R.T. Rybak, mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota, has pushed for budget funding to look into the possibility of building streetcar lines in the city's downtown. This article discusses the varied responses of the city's residents.
"Mayor R.T. Rybak has said transportation will be a major focus in the coming years, and streetcars are an important piece of his vision. So what do others think about streetcars?"
"Commuter Bruno Davis of Hopkins transfers through Minneapolis on his bus trips to and from work at Shop NBC in Eden Prairie. He used to be a bus driver in New Jersey, and one of the drawbacks with those vehicles he says is 'you're still at the mercy of traffic.' If Minneapolis leaders wants streetcars to run more efficiently than buses they need to give them their own lane, possibly down the center, he says. 'You put it in the middle of the street and that'll separate it from traffic.'"
"'I can't see what benefit they would have over the current bus system,' said Alex Bolton, a 19-year-old University of Minnesota student, who was absorbed in a book at the Uptown transit station. 'I think the bus system works fine enough,' he said. Adding streetcars to an already crowded street like Hennepin could make traffic worse, he said."
FULL STORY: Word on the street about streetcars
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