Questioning Mayor Marty’s Trolley

Although taxpayer activists managed to beat back previous efforts by the Mayor and many on City Council to put a $28 million a mile streetcar down Central, bad ideas never die. The Albuquerque streetcar is one that has recently resurfaced via a consultants report outlining how the project should, in their minds, move forward. View their presentation here.
Jim Scarantino over at The Alibi, wrote an excellent article on the streetcar in which he questions ridership assumptions and whether it makes sense to spend $28 million a mile for what would be at best marginal gains in ridership.
Thankfully, Scarantino is by no means the only voice of opposition to this crazy proposal. The excellent blog Eye on Albuquerque questioned the project’s merits in a recent posting. Mario burgos also has an interesting analysis.
Even the Albuquerque Journal questioned the project’s merits in a recent editorial. Hopefully our illustrious representatives on Council and Mayor Marty will abandon this project once and for all due to the widespread and well-reasoned opposition.