Vancouver Studying the Possibility of a Streetcar

Vancouver, British Columbia is keeping the possibility open for streetcars to travel the streets of the city on Arbutus Street and around False Creek to Yaletown, Chinatown, the central waterfront and Stanley Park, according to an article by Frances Bula.

The status of streetcar planning in Vancouver is still extremely preliminary, and according to Bula, it's unlikely that any new streetcar route could be implemented inside a decade. But, "the city is about to hire outside consultants to study what needs to be done to ensure that no new building projects or road changes shut the door to a future streetcar line."

Bula notes that streetcars have a had mixed track record as they've been reintroduced in cities like Atlanta, Detroit, Phoenix, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Portland. In Canada, the King Street streetcar line in Toronto recently received praise for prioritizing the streetcar line before automobile traffic. For its part, Vancouver is also a frequently cited model of transportation planning success.