The End is in Sight

Transit folks talk a lot about “the last mile.”

Basically, it means that traditional transit, like buses, usually can’t get you directly to the door of where you’re going. This also applies to cars – you usually have to park your car and walk to your final destination in busy urban environments.

The holy grail of transit is figuring out how residents, commuters and visitors can get to where they want to go using public transportation entirely – including that elusive last mile.

This is when ride sharing advocates chime in and present services like Uber and Lyft as the answer to this lack of convenience. However, ride sharing adds to problems like congestion, pollution and to a small extent, safety.

The real answer is there is no one silver bullet that will get everyone to everywhere they want to be. The solution is a robust public transportation system – a network of options that makes it easy for folks to get close to where they are originating from, and where they want to be.

For the tens of thousands of Omahans who live, work and have fun in our urban core, the last mile can be achieved with the streetcar (it actually becomes “the last block” in a lot of cases).

And when you add the current bus system, the upcoming ORBT bus rapid transit route, and bicycling and walking into the mix, a streetcar makes it that much easier for people to get around town without needing to use a car.