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Where Do Streetcar Vehicles Come From?
KC Streetcar CAF Vehicle in Operation in Kansas City Photo by Eric MillerPerhaps the most important element of a transit system is the vehicle. This is what people interact with the most when utilizing the service and it can make or break the system, made even more essential by the fact that vehicles can last upwards to 50 years before being fully retired. Vehicles are a very capital-intensive resource and take a long lead time to procure. And vehicles can be the face of the system, what people think of first when referring to a transit line. Therefore, it is imperative that the Omaha Streetcar vehicles are the best available, a great fit for our city, and will provide reliable service with a good impression on passengers for many years to come. This article will provide a lot of information on the current Omaha Streetcar vehicles that are being built, dig into the history of light rail/streetcar vehicles in general, and provide some information on rail cars that are built near...
History Repeating? Omaha Streetcars’ Past Connection to the Modern Project
O&CB 1025 westbound on Harney at 13th in 1951 – Richard OrrOne of my favorite lines from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” is, “Can’t repeat the past? Why, of course you can!” Jay Gatsby wasn’t referring to streetcars when telling this to Nick Carraway, although I like to think of its use in urban development, where there are a lot of great city-planning concepts that are still in strong use today. This includes the streetcar, which is still a viable type of transit today. On the other side of the argument, some people may think the streetcar is outdated technology and was pushed out of service for a reason. This article intends to set the record straight and establish an understanding of why Omaha’s modern streetcar that is under construction now is both similar to the past while still being very different: this is no homage to the past. For a complete and thorough history of Omaha’s streetcar system, I highly recommend Richard Orr’s book, O&CB Streetcars of Omaha and...
Oklahoma City Streetcar in Focus
Oklahoma City StreetcarThe Oklahoma City Streetcar is another system I recently visited, and similar to the Washington DC streetcar that was featured in this column last year, offers some insights and lessons for Omaha. Of particular interest is the streetcar’s chosen route and the decision to charge fares. I was part of a peer review of the Oklahoma City Streetcar system last year when I spent a couple of days riding (and walking) the entire route several times. Our team came up with several suggestions to improve the system. The OKC Streetcar opened in December 2018 and has very similar operations as those planned for Omaha in terms of the number of stops, vehicles required to operate and length of the system. Some differences include routing with the additional loop train route and that it charges fares similar to the rest of the city’s transit system. First, a look at its routing, which appears to serve a lot of major destinations between downtown and midtown Oklahoma City. It is...
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Omaha Streetcar Vehicle Maintenance Facility
Omaha Streetcar construction is essentially underway, although it is in the way of utility work and there has not yet been an official “groundbreaking” complete with the usual dignitaries posing at shovels. And you have probably noticed this utility work if you are ever along the streetcar line on Farnam or Harney between 39th and 10th Street.
Omaha Streetcar Extensions – Where to Next?
Picking up from one of my earlier articles, I would like to detail possibilities of extending the streetcar. Below is a map of the current system under construction, referred to as the “starter line,” the first line that provides a solid core from which to build. Let’s tackle the obvious question first: why expand the streetcar at all and why discuss expansions before we know how the streetcar will perform in terms of ridership and economic development? You are probably familiar with the cliched phrase, “if you build it, they will come,” which I like to say is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Yes, if you build transportation infrastructure in an urban (or suburban) environment, people are likely to use it. Let’s caveat this with the importance of not only having people use the transportation infrastructure, but also having it be very successful, which means having a lot of people use it. It helps to expand a streetcar if it is very popular and it has a high amount of ridership as opposed...
The Regional Metropolitan Transit Authority and the New Elected Board of Director
You are probably aware that another election season is upon us, although what you may or may not realize is that there is an election for a completely new transit board of directors for the Omaha region. The Regional Metropolitan Transit Authority of Omaha, better known as Metro, is electing a board of directors for the first time ever. This seven-member body elected by citizens of the City of Omaha will replace the current Mayor-appointed (and City Council-approved) board of five members. The new board will take over in January 2025. How did this come to be? Anyone that has been following my previous articles will remember discussing the new regional transit authority that Metro is transitioning into. A regional transit authority with an elected board has been in discussion for many years. I remember bringing up this idea with Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers about 20 years ago, thinking that this would be a good way to introduce less politics into transit and get a board of...
Council Bluffs Linkages PEL Study – Revolutionizing How we Connect Omaha and Council Bluffs
The Council Bluffs Linkages PEL study started quietly earlier this year and is now off and running with the first public outreach event held last week and a public survey that will be available until October 25, 2024: https://fhu.mysocialpinpoint.com/council-bluffs-linkages Just what is a PEL, you ask? It stands for Planning and Environmental Linkages, which is a fancy phrase to say that it is the next step in a federal planning process to apply for Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funding for a capital project. Specifically, a PEL represents a collaborative and integrated approach to decision-making that considers environmental, community, and economic goals early in the transportation planning process and uses this information, analysis, and products developed during planning to inform the environmental review process. This study will allow Council Bluffs to move on to a formal environmental study. PELs are used for a variety of transportation projects including highways,...
Washington DC Streetcar In Focus
An essential part in implementing any major project is to visit similar projects to see how others were done and learn from them, both the good and the bad. An advantage with public transit projects is that they are extremely easy to visit and test the user experience. I am always curious to see how other streetcar systems work and what that means for what we are building in Omaha. There are currently at least 14 operating modern streetcar systems in the United States (there are more streetcar systems if you count heritage trolleys and light rail systems that operate more like streetcars). I have visited several of these and would like to share some anecdotes, starting with the DC Streetcar. I visited Washington DC in mid-August 2024 as part of a transit conference and set out to experience it firsthand. This is particularly important as there are some similarities with the Omaha system: Operates in mixed traffic. Is run by a private operator (RATPDev). Does not charge a fare. Uses...
Omaha Regional Transit Expansion
Omaha turned a corner in terms of finally “getting real” with transit when it opened the Omaha Rapid Bus Transit (ORBT) on November 18, 2020. This service provides frequent and fast bus transit along the Dodge Street corridor between Westroads and downtown, replacing and streamlining the old Route 2. It did not take long for the ORBR to surpass the Route 2 ridership, even in a post-COVID environment. So what do I mean about “getting real” with transit? I mean a real investment in transit, making something more permanent, doing more than just running a basic bus route with stops denoted by a metal sign on a pole (and perhaps a concrete pad and bench or shelter). The ORBT project featured stops with platforms that included amenities usually only seen at rail transit stations, a dedicated fleet of buses, some exclusive lanes, and Transit Signal Priority. Transit projects like these make a real difference in our communities, cities, and region! We need more transit projects (and the...
Different Types of Transit and What that Means for Omaha
I cringe when I hear someone mention the idea that we need to build light rail between Omaha and Lincoln… not because I don’t agree that more and better transit is needed between the two cities, but because of the lack of understanding of what the most applicable mode of transit should be operated (the correct answer here is intercity bus and commuter rail). Another favorite of mine is when someone questions the need for a streetcar along Farnam/Harney with the ORBT service on Dodge Street, perhaps without realizing that there is currently a local bus route on Farnam/Harney. The purpose of this article is to arm you with the information needed to intelligently explain what optimal type of transit mode could be applied for specific uses in the Omaha metro area as well as have a better understanding of what is discussed by people when referencing transit studies. And yes, there will be a quiz later, in the form of future articles that dig deeper in specific transit corridors! First, a...
What is the Right Transit Service to Eppley?
Welcome to the first transit article for the new Grow Omaha news site! I am planning to write articles on relevant transit issues that cover a wide variety of topics and explain some of the latest activities, especially with the streetcar project as it unfolds. While I have a broad list of items to cover in the future, if there is anything you would like me to cover in the future, definitely drop me a line and let me know. First, a little background about myself – I am a native of the Omaha area (grew up in Bellevue), and my entire 20-year career has been focused on transit planning. I spent 19 of those years in Denver, where most of my work was focused on planning and implementing the Regional Transportation District (RTD) FasTracks program. I currently work as a private consultant, and my latest projects cover Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), streetcar, light rail and intercity rail for communities in Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado and Oklahoma. Being the first transit article, this may end up...