It should be common knowledge that new streetcar projects are happening all over America and beyond, and it’s been apparent for some months that few here even know that.

If Boise doesn’t want that federal money, that’ll be just fine with the rest of the nation, where half a hundred other cities are in line for it. Boise can then continue paying to build other cities’ streetcar systems as it has for decades.

It probably would.

Maybe we could attach a stylized horsehead to the front of the bus too. Mack trucks have a bulldog on the front so why shouldn’t a bus serving BSU have a stylized horsehead attached to the front of it?

Anyone have suggestions about how to decorate the rear of these buses?

The original concept was to use small buses with a flashy special paint scheme to differentiate them from their larger, duller (as perceived by the public) brothers and sisters.

The small buses under consideration were not that much different in concept from those mentioned in the recent Guardian story about small flashily painted buses in Baltimore.

https://boiseguardian.com/2010/01/18/better-buses-buttress-baltimore-business/

It’s only been in the last 10 years or so that the local politicos have managed to have studies done which changed this concept from rubber tired buses to steel wheels. After all, trolleys are sexy, buses aren’t.

EDITOR NOTE–Would Orange and Blue buses with a stylized horsehead qualify as “sexy” for that route?

A north/south route that would run from the Capitol to BSU has been part of the plan since at least 2004.

As the, then, BSU facilities planner and, later, transportation planner for Ada County, I continued to strongly encourage such a route connection. This N/S route would decrease the amount of time many BSU students, staff, and faculty have to spend waiting for a transfer in the downtown hub — and significantly decrease the amount of vehicle congestion on Capitol Blvd and Broadway Ave. And, further, if the route looped down University and back up Broadway its 8-minute head time could service as one-half of a campus shuttle. Not a bad way to provide transit to one of the largest employers in the downtown (not to mention the benefit to the 20K or so BSU students).

But I also felt that a steel wheel on steel rail option (which would require a reconstruction of both the 9th Street and Broadway bridges) wasn’t necessary on the N/S route. Though the Broadway bridge is in serious need of reconstruction, the 9th Street bridge is still quite new and servicible.

I can imagine that the primary reason Idaho was one of the few states to be denied TIGER funds has to do with its lack of ability to fund operations of any capital improvements. That is, if we got the money and built a streetcar system (steel wheel or rubber tire)we have no means to pay the drivers and mechanics to run that system. This was not lost on the federal agency charged with distributing the grants.

Currently, operational costs for local transit are being borne by the different participating local governments out of shares of their property tax revenue. Which is an extremely arcane (and unfair) way to pay for such a service since it doesn’t provide the taxpayer an ability to appeal directly to a taxing authority in regards to transit.

The legislature needs to agree that there is already enabling legislation in the state’s constitution and statutes to permit the Regional Transit Authority to appeal directly to voters for financial support. The various cities and counties in the Valley should not be in the business of funding transit directly, nor should they be able to strong-arm their own agendas onto the transit using public.

EDITOR NOTE– Amen Mr. Gunderson! The question remains. If the proposal you outline has been on the books for 6 years, why, why, oh why hasn’t it been presented to the voters? The vast majority of the property it would pass is publicly owned (library, parks, BSU, etc.) and not a source of revenue–LID or no LID.

Maybe Boise could refuse to have the motor fleet emissions-inspected, like Canyon County is going to do… and kick that money into the transportation-consultant kitty.

“The problem isn’t with the trolley concept, it’s just in the wrong location. A North-South system (that just so happens to run past acres of my own developable land) would make _so_ much more sense.”a

Hold on to your wallets Boiseans, this trolley idea smells of too much money to die this easily.