Sacramento — Streetcar Concept

Rail Transit Online, October 2005

A national Streetcar Summit meeting was held in Sacramento on Sept. 23 hosted by the Regional Transit District (RT), which is participating in plans for local trolley circulators in West Sacramento, Folsom, Citrus Heights, Rancho Cordova and downtown Sacramento.  The purpose of the summit was to inform local residents and community leaders about the advantages of streetcars, with case studies provided by experts from cities that already have successful systems including Memphis, Little Rock, Tampa and Portland.  RT board members Heather Fargo and Christopher Cabaldon, the respective mayors of Sacramento and West Sacramento, issued a statement urging attendance at the summit and calling for streetcars to be an integral part of the local land use blueprint, connecting expanded recreational and entertainment venues in the two cities.  “Streetcars are a great way to move people through active, populated urban areas, complementing our existing light rail system,” says their statement.  “They are smaller, lighter, and play nicer with pedestrians and bicycles.  At less than half the cost of light rail, they can be built faster and cheaper, with much less reliance on the kindness of strangers for funding.  We have to act nimbly and quickly to take advantage of the promise of streetcars.”