Scheme for a resurrected Brooklyn streetcar (courtesy the Transport Politic)We were impressed to find a compelling scheme (beautifully documented, we might add!) for the resurrection of the Brooklyn streetcar, posted at the Transport Politic last week after New York City Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Kahn hinted that the city might consider this sort of reinvestment.  The scheme proposes a system of streetcars that would replace existing bus line with heavy ridership operating in a cross-town direction, opposite the manhattan-orientation of subway service in the borough.  Further, the Transport Politic offers the arguments below in favor of rail over bus, based on user experience and ridership data.  We acknowledge these points are hard to dispute, despite our previous posts in favor of buses ... hey, we're all on the same team here:

There’s the added benefit of the improvement in quality of life that comes with a streetcar system; it’s hard to pinpoint, but the smooth, silent movement of a tram along a city street is infinitely more appealing to the eye, ear, and nose than a diesel or even hybrid bus could ever be. Streetcars are also far more accessible to the handicapped, who can wheel right onto low-floor trains, something rarely possible on buses. There’s also the fact — another sort of unexplainable issue — that people choose streetcars with their feet. When Paris replaced the bus running around the southern part of its perimeter with a tram, ridership doubled. They’re quite good at attracting passengers. It’s not a huge surprise that dense, urban development follows them closely.  (via Transport Politic)

 Current cross-town Bus routes identified as candidates for LRT conversion (courtesy the Transport Politic)In any case, we think this is a great idea in the context of Brooklyn, given its population of 2.5 million and average density of 30,000 people/sq. mi.  Its really a crime that Brooklyn should ever have lost its streetcar service in the first place.  We would like to throw in our two cents by noting two other potential benefits of the scheme, with significant implications on planning and future growth in Brooklyn.

• The manhattan orientation of the subway in Brooklyn has reflected the status of much of the borough as bedroom community. However, a new network of streetcars overlayed on top of existing elevated/subway would create a uniquely redundant transit grid. The ability for residents to easily commute anywhere within the borough might enable the development of new transit-oriented commercial nodes throughout, with the help of appropriate rezoning.  Existing examples range from the citibank campus in Long Island City Queens, to less formal creative, retail and industrial centers like Williamsburg, Red Hook, etc., etc.  Can Brooklyn be the new Tokyo?

• There's something ineffably compelling--aesthetically and in terms of way-finding--about two functionally distinct grains of transit intersecting each other.  Going towards or away from Manhattan? Jump on the subway. Going cross-town? Step on the streetcar. One could think of it as a redeployment of Manhattan’s avenue/street hierarchy in a completely different form and context.  What would be the new urban character of streetcar corridors?  Shopping streets?  New linear housing density?  How would these developments influence the subway corridors?