Railing Against Rail in Milwaukee

Wow! Here we go again! More rail speak in Wisconsin, specifically Milwaukee this time. They (the Milwaukee Common Council) actually approved a plan to install a downtown street car to nowhere. Bus ridership is scuttled at the helm of a street car? There's a reason street cars were torn out and replaced 80 years ago. They were made obsolete by a means of transit whose courses could be shifted at the whim of the consumer. Let's see, a two mile loop around downtown (not the bustling East side or near Marquette University), whose ridership is questionable, through an area only half populated by residences or operating businesses, expects not to be taxpayer supported. Really? After the $65 million price tag to build it (not including the added expense we'll all incur from utilities being uprooted), and an annual operating expense of a mere $2.5 million, I won't be on the hook for anything? Here's a more realistic time line. We'll suffer through about four years of total downtown upheaval (zero parking, streets closed, businesses not able to withstand the customer drought, and skyrocketing utility costs due to all the relocation expense). An above average tourism budget to tout our new street car "system". An initial burst of ridership as always occurs in a "gotta do it once" mentality. Followed by the 100 bar hoppers they'll get every weekend. We get all this and a future tax increase to help support something no one uses. Brilliant! "Well, it needs to go more places, that's why ridership's not doing well". Another non explanation, explanation on why we should expand an already faltering program. Once it's up, you can't change the course. People wanting to go to all the areas serviced are already doing so. Via automobile (such a dirty word to the environmental freak shows), or on a bus that's destined to loose ridership or have it's route eliminated. As a lot of these "hurry up and use the Federal funds" projects are, this hasn't been thought through. How about a public referendum, non binding even, to gauge public sentiment.Unless it's done by a private company, someone putting some actual skin in the game, government should stay out. Until someone shows me an example of a profitable or self sustaining transit system, I'll rail against more light rail.