Steve Patterson makes the case against the return of streetcars in University City. His contention is that they are not very ADA-compatible.
I agree with him, and I can only add that I’d be rich if I had a dime for every old timer in St. Louis who reminisced about how great the street cars were. If they were so great, then why were they eliminated? Everybody in St. Louis knows that the last street car line, the Hodiamont, ended its operation 1966. But the hard truth of the matter is that there were dozens of lines in St. Louis after WWII, but there were only three left by 1961. It just took five years to get rid of the other three.
The main problem with the street cars is that it made city street work, such as paving and resurfacing, a pain in the neck. And if there was an obstruction in the way of the street car line, you were SOL; you had to wait there until the obstruction was cleared away. Buses can easily re-route.
The reason that St. Louis’s old timers go on and on about how great the street cars were is that people suffer from selective memories. It’s the same thing with war veterans. Their time in service was nothing but great, even though when they really were in service, they couldn’t wait for their tour of duty to end and to be discharged.
