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Bring back streetcars to Buffalo? Some lawmakers say yes

https://buffalonews.com/news/local/b...7ac392faf.html

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- Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes sees streetcars as an alternative for those who are reluctant to take the bus. — "I think any level of transportation that has historic value and a level of nostalgia would be good for the City of Buffalo," Peoples-Stokes said. "Any value you add to public transportation that makes it easier for people to get around is a good value." — Transit advocates say it would waste resources better spent on other ways to move people around, especially in Buffalo, where those in 28% of households don't own a car.

- "I think they're over-romanticizing the optics of streetcars," said Simon Husted of Buffalo Transit Riders United, who sits on the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority's citizen advisory committee. — The limits of public transportation in Buffalo, he said, can demoralize people who can't afford a car or whose medical or legal reasons prevent them from owning one. — Husted would rather see funds spent on rapid bus lines that offer high frequency and better quality of service. Besides, he said, bringing back a streetcar system could take decades.

- Still, pursuing streetcars would not make Buffalo an outlier. Twenty-six North American cities have turned to streetcars since 2000, including Milwaukee, Kansas City, Atlanta and Portland, Ore., said Bruce Fisher, director of the Center for Economic and Policy Studies at SUNY Buffalo State. — Fisher suggests a 6.1-mile trek from the downtown Amtrak Station, past Larkinville to Bailey Avenue and then along Bailey, ultimately ending at the Ridge Road Park & Ride lot near Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens. — Fisher estimates the cost at $35 million per mile, or a little more than $210 million for the entire stretch.

- Another route, he said, could follow Amherst Street from Niagara Street to Bailey, a 4.6-mile stretch that Fisher estimated would cost $150 million. — "We can do something transformative that actually meets the needs of our people," Fisher said, and address "the crushing need for reliable, convenient, efficient and frequent public transportation." — The way federal infrastructure dollars will be disbursed could help those seeking to bring streetcars to Western New York. — T This project makes a whole lot of sense in a place like Buffalo, because we already had a full streetcar grid at one time, and we have underutilized hydropower plants to the north of us.

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