A team took on the massive task of moving the city’s old iconic waterfront streetcars Wednesday. Now some of the 16-ton pieces of history are on their way to the Midwest.
The future of the trolleys remained a mystery since the George Benson Waterfront Streetcar Line stopped operating about a decade ago. Earlier this year, the City of St. Louis bought three of them for approximately $200,000.
The three cars that were sold will eventually go into service on the Heritage Trolley Line, serving the Delmar Loop District and University City, Missouri.
“It’s bittersweet to see them go,” Gibbs said. “But as we would say – they’re going to a good home.”
How fast do these things move? They have streetcars in little Rock that kindnof go around the downtown area and then over to north little rock and back. But they're slow and no one users them because they only go in one direction. Cool to look at though
AWvsCBsteeeerike3 wrote:How fast do these things move? They have streetcars in little Rock that kindnof go around the downtown area and then over to north little rock and back. But they're slow and no one users them because they only go in one direction. Cool to look at though
Total waste of money. In my five years there I probably saw 6 people use them. I always wanted to drink on them.
AWvsCBsteeeerike3 wrote:How fast do these things move? They have streetcars in little Rock that kindnof go around the downtown area and then over to north little rock and back. But they're slow and no one users them because they only go in one direction. Cool to look at though
Total waste of money. In my five years there I probably saw 6 people use them. I always wanted to drink on them.
They really should turn them into drinking cars. Put a cooler with beer/wine in each one and charge $15 for a loop.
Kind of sad. Joe Edwards, seems like a good guy and like what he's done for the area - but this has been a boondoggle.
Edit: I didn't bump this for my post above. didn't remember what my initial view of this plan was.
It has some value. Being able to go from the park to the loop is a nice connector. But there is already a metrolink stop at Forest Park and a metrolink at Delmar. So unless you don't want to walk from the pageant to the other side of the loop, or you don't want to walk from Forest Park Parkway to the history musem, it really doesn't add a ton.
Also, the people who would need ot use it as a form of public transportation likely already pay for a metro ticket. Since this line isn't a part of the metro service, you have to pay more to use it. So a huge portion of the demographic who would find this trolly somewhat appealing likely won't use it because it's double dipping on their transport budget.
I feel like they would have had more value if they had sent it south through Skinker instead of Debaliviere and had it run as a part of the metro service. Then they would have connected it to the Skinker station, giving metro users an alternative connection to the blue/red lines outside of the Forest Park station. And they could have had it run past the art museum and the zoo. Connecting the Zoo to The Loop would be a pretty nice connection. But where it sits now it's over a mile and a half from the zoo and about a mile from the museum. So 2 of the 3 biggest attractions in the park are far enough away that a lot of people who would drive will still just drive.
The Loop Trolley is and was solely about development of the East Loop and the DeBaliviere strip plus connecting that development to the CWE down Delmar. It’s a very long range plan and I’m not sure how much the trolley adds to it.