DRPA opts for E. Market Street surface streetcar line, plus along Delaware riverfront Options

[KevinKorell]

From Philadelphia, PA Inquirer, 10/27/09:

With the blessing yesterday of Mayor Nutter and members of the city's Washington delegation, a proposed trolley line for east Market Street and the Delaware River waterfront moved a step closer to reality.

Story is here.

I have to wonder if this is such a good idea. Yes the north-south segment of the proposed streetcar would be very worthwhile, in connecting the two casinos and resurrecting service that had been operated by heritage trolleys along Columbus Blvd. in prior years. But Market Street? Except for the short segment where it crosses over or under I-95 and its connection to the north-south line, a Market Street streetcar would run on the same throroughfare as the Market-Frankford Line. Are they shooting themselves in the foot by creating competition between streetcar and subway?

In New York a proposal to put a streetcar on 42nd Street river to river failed, and there is no doubt that one big contributor to the idea's demise was the fact that not one but two subway lines run crosstown for the majority of that trip (the S shuttle and the 7 train).

Seems that the DRPA is getting into too many intrastate things. Shouldn't SEPTA be involved in planning a service that runs within Philadelphia and could siphon off some of its local ridership along Market Street? And they have their hands in what will essentially be a RiverLINE extension on the NJ side of the river.

[Sloan]

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/78665377.html