First ride on The Hop: Smooth, on time and with new-car smell
Grand opening of streetcar is scheduled for noon on Friday
The first public rides on The Hop were on time and began with a bit of a jolt and a whiff of new car smell Monday.
Passengers, including journalists, city officials and Mayor Tom Barrett, reached for hand grips as the $124 million streetcar pulled away from the westbound station at Cathedral Square Park. It was an unofficial ride for the media, in anticipation of the grand opening of the system at noon Friday.
With his hand looped on a safety strap, the mayor spent the first part of the 40-minute round-trip ride extolling the virtues of The Hop, a system he spent a considerable amount of political capital to support.
“This is really a shot in the arm for our community,” Barrett said.
The mayor ticked off numerous commercial developments along the route, including the new 25-story BMO Tower office being built at 790 N. Water St. and revamping of the Milwaukee Athletic Club, 758 N. Broadway.
“This is a dynamic period for the heart of the city of Milwaukee,” he said, also mentioning large projects completed by Northwestern Mutual and Fiserv Forum, the new Milwaukee Bucks arena.
Neither Barrett nor Commissioner of City Development Rocky Marcoux mentioned a key project anticipated along The Hop’s unfinished lakefront loop — the Couture, a high-rise apartment tower planned by Barrett Lo Visionary Development LLC.
The $122 million Couture plan includes a $6 million transit concourse, part of $17.5 million in public improvements at the project. The Hop tracks would loop through that plaza.
The Couture’s developer is waiting for U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development officials to decide whether the department will grant a guarantee for the project’s construction loan.
“We are very confident that this is going to happen,” Marcoux said.
“It’s a big investment for” HUD.
Critics at the state and local level say the city is wasting money on the streetcar project by returning to a transportation system that was discarded decades ago.
On Monday, The Hop ride was smooth, thanks in part to the rails that the streetcar rides on. Potholes aren’t an issue. At times, such as on St. Paul Avenue, the car seemed to move along swiftly at about 25 miles an hour.
Like any public transit vehicle that has standing passengers, it’s a good idea to keep a hand grip nearby. During one early stop, a group of reporters nearly found themselves in a pile on the car floor.
There’s plenty of headroom in the passenger seating areas at either end of the symmetrically designed car. The mayor stands nearly 6 feet 4 inches and had a bit of room to spare.
“Giannis would fit down there,” Barrett said with a laugh, noting the spacious headroom in the middle of the car.
The streetcar will mark the start of regular service on Friday with a grand-opening event at noon at Cathedral Square Park, near one of the streetcar stops on East Kilbourn Avenue.
The Hop will run on a 2.5-mile loop through downtown and the Historic Third Ward between the Milwaukee Intermodal Station, 433 W. St. Paul Ave., and Burns Commons, at East Ogden and North Prospect avenues.
Passengers will be picked up at 18 stations every 10 or 15 minutes. Rides will be free for the first year under a 12-year, $10 million sponsorship by Potawatomi Hotel & Casino.
The $124 million project includes five streetcars, tracks, overhead wires and a new maintenance facility.
Construction of the streetcar project is funded with a $55 million federal grant and money generated by Milwaukee tax financing districts. The $3.2 million annual operating budget will be covered by fares, advertising revenue, federal grants and cash from city parking meters and parking lots.
On Monday, as the streetcar passed the corner of East Ogden Avenue and North Jackson Street, a couple standing at the corner waved.
“On Friday, the mayor’s probably going to have the biggest smile in the city of Milwaukee,” Marcoux said.