Wave of new options
Fort Lauderdale streetcars will cost $5M each
FORT LAUDERDALE — There’s going to be a new vehicle turning heads in downtown Fort Lauderdale.
It’s called the Siemens S70, a sleek, $5 million streetcar that runs on electricity, has large windows for passengers to view the city and has plenty of room inside for bikes and wheelchairs.
Broward commissioners on Thursday authorized spending $31.4 million to buy five of the streetcars from Siemens Industry Inc. for the Wave project, a 2.8-mile downtown streetcar route running from Sistrunk Boulevard south to Southwest 17th Street near Andrews Avenue. It’s expected to begin operation in 2021.
The total Wave project cost is now put at $195.3 million. It’s being paid for by federal, state, county and city governments, and by property owners along the route. The Florida Department of Transportation is managing the project, while Broward County has agreed to run the system at a cost of about $6.4 million a year.
Broward Transportation Director Chris Walton said the county was able to save money by piggy-backing onto a streetcar contract the company signed last year with the city of Charlotte, N.C., which he said included some volume-discount pricing.
In addition to the base price and upgrades for each streetcar, the agreement includes $1.4 million for Wave-required technical changes, $1.7 million in shipping costs and $1.8 million in spare parts to be available for future repairs.
“Siemens assured the delivery of the five vehicles within budget and schedule, reducing the risk of not meeting planned service date,” Walton said. The budget had included $30 million for the streetcars and a $6 million contingency.
The $5 million streetcar price tag — tracks not included — is the same cost as purchasing seven county express buses.
At 83.33 feet long, the streetcars are more than twice the length of the county’s standard 40-foot bus and much larger even than its 60-foot elongated ones.
The streetcars have come under criticism from opponents who say they’re outdated technology in the age
of Uber and Lyft, that buses are cheaper and more efficient to operate, and that they will cause more traffic problems than they solve.
They’ll be operating in street traffic along with the buses and all the other downtown vehicles. The streetcars will have the ability to change red lights to green ones, which could help when traffic is backed up.
The streetcars will be powered by overhead wires along its 2.8-mile route, but they have an on-board battery system that will be used to run them over the Southeast Third Avenue Bridge above the New River without need for wires.
Construction of the system’s vehicle maintenance and storage facility is scheduled to begin in early 2018 near Southwest 17th Street, said FDOT project spokeswoman Michelle Simmons.
“Work along the Wave streetcar route will be determined once the contractor is awarded the project and the construction schedule is developed,” Simmons said. The contractor could be selected in October.
Walton said one reason Siemens was chosen is because it can accommodate future line expansions. Officials would like to see the downtown system eventually expanded to Port Everglades, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, the TriRail station on Broward Boulevard and the educational campus on Davie Boulevard.
Among the changes the county is adding is “stop buttons” for passengers wishing to get off a streetcar. These buttons will be used if the lines are expanded so trains don’t have to stop at every stop during off-peak hours, officials said.