City residents explore new streetcars
Visitors look forward to seeing system in action
Karen Gill, 40, has traveled to more than her share of big cities — Portland, Denver, London, Paris, Berlin. Everywhere she’s gone, there seem to be streetcars.
So she was excited to attend The Hop open house at the streetcar maintenance facility Friday evening, where she saw Milwaukee’s new streetcars for the first time.
Her assessment: “I want to be a driver for an hour.” Then, more seriously: “I’m keeping an open mind.”
Gill was just one of many Milwaukee residents who came out for the free event, presented by Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, which aimed to formally introduce Milwaukee’s new streetcars to the public. Visitors were allowed to physically explore the interior of a streetcar, though it remained stationary. Another streetcar on an elevated platform allowed viewers to get a close-up view of both its wheels and its roof.
The first of the five 67-foot streetcars produced by the Pennsylvania-based Brookville Equipment Corp. arrived in downtown Milwaukee in March. The 150-passenger vehicles have already begun undergoing on-street testing.
“We’re very proud of Brookville and what they’ve done,” said Shawn Cuda, business relations manager for Milwaukee Composites, which donated the floorboards for the streetcars. “These are beautiful cars.”
Streetcars have seen something of a nationwide renaissance in recent years. Cities such as Dallas and Washington, D.C., have attempted to replicate the massive success of Portland, whose 17year-old streetcar system services nearly 5 million riders annually.
But not all of Portland’s copycats have enjoyed the same success. Cities such as Atlanta have faced backlash due to declining ridership amid expensive costs. Similar debates have riled Milwaukee’s own streetcar project in recent years. Proponents have claimed it will improve transit and fuel economic development, while critics have derided it as an expensive distraction from real transit solutions.
Most people interviewed at the open house, however, didn’t hold any strong political opinions on the issue. The general sentiment was one of cautious optimism for the project’s future.
John Ferguson, 36, who moved to Milwaukee from San Francisco in 2015, said the streetcar “made me feel like I was in the city.”
“It’s the only reason that I’m still here,” said Mike Kostiuk, 65. “(Milwaukee) would be a dying city if it wasn’t for something like this.”
Kostiuk was confident that the streetcar project would be just as successful as the development projects on Milwaukee’s riverfront.
Not everyone was quite as effusive in their praise.
“My concern is that it’s not plugged into the bus system,” said Ken Schellin, 40, who worried that the lack of integration between streetcar and bus transit would cause confusion. “If this was all under (Milwaukee County Transit System) I’d feel a lot better.”
Still, like most of the other open house visitors, Schellin looked forward to seeing the streetcars in action.
The Hop’s downtown route is projected to open in November, while the lakefront route is expected to begin operations in 2019. The 2.5-mile streetcar route will link the Milwaukee Intermodal Station to the city’s lower east side. Thanks to a $10 million sponsorship deal with the Forest County Potawatomi community, riders will not be charged a fee for the first year.
At the open house, as music played and vendors passed around popcorn, adults and children alike crowded into the streetcar with phones and tablets, photographing the floor, ceiling and everything in between.
“It’s nice-looking,” Steve Orisetti, 62, said. “I hope it’s a success.”