subsidies Encourage Wasteful Local Transit Systems"
• [ ] Another Cato rag, "The Great Streetcar Conspiracy"
• [x] Vox's mouthpiece of above Cato rags, "The real reason streetcars are making a comeback"
• [x] Documentary against the BQX on YT: "Gentrification Express: Breaking Down the BQX"
  • Really solid documentary. Some silly points (commuter analysis based on pre-BQX transit network), but overall a very damning message. Particularly the land use, the climate risk of the waterfront, and the tying of the funding model with rising rents.

Backlinks

• Notes on "Agreement with Flatbush Railroad Company", 1870
• NYC should have trams