Moving Ahead - Slowly

As you may know, the Streetcar Feasibility Study -

commissioned by the City and Mountain Metro

Transportation - was completed this past summer

and presented to City Council, which encouraged

further work towards implementing the system,

provided no general fund monies were involved. The

study, which you can access at

www.csstreetcar.com and by clicking on Feasibility

Report, recommended as a first step, a north - south

corridor through downtown to Colorado College or

Penrose Hospital, with follow-on segments north

through the Old North End Neighborhood ending at

the University of Colorado - Colorado Springs on

Nevada Ave. To broaden community support for the

project, future routes west to Old Colorado City and

Manitou Springs, east along Constitution Avenue or

Platte Avenue and south to Fort Carson were also

suggested.

The Streetcar Task Force, on which our Foundation

is well represented, continues to meet. Although no

commitments have been made, it appears that the

Task Force is leaning towards using our fleet of cars

as restored, which would be contributed to a Public -

Private Partnership we would enter into with the City

and/or the bus system. Our expectation is that city

bus drivers would operate our newer PCC cars in

everyday service and our people would run our

historic cars on weekends, holidays or for special

events, like it is done in cities such as Dallas. For

federal funding a number of events must occur,

however, for that to happen, and this is where the

"slowly" phrase in the header comes into play:

An Alternatives Analysis must take place; it would

define the exact routes the system would use within

the corridors the feasibility consultants

recommended, along with paseenger stops, etc. At

the same time, detailed capital cost data would be

developed, along with projected car scheduling,

marketing plans and revenue and expense pro

formas.

Because Federal monies would be sought for an

estimated 50-80% of the cost of the system, an

environmental impact study would need to be

completed. Funding for this study is being sought -

both Federal and the required local match.

Detailed design and engineering work would follow,

City Council would give final approval to the system,

and with Federal funding secured for construction,

and the local match provided in part by our

Foundation through contribution of our cars

and what other assets we had that the system

could use, we would move forward with the

project.

There is one major uncertainty however, over

which we have relatively little control. The

City's financial situation has caused it to cease

funding the bus system, leaving only fare and

advertising revenues and what monies RTA can

contribute to operate the system in 2011 and

beyond. These monies are not sufficient to

maintain even the reduced levels of service that

now exist. A Governance Study is currently

being conducted with recommendations to City

Council scheduled for next February or March.

That study is evaluating alternative funding and

sustainability alternatives for Mountain Metro,

all of which will probably dictate a vote by the

people in Colorado Springs and some outlying

communities to increase taxes in some form.

How and if a streetcar system is to be included

in any referendum has not yet been addressed.

It should be clear to the reader that there are a

lot of hurdles that must be cleared before

reaching the finish line. Please be assured that

the Foundation is addressing them and has

begun the process of evaluating alternative

strategies, should events not occur as expected.

We remain committed to a streetcar system

operating in Colorado Springs and using our

restored cars. Please stay tuned and

committed.

Dave Lippincott