Investing in Transportation
We are looking forward to an updated cost estimate for the streetcar from the Advanced Conceptual Engineering study (which includes a more detailed cost analysis) – but in the meantime, it’s worth considering our past investments in public transit.
Omaha spends just $36 on public transit per capita. That amount is much lower than Kansas City (approximately $50), Grand Rapids, Michigan (approximately $52), the national average ($76), and the national median ($56) spending on public transit.
We believe it’s time to raise the bar on our public transit for our city and its people.
*Data Source: 2013 Heartland Connections: Regional Transit Vision Feasibility Analysis, 2012 METRO Ridership Study.
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Baby Can You Drive My Car?
We’re hearing a lot of buzz around autonomous vehicles and no wonder – it’s amazing technology with a lot of potential benefits.
According to KPMG, 90 percent of road accidents are caused by human error. When that’s taken out of the equation, the cost of insurance could go down, the cost of health care could go down, and people would be a lot safer on the road.
But, autonomous vehicles alone won’t solve traffic congestion, high vehicle costs or lack of economic development. Streetcars do all of these things, and more.
Like automobiles, streetcar technology has changed a lot over the years. Bringing a streetcar to Omaha would not be anything close to your grandma’s trolley.
Ultimately, we believe both autonomous vehicles and streetcars have their place in Omaha’s future transportation strategy and implementation plans.
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