City of Oakland Broadway Streetcar Staff Report & Concept Map

02/25/2011

4 Comments

 
Oakland Broadway Streetcar Concept
An unofficial rendering of the City of Oakland's streetcar proposal.
The City of Oakland's staff report on the Broadway Streetcar Alternatives Analysis Transit Study has been released (see above).  The staff report is what councilmembers will read before the likely city council vote on Tuesday, March 15th.  The report hits all of the major points to justify the streetcar project--the success of the Broadway Shuttle, the economic advantages of a streetcar, etc.  The report outlines an approximately 3.5 mile alignment from MacArthur BART to the proposed A's baseball stadium at Jack London Square, which is a bit different from what was put forward in the Oakland Streetcar Plan (see map), but these differences are minor:
  1. The City proposes studying a corridor which extends to MacArthur BART rather than Piedmont Ave/Kaiser Medical Center.  This option is laid out as one of the first extensions in the Oakland Streetcar Plan, so it makes total sense to study it.  The main issues at hand are the financial feasibility of a 3.5 mile initial line, as well as the choice between MacArthur BART and the Rockridge Shopping Center as the ultimate destination of the line (extending farther up Broadway would probably have more development potential, though MacArthur BART has more transit connectivity).
  2. The city proposes extending the streetcar to the potential site of the new A's stadium, which makes total sense as long as the stadium gets built.  If not, ending at the Jack London Amtrak/Capitol Corridor Station would probably be more cost-effective.
It's important to note that no alignment has been set and these are just musings and speculations based off the staff report.  Moreover, an in-depth study of these options is exactly what the Alternatives Analysis is for.  So once again, mark your calendar for Tuesday, March 15th at 5:15pm and come show your support for the Oakland Streetcar project!
Download the City of Oakland Broadway Streetcar Alternatives Analysis Staff Report
File Size: 71 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
 


Comments

spenta
02/25/2011 21:05

Why not extend up Oak St. to lake merritt BART? It's the closest to the proposed new ballpark.

Reply
cynic
02/28/2011 09:52

sounds cute....who will operate it and with what budget? transit systems come nowhere near covering costs with fares (oh, right! the broadway shuttle is FREE; no wonder its so popular, sort-of) oh, and how about the cost to build it? putting rail cars on top of BART grates? where will the cars be stored/serviced? just a few basic questions...since AC is having such a hard time scraping together operating funds, and streetcars are not less expensive to run than buses, i think a basic level economic analysis (even now) is in order just to see if this even comes close to penciling out...

Reply
Charles
02/28/2011 11:08

A fantasy project. Wht is Oakland wasting its time and money on this kind of stuff? We can't even pay the bills we have. Ridiculous.

Reply
Daniel Jacobson link
02/28/2011 11:50

@Cynic and @Charles:

Please see the Design and Funding sections of the Oakland Streetcar Plan for answers to your questions (http://www.oaklandstreetcarplan.com/download.html). A brief summary:

The construction cost for a 2.5 mile line would be approximately $90 million, funded by a combination of private, regional, and federal funds. This project would be funded without any money from Oakland's general fund: the private sector accounted for 25% of funding in Portland and 50% of funding in Seattle, and Obama Administration has invested nearly $400 million into streetcar projects across the country over the past year and a half. Numerous funding packages are outlined in the plan.

The $3 million operations cost would similarly be funded by a combination of public and private funds, potentially amounting to the lowest operating subsidy (15-30%) in the Bay Area of any transportation system--bus, rail, or road. Operations would require no funds from AC Transit. An independent entity is likely the best option for operating the streetcar, with $1 fares and built-in transfers to AC Transit and BART.

Once again, please see the design and funding sections of the Oakland Streetcar Plan.

Reply



Leave a Reply