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Streetcar MKE Streetcar: Personal Blog

Morning at the Public Market - Trackside Coffee

Posted: 2021-03-10

Year of The Hop: by Foot and by Rail

by John December / Updates/More Info: johndecember.com/mke

Please see my caveats about my blog before reading this.

Before the Pandemic

I began my interest in The Hop streetcar when I saw tracks being built in my neighborhood. Although I was supportive of the proposed streetcar system, I had not thought about it very much until I saw the reality of the construction. I wondered: where do those tracks go? How will the streetcar change the neighborhood where I've lived for almost 20 years?

I began my study of the streetcar as part of my interest in urbanism and Milwaukee. I photographed the tracks, took video of the delivery of a streetcar, took video of the testing of streetcars, attended an open house, prepared a guide to streetcar destinations, and joined a Facebook group "Friends of Milwaukee Streetcars." I had the chance to take part in a Smart Cities contest with faculty and graduate students from the Center for Urban Transportation Studies at UW-Milwaukee based on an idea I had for streetcar support which eventually led to a project concept and a business plan.

Throughout this time, I learned more about streetcar research and the history of streetcars in Milwaukee (Canfield, 1972). I attended the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee, where I'd gone to talks about local history. Even before The Hop opened, I realized that my lifelong learning goals had become centered on studying the streetcar's role in urban transportation. So on November 2, 2018, I was thrilled to be at the opening day of The Hop.

Once The Hop opened, I rode it daily. I used it to get to destinations, my freelance photography work, and to events. I noted five weeks of use near the end of 2018. February 9, 2019 marked The Hop's 100th day of service. As a long-time rider of the bus and area transit, I used The Hop as well as Milwaukee County Transit bus service. On many days, I rode both the bus and streetcar multiple times. For example, on April 4, 2019, I had 7 rides on The Hop streetcar and 6 rides on MCTS buses. This multi-modal use gave me some insight into the differences between the bus and streetcar.

In June 2019, a medical event put me in the hospital for a while, ending my streak of 224 consecutive days of riding The Hop at least daily since its opening. By Bastille Days 2019, I was back. I used a walker for a few weeks as I was still unsteady on my feet. This opened my eyes into how someone using an assistive device uses transit, and I was very grateful to have The Hop and its level-loading platform, wide doors, handicapped seating area, and smooth ride. I developed my list of advantages of the streetcar.

I took a few more photos of The Hop during 2019 and noted The Hop's first anniversary of operation.

As 2019 ended, anticipation was high, as the year 2020 would bring the Democratic National Convention to Milwaukee, and I looked forward to volunteering at the convention. On my volunteer application skills list, I listed "streetcar guide" and imagined helping attendees use The Hop to get around.

The Pandemic

From my writing "20 by 20: poems through the pandemic and beyond":

March 2020 

virus rumors
late winter

hush 2020
you see clearly

nothing can
touch us

from the 
other side 
of the world

There was a sudden change in March 2020--vague talk of a virus spreading and a sense of caution about its virulent nature.

As news of the global pandemic became more grim, orders for staying at home were announced. I observed those orders. For the first part of the pandemic, I did not ride the streetcar. I walked for exercise and to get groceries. I also increased my use of online shopping. This started on March 10, 2020.

As masking and social distancing protocols came into place, scientific evidence emerged showing that "No direct correlation has been found between use of urban public transit and transmission of COVID-19" (Schwartz, 2020). I used The Hop with a mask and social distancing and tended to sit near the large doors that would open at stops. I had ceased riding the bus for transit, and I don't have a car, so I established this pattern of using the streetcar and walking as my sole transit modes. My intent was to see how it would work--would I be able to meet all my needs with just the streetcar and walking? I wanted to give this a try through the spring and into the summer. Little did I realize that it would go for an entire year.

Using just The Hop and walking for transportation, I went on trips to my medical appointments--to see my primary doctor, eye doctor, cardiologist, medical lab (x-ray), and dentist. I went by streetcar to grocery stores, bank, mailing and printing services, and to get to the Riverwalk for longer exercise walks. I avoided going into businesses except as necessary, so I did not get to some restaurants as I might have otherwise. I went for coffee or dining where seating was outside, and that was welcome in the warmer weather. I photographed some sights of the times.

With the pandemic, there was a major drop in public transit use throughout the country (USA Facts, 2020) and the world. There were empty local freeways, lower Hop ridership, streets filled with people and bicycles instead of cars (Katz, 2020), and lower CO2 emissions (Le Quéré, 2020).

In the spring, Black Lives Matter demonstrations and a confluence of global events and conditions--the pandemic, economic dislocation, and racial injustice--revealed inequities in our local communities.

For the fall 2020 elections, I voted by absentee ballot and delivered the envelope to the dropbox at City Hall by streetcar.

Using The Hop: My Destinations

As the weather warmed and masking protocols were in place, I used the streetcar to get to a variety of places. I went to some of these destinations many times, so I made over 100 trips to the grocery store, for example, and made hundreds of trips for photography. Note that while a 400-meter maximum distance is often used to identify what destinations are walkable from a transit stop (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, 2016), I'm willing to walk a greater distance, and this is reflected in my list. I wanted to walk for my health, and so getting walks to and from the streetcar stations helped me.

Being used to car-free strategies, I was accustomed to dressing for the weather, and so I had no problem using the streetcar and walking as my transit modes. There were only some weeks during the year of extremely cold weather and some weeks of uncomfortably hot weather. Note that in my year of using The Hop, I didn't use an bicycle, e-bike or light electric vehicle (LEV) or ride in a car or bus or anything other than the streetcar.

Below is a list of my destinations for my year of walking and The Hop:

In the destinations I list here, the most I walked was 2 km from the Intermodal stop in order to reach my dental appointment. The least distance I walked from a stop was about 20 meters to go into The Milwaukee Public Market. I would go on photography walks, looping through the Third Ward, downtown, the Riverwalk, Lakefront, and East Side, using The Hop as connectors of nodes on my trip.

Here are photos that I posted to my flickr site from my Hop year and a collage noting The Hop's second year of service.

Using The Hop: My Experience of Place and Time

As I used the streetcar and walking as my sole transit modes, my mental map of the landscape expanded and my use of The Hop became second nature.

The landscape of downtown Milwaukee has been shaped by early streetcars and walking (Gurda, 1999; Canfield, 1972), so using both seemed a natural fit for getting around. I felt a kinship with people from those times of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and at some points, I felt like a time traveler. I could perceive the walkable nature of the street layout and how streetcar use expanded the destinations I could reach.

A streetcar on West Wisconsin Avenue circa late 1920's:
Streetcar 309 photo from Milwaukee Public Library
(Click for larger image)
Photographer: August Riemenschneider
Source: Milwaukee Public Library

I knew, however, that the modern streetcar I rode was significantly different from those times, and that the urban landscape had changed. However, the streetcars' function was the same: the linking together of walkable urban areas across neighborhoods. Back in the 1800s to the early 1900s, the difference was less of an emphasis on the accommodation and storage of automobiles, as their widespread use was in its infancy.

My experience of place included my "home stop," or the streetcar stop where most of my streetcar trips started and ended, and this home stop opened up my destinations across the whole streetcar corridor.

I appreciate that the platforms of The Hop are accessible up a ramp to a platform right at the street. This is much much easier, quicker, more pleasant way to get to The Hop than the platforms that would be in underground subway stations. Where I stayed in London I used the Goodge tube stop as my home stop, and it was quite an ordeal to descend to underground tunnels and eventually reach the platform. Similarly, the Washington DC Metro provides efficient transit service, but its underground station access sometimes requires travel to the platform via escalators and long walks. Certainly, the expansive systems of The Tube in London and DC's Metro are very different types of urban rail service and serve a different purpose than The Hop streetcar. But in comparison of access to the platforms, I very much appreciate the surface-access stations of The Hop and would have preferred streetcar service in central London or DC (both cities have since gotten streetcar lines). Surface stations match the platform access pattern of streetcar systems throughout the world and are an advantage of a streetcar system.

By riding The Hop, I could see that the shorter distances served by a streetcar work well across a neighborhood. Longer distances across a city between major stations benefit from a subway. The connections to even longer distances, at major rail stations--Euston in London, Union Station in DC, and the Intermodal station in Milwaukee--fit into a hierarchy and network of rail that spans from my home stop, to the neighborhood, and then across the country.

In the early days of streetcars, the walk from your home stop was perhaps very routine--an expected and natural aspect of getting around the city. The idea of having a personal vehicle stored outside one's home hadn't caught on, and there was room in the streets for people, walking, streetcars, and horses for a while. I've always enjoyed the walk through the historic district in which I live to my home stop.

My mental map of the streetcar resembled an abstraction of the route, in a line resembling the stop order map on the streetcar as a central axis. Rather than thinking of The Hop's route on the physical landscape, I saw it as hop-on-hop off transit between points on its stop order. This mental map is an abstraction, much as London's Tube Map is a simplification of the transit lines' actual physical direction and placement.

In order to introduce my mental map, I want to define the term "walkshed." A walkshed is the area around a transit stop or station that people can be expected to walk to or from the transit vehicle. A distance of about 400 meters is often used as this walkshed distance (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, 2016; PedShet.net) and represents the maximum distance, approximately, how far people are willing to walk from the transit stop to a destination or from their origin to a transit stop. Just as a simplification for discussion, I'm using circular walksheds to approximate this walking area. Here is a walkshed centered around Cathedral Square Station represented by the blue circle which has a radius of 400 meters:

walkshed map
(Click for larger image)

I imagine walkshed circles, centered on stations, stacked perpendicular to the route of the streetcar like this:

abstract mental map
(Click for larger image)

So in this diagram, the red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple stations each have their 400 m radius walksheds around them. The streetcar connects the center of these. My goal in this mental map is to emphasize not just the connections of the stations to each other, but the connections of stations to destinations in the walksheds. The London Tube Map emphasized the connections among stations only. I see streetcar's value as its close integration with the walkshed around the station. Because of the streetcar's characteristics--emissions-free, quiet, accessible, ground-level stations, easy-to-use--its power is that of connecting walkable urbanism to transit. This is why my mental map, unlike the London Tube Map, includes the walksheds as part of the visualization.

This mental map can be applied to simple trips by streetcar. For example, if I want to get to Colectivo Cafe in the Third Ward, I go from the walkshed around my home stop to the Third Ward's walkshed. To do this, I walk to my home stop, ride on The Hop to the Third Ward stop, get out of The Hop, and then walk south across E St Paul Avenue and then east to the cafe at mid-block. This can be envisioned in the diagram by moving from the blue to the red walksheds, for example. I walk a pattern that if done at my home stop without boarding the streetcar would just place me on the south side of E Ogden Avenue. But with The Hop, that same amount of walking places me in the Third Ward.

Examining this visualization further reveals the efficiencies of the transportation method. To use an analogy, The Hop's route is like an elevator. If I am in a building with an elevator, I can travel to another location on a different floor by walking 1) to the elevator; and 2) from the elevator to the final location on the destination floor. This sort of efficiency of compressing access to walkable spaces using the central transit method (elevator) helps make tall buildings usable. The key to this analogy is the streetcar's fixed nature is like the elevator's fixed nature. This efficiency allows the walking spaces of the floors to work well to support the purposes of the people in the building.

This mental map represents the urban geography I experience as a connected set of walksheds served by Hop service along the track. This topology expands the area where I walk because it draws it together, through the streetcar service, a sum of all the walksheds where I can go. Because the streetcar's access is easier--in a hop-on hop-off manner--I gain more area for walking in the service corridor of the streetcar than if I didn't use the streetcar. Moreover, since I am willing to walk even further than the 400 meters that is often used as a walkshed distance, my area is expanded even more. I associate each station with what is available at each: a park, the market, the riverwalk nearby, a favorite cafe, the grocery, etc. Using The Hop allowed me to meet my needs in the neigborhood because I developed a routine for moving about, a mental map of what was available, and the user-friendly nature of the streetcar made it easy to connect these.

The relationship of one's home stop to the network of streetcar destinations sets up the power of walking and streetcar use. For example, before the streetcar, I would walk to the Third Ward, but once there, I'd already expended a good deal of energy, and I didn't explore much further. With the streetcar, I take The Hop to the Third Ward stop, and I arrive refreshed and ready to walk even further into the Third Ward and even further into Walker's Point. Shoppers to the Milwaukee Public Market can arrive at its doorstep, refreshed, and ready to shop. Understanding this is a matter of realizing that the streetcar is a walk extender, not just the sole transit mode that one would take from "A to B." The streetcar stops are starting points for people walking, and the arrangement of the stops along the route expands the choices of starting points for people.

To illustrate this value of walking and the streetcar, I can point out a trip I took before the pandemic. I rode The Hop to the St Paul and Plankinton stop, then walked into Walker's Point to a cafe for a meeting as this photo illustration shows. The topology of this trip is that it created a walk for me as if I lived in Walker's Point, when in fact, I live more than 3 km away, about a 40 minute walk. I likely would not have wanted to make that walk without a streetcar. Riding the streetcar is much easier, as I don't have to deal with the automobile drivers failing to yield to pedestrians and making walking difficult and even dangerous. The streetcar segment from one walkable area to another makes the difference for me in being able to get to destinations in another neighborhood.

My internalization of the route was made easier because I know the permanence of the tracks connote a long-term commitment. This might have even affected my unconscious and intuitive mental mapping of the space. Natural fixed features of the landscape like the river and lake play a big role in my mental map of where I live. The streetcar route's permanence places it within that category of a reliable presence. The streetcar route, like the Riverwalk, represents a fixed feature of the landscape. I am willing to make a commitment to learn how to use it and use it regularly.

Using The Hop became quite easy not just because of its hop-on hop-off nature, but because of its pandemic schedule. The pandemic shortened the streetcars' daily service hours and lengthened the time interval between streetcars. The pre-pandemic schedule had more frequent weekday service (15-minute separation between streetcars). The pandemic schedule was set to a 20-minute separation between streetcar arrival times. The pandemic schedule also set just two streetcars running along the route at a time (versus three pre-pandemic). Although I was first disappointed that this might make The Hop more difficult to use, the result was the opposite. The Hop's performance, although being quite good with on-time performance before the pandemic, but the pandemic schedule seemed to me more accurate. At times, I used the Transloc app to track the streetcar to find out the next arrival time. However, I found that The Hop was reliably on-time, and its schedule was the same each day. I found I could quickly use my watch as a way to know about where the streetcar would be. I knew the approximate minute I could leave my apartment to be able to get to my home stop just a few minutes before the streetcar would arrive.

By internalizing The Hop's schedule, I could glance at my watch and know, approximately, where each of the two streetcars would be along the entire route. I developed this ability because I was taking photos of The Hop at certain points. The predictability was fairly consistent, to the point where I used the Transloc app only if there was an unexpected delay. Combined with recognizing the sound of The Hop--such the bells along cross streets on a quiet morning or the whoosh of the wheels on rails on the track as it approaches, and the blinking white lights high atop poles at certain corners, such as on Jackson Street, I would be able to tell when The Hop would be expected to arrive. I also gained a sense of where common places for cars parked illegally might slow The Hop's progress and the likely times these delays might happen.

My internalization of The Hop's movements made it easier to use. Although the streetcar was running less frequently, it was running more consistently, and with the same schedule every day. During the pandemic people reported not being able to tell one day from the other, and I found it easier to have the same Hop schedule every day for the same reason. Using various cues and the Transloc app as a backup, I could figure out fairly accurately how to minimize my waiting for The Hop. These are simple skills that most transit users develop quite quickly, but I think people who are not used to public transit might assume that a 20-minute interval at stops for streetcar service might mean that they would have to "wait 20 minutes" for The Hop.

The easy-to-use modern streetcar, combined with my mental map of the route and internalized schedule resulted in my view of the area where I could go not as limited, but expanded. Simply put, my ability to walk to destinations is greatly magnified by riding The Hop. For a year, I had the chance to sort this out more clearly than if I would have been taking other transit modes or not paying close attention to how The Hop helped my walking. If I were disabled or had a hard time walking--which I was after my heart surgery--I can see how the streetcar is crucial for me to be able to get to destinations because of the level loading, level-floor area for walkers or wheelchairs, and smooth ride of the streetcar. With a disability, I might not be able to travel as far from each stop, but I would still be able to get to destinations across a large area. Moreover, the stations spaced at intervals centered on trip-generating walksheds bring all those destinations within reach.

For someone not familiar with using the streetcar, assistive devices, or understanding what it is like having a hard time walking, the utility of the streetcar design might make it seem that the stations are "too close." However, consider an analogy to an elevator in a tall building: the floor-to-floor service is crucial. Although an able-bodied person might be able to walk quickly up the stairs between a couple of floors, the elevator is needed to stop at each floor to provide the service to passengers who require it. A hale and healthy individual might be able to run up the stairs in an 8-story building--even carrying groceries. But for people who can't walk up the stairs at all, the service interval of the elevator to every floor isn't "too close." A swift walker might be able to run up the stairs several floors faster than the elevator if it had to stop to let on or off passengers--this doesn't mean that the elevator service to each floor is slow or useless. Again, for someone having a hard time walking, who is tired, carrying groceries, or moving about in harsh weather, this close service is essential. Taking The Hop more than a couple of stops, the value of the service becomes even more clear, as the short-term walking speed advantage diminishes. Even an Olympic-level speed walker would have a very hard time beating The Hop on its entire route.

The Hop's connects to densely-used locations. if you consider just the taller buildings along the route, The Hop's main line connects 52 buildings of at least 30 meters (about 100 feet) tall which together constitute 744 floors with a combined height of 10,106 feet or 3,080 meters. The tallest building in the world is The Burj Khalifa, Dubai, United Arab Emirates at 829 meters and 163 floors (completed 2010). So the combined height of the tallest buildings (over 30 meters) along The Hop Main Line route is more than three times as tall as the tallest building in the world. Note that there are hundreds of buildings under 30 meters along The Hop Main Line route and more taller buildings along The Hop's Lakefront Line. This gives an idea of the connected density along the route.

A casual rider could use The Hop without this mental map or internalization of the schedule, as the Transloc app as well as locator maps or guides do the work. However, I found that internalizing the schedule and route made it easier for me to use it--using streetcar became second nature and my walks blended seamlessly with streetcar trips going about the city. Having a sense of history while walking among buildings helped me feel more connected to the story and layout of the city. So much of Milwaukee was established in walkable patterns long ago, and historic streetcars ran along some of the same streets where I ride The Hop.

In riding The Hop, I found that the speed of it was appropriate for the streets and its function. The Hop slows down on curves and as it approaches and leaves the Intermodal stop at the switch on West St Paul Avenue. There is the expected noise of rail operations as it takes curves on a dry track or moves through switches. The Hop's interior, being well-lit with natural light through large windows, made the trip pleasant, and looking out, I could see the places along the route quite clearly. The speed of The Hop wasn't at all something that concerned me: its posted schedule and expected progress along its route was on-time the vast majority of the time. Special signals for the streetcars at certain intersections allowed The Hop to move quickly through. I've overheard some new travelers on streetcar remark that it was "walking speed" at times, and indeed it was, as it would slow down to pick up or drop off passengers and slow down appropriately on curves.

I also know the area well, and having created my guide to destinations along the route, I was under no illusion that The Hop "didn't go anywhere." In fact, I knew that the densely-populated and intensely-used area of The Hop's Main Line holds far more destinations than I could list. In my guide, I only provide general-interest stops, knowing that people would have their private workplaces, residential buildings, and specialized professional and private business along the line--thousands of them.

Since The Hop's opening construction along the route continued, including the completion of the BMO Tower, the Huron Building, Tru by Hilton, Holiday Inn Express, Home2 Suites by Hilton, Cambria Hotel, and the Dwight and Dian Diercks Computational Science Hall at Milwaukee School of Engineering University. The construction of The Ascent began in the fall of 2020. Notably, the buildings listed here provide more productive use of the urban land, as they replaced automobile storage areas.

A person who is accustomed to low-density land use might not recognize the 3.4 km main line's potential for a wide variety of destinations. But in the downtown of the state's largest city, this is one of its most densely-populated areas.

This variety of destinations that someone arriving at a Hop station can reach is indicated by the Walk Scores of stations along the route (Walk Score, "Living in Milwaukee"). According to the Walk Score methodology, these walk scores reflect the number of amenities at each of The Hop stops. These high scores mean that people arriving at these stops have a wide variety of potential destinations to choose from. Walk scores of over 90 indicate a "Walker's Paradise -- Daily errands do not require a car" and over 70 indicates "Very Walkable -- Most errands can be accomplished on foot." Note that all stops have scores of 90 or above except the Intermodal stop.

Walk Scores of Hop Stops (as of 2021-03-09)
Walk
Score 		Stop
90 Burns Commons
95 Ogden at Astor
95 Ogden / Jackson Eastbound
95 Ogden / Jackson Westbound
95 Jackson at Juneau Northbound
95 Jackson at Juneau Southbound
97 Cathedral Square
98 City Hall Northbound
98 City Hall Southbound
97 Wisconsin Avenue Northbound
98 Wisconsin Avenue Southbound
96 Historic Third Ward Westbound
97 Historic Third Ward Eastbound
94 St Paul at Plankinton
83 Intermodal

I think that someone riding the streetcar, seeing just the facades of what lines the street, might not realize what destinations are available. In some cases, rather dour parking garages line the street.

A highly-visible and remarkable destination for The Hop is the Historic Third Ward, home of the Milwaukee Public Market, located right at a Hop stop. Often very crowded during all kinds of weather, The Milwaukee Public Market is an example of the kind of destination, right on a street car stop, that a location might have. It demonstrates how transit can orient itself toward active destinations and destinations can be oriented toward transit.

People can walk from the stop at the Milwaukee Public Market into the Third Ward, itself a remarkable urban area because of the pedestrian-friendly Broadway and street grid established in the 1800s. Hop riders can walk west one block from the Public Market stop to the Milwaukee Riverwalk, a recipient of a Global Award for Excellence given by the Urban Land Institute. In many ways, the Milwaukee Riverwalk is like The Hop streetcar--public infrastructure that provides transportation service along which businesses and recreation can thrive.

The Milwaukee Public Market continues to thrive, and it extended its sidewalk on its south side, eliminating car storage there. This inviting view strongly demonstrates the people-orientation of the market. I believe that the Milwaukee Public Market area could be a world-class public market if an emphasis were placed more on people and their interaction with businesses rather than automobile storage. When the market is running successfully, people vastly outnumber cars on the streets, so it is strange to see so much space given over to cars when developments elsewhere, notably Times Square in New York City, re-oriented spaces toward people and actually improved car traffic flow and safety (Sadik-Khan, 2016). With emphasis on modern parking reform (Shoup, 2018), the area might "achieve enormous social, economic, and environmental benefits at almost no cost simply by subsidizing people and places, not parking and cars" (Shoup, 2011).

Using The Hop: My Perception of Discussion Context

Since I've first heard of the streetcar proposal, I have been aware of the complex political mileau in which discussion about the streetcar has taken place. However, I was astonished by some people stating opinions about the streetcar based on misconceptions, misinformation, or lack of experience of actually using it. I was struck by the repetitive nature of these comments. People made declarations of The Hop's value without ever seeming to have ridden it and starting from the point of view of prior prejudice. Misinformation about the streetcars' funding, costs, ability to operate in snow, and other topics proliferated and repeated. People made snap judgements of The Hop's speed or performance after riding the streetcar for just a short time.

Other people made honest mistakes without understanding how streetcars work. Some would wonder why the streetcar wasn't "going" when it was waiting at the Intermodal station for its departure time. (They were not aware of the set schedule, that even on a short route, is established in order to avoid vehicle bunching (Nguyen, 2017)). Many people also don't understand the difference among rail transit modes: streetcars, light rail, or long-distance passenger rail. They conflate the purposes, features, and operation of each. Route placement of a streetcar depends so much on the trip-generating density of locations along the route. The Hop's curving progress through downtown meets this goal (along with engineering and cost constraints). A light rail line would not have this characteristic, and its time at sustained higher speeds along straight segments would be greater. However, in comparison, a light rail line would not have the neighborhood-serving density of streetcar stops. This confusion is as if someone would criticize the ore-hauling capabilities of a small fishing boat and the recreational fishing capabilities of an ore boat and find both lacking.

Given so many points of view, I was puzzled by articles in local publications that critiqued The Hop but failed to provide close observation of how it is being used, the details of its operation, its advantages, or its purpose. The writers seemed to make a cursory trip on the streetcar and state little about The Hop's specific features as a transit system within an urban environment or compare it to other forms of transit. There was a critique of the fixed nature of the tracks, but without the recognition that most public transportation infrastructure is fixed: roads, bridges, and highways, and that this fixed nature has an unquestioned value and purpose for citizens located all over the area, despite its local, fixed construction.

Others have sought to dismiss the streetcar as "just for tourists" or "just for bar-hoppers" or "just for the rich" or "just a shiny toy" with no concrete observations to back up that point or explanation why they would think that the streetcar serves only one specific type of rider. Not being a tourist or bar-hopper myself and riding The Hop regularly, I notice many people also taking The Hop for trips to the grocery store or to school (at MSOE, for example), I wondered if people saying these statements had ever closely examined the route or its riders. The Hop does serve tourists, including people going to bars (good for not drinking and driving), but also residents. The strength of a transit system relies on a diverse ridership with different purposes at different times of the day. Passenger loads also vary--there are periods of large passenger loads and small passenger loads--as on transportation systems and highways all over the world--as well as different purposes of the travelers.

I was aware of these points of view about the streetcar, and I made an effort to gain insight, including listening to comments made by people riding The Hop. I also looked at online discussions. I wanted to understand the statements which often conveyed misconceptions and misinformation, false dichotomies and false assumptions, or used ideological bias. There were false fears spread (such as bikes or motorcycles not co-existing with the tracks or that the streetcar wouldn't run in snow). Others used what I call "mode mirage" (the implication that streetcars are not needed because--very soon--there will be hyperloops, gondolas, flying cars, intelligent pods of some type, or some electric-something that is better, although it might not exist). I've come to see certain repeated statements reflect a common set of tropes. These types of statements might be politically motivated or influenced (Mayer, 2017). While this complex set of opinions and motivations behind them could be examined more closely, I'd like to just note here that I've observed it and continue to see patterns. In fact, I am very grateful for these critics who have inspired me to learn more. I've found excellent sources such as Todd Litman's "Rail Transit In America: A Comprehensive Evaluation of Benefits" that refutes misinformation against rail transit. I have also learned more about how multi-modal transit works together and the strengths of each transit mode, so that streetcars have a role, as well as light rail, buses, and other transit, as well as automobiles and trucks.

I think most people have a good attitude about the streetcar but might say something that is misinformed just out of a quick observation. New or casual users needn't be expected to know these details, or its purpose, funding, use, or operation. Most people, as I've observed, just enjoy riding the streetcar, and they can see the utility of it once they ride it several times for specific purposes.

My Insights

Using only The Hop and walking as my transportation modes during the pandemic, I experienced living in a city neighborhood in a way I might not have otherwise encountered. I had a chance to use the streetcar regularly for my local trips, form a mental map and internalize the schedule, and made using the streetcar second nature to me.

I gained awareness of the advantages of the streetcar, the quality and ease of its ride, and the connections it makes to diverse destinations. I used my mental map visualization to see how the streetcar's operation linking walksheds efficiently supports access to connected, walkable spaces. Combined with my understanding of the features in the areas around the stations, I experienced how the streetcar brings the whole neighborhood together in a more easily-accessible way. The Hop helps people move freely, serves disabled and car-free people, and combines active transportation (walking or biking) with transit to diverse destinations.

My main conclusions are:

  1. All of my local needs for the year were met by using walking and the streetcar. The practical destinations on The Hop's main line--grocery stores, post office, medical care, and access to the riveralk and parks--made this possible. Of course, I had home delivery of items, and my life in the city was supported by others--such as delivery drivers or maintenance crews, waste disposal, first responders, and numerous others--who used trucks, the street network, and highways. Clearly, a whole network of people made it possible for me to use only walking and streetcars for daily transportation. I am not claiming everyone or everything would or should travel by streetcar.

  2. It is indeed a privilege to live where I can use the streetcar and walk to so many destinations. This makes me more motivated to help others gain the option to use a streetcar. I acknowledge that this infrastructure is paid for with public funds and involves governmental as well as public-private partnerships. I understand that, in modern life, cars are needed, trucks are needed, and highways are needed. I know that there are concerns about gentrification and displacement (Diciaula, 2019) with the type of increased development that happens along a streetcar route. Anti-displacement oriented planning needs to evaluate equity in these developments and transit enhancements need "community connectivity and neighborhood network planning" (Thomas, 2020).

  3. By experiencing the streetcar nearly daily as my only vehicle transit mode, I was able to more clearly see its function, operation, and advantages. These advantages touch on the experience of using the streetcar, the vehicle, its route, destinations, development, and benefits to the community. I can see more clearly how the streetcar relates to destinations, compares with other transit modes, and works within the changing and fixed nature of the urban and natural landscapes.

  4. The streetcar's hop-on-hop off nature blends walking with transit in a way not possible with any other vehicle. A bus simply does not have the same quality of ride, emissions-free operation, hop-on hop-off rapid boarding, capacity, user-accommodating features, or the power to support existing or motivate new development. A bus will never have the efficiency of low-resistance rail travel or the steady ride of a streetcar. Widespread use of electric cars or Uber or Lyft ride services creates spatial competition for street space and curb space. The streetcar alleviates this spatial competition by providing high-capacity transit. The Hop operates well in mixed traffic, and it has its own dedicated right-of-way only along East Kilbourn Avenue for a short segment. Transit signal priority methods help move The Hop along its route more efficiently (Li, 2008; Yuxionga et al, 2018; Pitstick, 2018).

    Milwaukee's walkable urbanism is well-noted, and the landscape was already primed for walking and streetcars because it was, in many areas, shaped by them. As I internalized the schedule and my mental map of the route, I could see how the streetcar gave me a richer, more accessible life in the city. I could see the need to look closely at transit and land use together, because closely-fitting transit like the streetcar draws from--and shapes--the land use in which it runs.

  5. The design of the streetcar corridor reveals a path for developing urban areas to their potential for walkability, environmental benefits, equity, and economic growth. The Hop's goal has always been for service beyond the Main Line. Expanding the streetcar line even one stop adds significant destinations because the additional area encompassed grows by the square of the walkshed distance around the additional station. Streetcar use can improve the productivity of the urban land by supporting denser land use around stations. The Kansas City Streetcar is part of a Smart City strategy in which technology, including smart traffic signals, streetlights, sensors, and free public Wi-Fi are along the streetcar route. Modern parking reform boosts the social, economic, and environmental benefits of an area (Shoup, 2018).

    An excellent option for The Hop's extension would be to the proposed Vel R. Phillips Plaza where an additional streetcar stop would bring in a whole set of useful destinations that are along West Wisconsin Avenue. The vision for the streetcar is part of the "healthy heart" of Milwaukee--everybody's neighborhood-- that can spur growth and strengthen nearby neighborhoods.

    Along the streetcar route, there are numerous opportunities to emulate the success of the Milwaukee Public Market by increasing the orientation of development to transit and transit to development in a way where both can shine. Looking at research literature and the accounts of streetcars and development, I see that land use and streetcar service interact, and that both can be planned together to the benefit of both. This can be a way to improve the ability of people to navigate through walkable urban areas and improve the life of the city. More importantly, the streetcar serves as the street-level connector for transit, which itself can connect to other transit such as bus service and long distance rail--which The Hop does at its Intermodal stop.

  6. There is more to explore. While I've focused on the insights of my Hop year, there are still more issues relating to equity and inclusion. How can a streetcar provide a transportation network that helps people address housing costs, housing plus transit costs, and economic inclusion? How is it possible to fund quality transportation, address climate change, and provide access to daily and practical needs such as groceries, pharmacies, medical care, parks, and educational, cultural, and civic sites?

In my year of The Hop and continuing, I can see how the streetcar creates a neighborhood-spanning transit network. This network has a high degree of accessibility, employs user-orientated design in vehicles and routes, gives quality experience for riders, has shown proven capabilities in our weather, improves urban land productivity, and supports development.

I see an opportunity with streetcars to bridge governmental, community, public-private, and commercial partners in urban transportation. Few public infrastructure investments touch on so many aspects of community--jobs, commerce, health, equity, livability, and prosperity. My Hop year helped me see what can happen when people work together to build high-quality public transit infrastructure and experience.

From my writing "20 by 20: poems through the pandemic and beyond":

June 2020 

solstice light
public market
streetcar stops
alight 

sidewalk faces turn
in air
so invisible

that the silent
gone
are remembered
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2024-04-17 · John December · Terms © johndecember.com