From January, 1928:
Back in the day when Windsor had a quick, modern, efficient public transportation system.
Off all the things that this City has destroyed over the last 100 years, there is nothing worse than the choice made in the late 1930’s to rip up and dismantle our streetcar system.
I will agree. But does anyone know how much money it costs to run a streetcar (energy, pay scale, efficiency, repair…) as compared to bus systems?
Even if it costs a bit more I find riding streetcars to be wonderfully romantic and a nice way to get to where you need to go. Much better than a smelly bus spewing filthy exhaust.
I had to scroll up at the date on this ad. It sounds so modern in content and tone except it doesn’t say “zero emissions, zero pollution”. It is sad that they are gone and ironic that GM (I believe a major contributor to the demise of streetcars) and cohorts are now seeking a lifeline in the order of billions of dollars. Perhaps some of this money should be used to retool the plants to manufacture modern streetcars and restore the system 😉
JBM, I agree. windsor is so ripe to be in the transportation industry. If i had bombardier’s phone number, i’d be callin them up and offering them all sorts of incentives to set up in Windsor. People will always need to get around somehow..
I love streetcar-fridays!!
Fausto – It’s been a while, but when I came across this, I knew I needed to save it for a Friday 😉
Whats with I love streetcar-fridays ???
Now I get it fri. posts on streetcars !!! Still on my first cofee but wouldn’t it be great to say have a trial run of a streetcar along Riverside drive say from the university to say the Walkerville RR Station…should be enough land north of Riverside Drive for a smallish style streetcar ???
Wannick, a quick search… http://internationalmetropolis.com/?p=665
Thanks with the help with the brain fart… I do remember that series of streetcar photos
A full circle comeback? JBM, maybe GM should rebuild the street car system. You will enjoy readings this from Micheal Moore http://www.alanhalberstadt.com/
The problem with trying to get Bombardier here to locate a plant is that it isn’t in Quebec where all of the lucrative deals and gov’t funding goes. Gotta buy those Quebec votes.
It really is astonishing that we dont have mass transportation manufacturing here at all. But then again N. America doesn’t really have good mass transit except in a few places. Europe has been kicking our butts for years in that sector.
ME, time to push our French connection, language and heritage at Bombardier and Quebec, maybe we could fool them long enough to build a plant here.
” Allo ! .. Bonjour Mr. Bombardier, On a besoin d’un peux de travail ici en Windsor et une gross usine de train, S.V.P. .. et vite! .. Nous sommes plus le capital d’auto, Nous sommes le capital de Light Rail !!! “
“Speed – Fast as the Law Allows” I like that….
This post is great, and makes me wonder sometimes why we went this way… I know some of the reasons why they removed the rails in town, was due to the war and such, (but still some rails do lie underneath some of our city streets to this day), and they wanted to get more industrialized with the automotive sector. In the past years, this City has talked about the next best thing a couple times, and its called Light Rail, which is vehicles that are just a bit larger then a street car, but do farther distances. If they city we to get off there ass and put in stuff like light rail service, and also see if the makers of other Transportation equipment come to Windsor & the Greater area, then the city needs to get out of its Union mentality & Automotive brains, and then something may happen. Most transportation orders in this country & in the rest of North America (including Mexico), are only large enough to hand work load for guys at 6 month periods, and some times its longer & some times less, depending on the job.
I am will to say, if Windsor wants a light rail company or transportation company, the best place for it, is off of Twin Oaks, with a rail connection, as this is the main way lots of these guys have there work brought in and out… Just have to take these steps 1 day at a time, and see what happens next…
Well, Ian, I’ve written extensively on this subject. Having light rail is initially more expensive than a bus system, but light rail attracts new businesses along it\s route and it attracts new ridership, even people who dont “have to” utilize public transportation.
After a light rail system is established, it’s operating costs are proven to be cheaper, due to the fact that light rail cars last a lot longer than buses, and have a far higher operator to passenger ratio. Not to mention the environmental benefits and esthetic benefits of a streetcar line as well.
As many have said, “streetcars are sexy”. They give the cities who are lucky enough to have them a certain cosmopolitan feel and their romance has been catalogued in popular culture. Imagine if Tennessee Williiams were alive today, would he have to call his play “A Bus Named Desire”?
The way we bring this back to Windsor is by building it in phases, firstly establishing a simple belt line around downtown, or as Wannick suggested, a line from the U to Walkerville RR station, something anything to get this in motion.
I guarantee all of you, as soon as people see a streetcar line back in Windsor, back in action, they will want it to be brought back to it’s original breadth and depth. All it takes is just one belt line and the rest will follow.
And yes Ian the big three, namely GM had a lot to do with the dismantling of the streetcar system in North America, not just Windsor. GM made the buses, Firestone made the tires and they ran on gasoline provided by Standard Oil and they wanted a monopoly on the public transit sector at the time, so they bought most of the streetcar companies and simply converted them over to bus systems.
Brendan is right. They didn’t really kill the electric car, but they did kill the rail car…which ran on electricity…hmmm…
If you check some of the older posts,such as the funeral bus during WW 2 notice that Windsors buses where Fords, very boxy. Later Windsor bought Fogel twin, and then Gm buses.
Detroit are planning lightrail line Three and a half miles on Woodward to new center area,
estimated cost 150 million dollars.This will replace the line they scapped in the late fifties that ran all the way to Eight Mile Rd. (state fairgrounds loop)
If they have the same luck as with Colemans train end cost 120 million dollars,double theestimate,built by Ontario Transportion Co..A division of the provincial goverment probably now defunt,