After putting it off for more than a year, I rode the Sun Link streetcar last week and it was ... meh.
Not exactly the best sales pitch the city could hope for after a $198 million investment of public funds in streetcar construction, or a scintillating lede for a column, but thatโs what it was, just OK.
Sun Link earns credit for cleanliness, as the cars were neat and tidy.
The seats also were clean and sty-
lishly upholstered with the RTA logo.
Riders also get rolling views of some of the cityโs iconic locations: โAโ Mountain, Hotel Congress, Mercado San Agustin, Fourth Avenue, Main Gate Square, many fine watering holes and the University of Arizona.
And people seem to enjoy the sight of the streetcar rolling toward them and the recorded โding-dingโ sounds it makes.
A group of children sitting at the sidewalk tables at The Hub waved gleefully as my streetcar trundled by.
Later a little girl enthusiastically waved from her carseat as her father sped past my lumbering streetcar at a breakneck 25 mph.
Such enthusiasm is understandable, as people harbor nostalgia for 19th century technologies like the streetcar.
People also apparently like to ride the streetcar.
In March, city officials said ridership levels were averaging about 4,000 per day.
Cost recoveries also were on target, with fare boxes expected to bring in $1.2 million per year on annual operating costs of about $4.2 million.
I saw some of that cost recovery in action, with many Colorado State University football fans and other tourists riding Sun Link before the Arizona Bowl kicked off.
Seemed like the streetcar also was popular among moms with young children, as I saw several such family outings during my sojourn.
But I also saw some of the areaโs less-distinguished sites during my mid-day streetcar adventure: The derelict eyesore formerly known as Hotel Arizona, the still undeveloped patch of dirt next to the Mercado, Rio Nuevoโs barren dust bowl south of Cushing Street and the cityโs perpetually closed Veinte de Agosto Park.
You get a good look at these and other things downtown when riding Sun Link, primarily because it moves so slowly.
I timed my ride from the Mercado to the stop at the Second Street garage on campus, pretending I earn enough money to live in the fabulous houses in the Mercado District and have enough education to work at the UA.
It took 23 minutes. By contrast, I drove from the Mercado to the same location in 11 minutes.
If expedience is your thing, the streetcar probably isnโt for you.
In addition to the streetcarโs leisurely pace, itโs stuck on a limited, extremely expensive fixed route thatโs easily disrupted.
For example, on my streetcar day, I disembarked at the Second Street garage and decided to walk to Main Gate.
After taking in some of the sights, I planned to jump on at the stop in front of Gentle Benโs. There was a 15-minute wait for the next car, however. So I walked to next stop, thinking it would take up most of the time.
When I got the stop, at University Boulevard and Third Avenue, the notification said the next car wasnโt due for 15 minutes.
So I decided to walk to Fourth Avenue. Surely by the time I got to the next stop the train would be close behind.
But it wasnโt. Another 15-minute wait.
What was going on?
Then I saw it โ a mass of flashing red and blue lights in front of the underpass at Fourth and Ninth Street.
I walked the five blocks to north side of the underpass and saw the cause of the delay, a car crash that had blocked the tracks.
After about 15 minutes or more, emergency personnel cleared the scene and the streetcar was free to roll again.
The episode made me think: If moving people is the goal, couldnโt the same be accomplished with a new fleet of buses?
And at much less expense.
Plus, minor inconveniences like a fender-bender or someone who left the rear end of his car hanging out over the tracks while parallel parking wouldnโt bring the entire system to standstill.
Supporters say the streetcar isnโt just mass transit, itโs economic development and has brought a flood of new development to the university and downtown areas.
To an extent, it has.
But as my former colleague Darren DaRonco pointed out in August 2014, city officialsโ claims that the streetcar was the impetus for nearly a billion dollars worth of investment in downtown projects are, to be generous, enthusiastic.
As DaRonco wrote: โMany of the projects are part of the 1999 Rio Nuevo plan approved by voters, or were approved by the City Council well before the 2006 election that authorized funding and construction of the streetcar line.โ
And of those developments that came downtown supposedly because of the streetcar, namely new student housing, whoโs to say they wouldnโt still have located to the urban core if expanded bus service was part of the plan rather than a trolley system?
I know, the decision to build to streetcar was made nearly a decade ago and after years of public meetings where a handful of participants insisted on its inclusion in the plan. Nothing can be done about it now.
But if tourists, students and moms daytripping downtown with toddlers is what streetcar success has been linked to, I fear weโre on the wrong track.
Down the road
- Southwest Gas begins work this month on a pipeline improvement project along sections of Grant Road between Stone and Park avenues.
Daytime and nighttime work hours have been scheduled, with work expected to be completed by April 1.
Daytime roadway work hours are anticipated to be 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with nighttime work hours from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m.
- The city plans to start resurfacing Campbell Avenue between Glenn Street and Fort Lowell Road this week.
