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How are you defining the difference between economic development tool and public transportation? The only time when public transportation is not an economic development tool is when it is merely subsidized transportation for the poor or disabled. That is, when public transportation is meant to further goals of societal equity rather than economic growth.

I am not sure why streetcars have become the end all in some transportation circles.

Because they provide a large return on investment through economic development. Unlike most buses.

Attempting to block traffic to force it to go away will lead to lost economic activity and the surrounding residential roads becoming dangerous and noisy bypass arteries.

There is plenty of research and evidence showing that streetcars enhance economic activity and provide a high return on investment in most cases.

One former Chinese transportation planning student of mine was shocked at how "old fashion" the US had become in its use of streetcars.

We should not be taking our lessons in transportation planning from the Chinese. The traffic and pollution in China is mind boggling.

You could say that Cloud Computing is "old fashioned" because it's very similar to mainframe computing from decades past. But, just because an idea borrows from the past, doesn't automatically make it ineffective.

by Falls Church on Jun 19, 2012 11:41 am • link • report