Omaha Streetcar Discussion

[OverlookedFarm]

Oscar instantly reminds me of the lovable guy that glorifies garbage.


Abe's Trash Service gunna be big mad Omaha is claimin thier mascot.

On that token, the only time ive ever ridden a orbit, it smelled like hot garbage, and urine. was this a coincidence?

Oscar is always a happy guy it seems. Never seems to care about his abode.

[locoluke]

On that token, the only time ive ever ridden a orbit, it smelled like hot garbage, and urine. was this a coincidence?

Sometimes buses, especially older ones have a little bit of a “smell”, but I’ve never encountered anything like hot garbage and urine. It certainly never smells any worse than anything you’d smell walking around downtown.

[Renovator2559]

Oscar instantly reminds me of the lovable guy that glorifies garbage.


Abe's Trash Service gunna be big mad Omaha is claimin thier mascot.

On that token, the only time ive ever ridden a orbit, it smelled like hot garbage, and urine. was this a coincidence?

Oscar is always a happy guy it seems. Never seems to care about his abode.

I've never detected smells in ORBT or a regular bus.

[Dusty]

I figured they would use blue and white to tie into the Metro Buses. It is funny reading all the comments about the colors.

Light blue, dark blue, orange, and White! Wow! It seems so bold and original!

Wait....Orange County is calling to tell us something. LOL!

[stadsborgare]

I'm an Edmonton Oilers fan, so it works for me!

[meliketrains]

I love the new design and naming choices. I think it actually does a lot of legwork in getting people more on board (literally, too) over time. People love anthropomorphizing things, and when I shared the logo/design with my notoriously anti-streetcar friend group, they begrudgingly acknowledged it was cute.

[Dundeemaha]

I'm glad that the blue/orange design connects the normal buses and the ORBT large buses. I get that OMetro wanted to make ORBT stand-out but it's silly to have a fully separate branding for semi-enhanced bus service.

At what point is the different branding of the transportation options more confusing / clarifying of their operational differences? I generally think it's only confusing as if you know enough about the options to know what the different branding means you already know the operational differences.

[bbinks]

I am personally against attributing human names and attributes to inanimate objects, but I suppose some people are just more fun than I am.

I dont like it either, but w/e.

Names don't bother me, but I hate it when foamers assign a sex to a locomotive... "She's Pulling in to Waterloo now". She?

Haha my neighbor did that to his tree that was dying last year and kept calling it “this guy” and “he”. I was so confused. It’s a tree.

Some trees are dioecious. Pollen or seed producing only. About 5%.

[skinzfan23]

Just looked at the KMTV city cam and it made me think of a question. What happens when a car stops at an intersection at a red light, but is over the track? Does the streetcar just have to wait in that instance? I didn't know if anyone has experienced this in riding KC streetcar.

[Busguy2010]

They'll have to wait for any obstruction to move. I see normal operations in mixed traffic being no problem, as the odds of somebody crossing and stopping in the middle of the intersection over the tracks is slim. I worry much more about parked cars, and I do foresee that being a major problem in the beginning.

[Busguy2010]

No matter how you chop it up though, the streetcar isnt an efficient form of transportation, and was never sold as such. It may be still up in the air whether or not itll have signal priority, but I dont recall anything about that. TSP would change that, making what should be about a 20 minute trip (I think I heard 18) - slower than the 15 and way slower than ORBT - more on par with more efficient forms.

[skinzfan23]

I would assume that all areas within the track would be "no parking" 24/7, so hopefully that won't be much of an issue. But I bet you might be right and we should have a towing company on standby.

[Garrett]

Just put some Mad Max style cowcatchers on the front of the streetcar and let them push cars out of the way

[nebport5]

KC/MO has laws that prohibit stopping on or within a designated proximity of the tracks. I'm sure we'll have some similar laws in place but I can foresee there being potential problems during CHI events and 10th St is backed up to The O.M. Traffic enforcement will likely need to be in place at particular intersections.

Although, I support Garrett's idea.

[nebugeater]

Just put some Mad Max style cowcatchers on the front of the streetcar and let them push cars out of the way

That works as long as it's also OK for the lifted trucks on the streets to be equipped the same way to keep the streetcars moving along!

[locoluke]

They should install a laser on top of the streetcar that zaps cars out of the way.

[Busguy2010]

I would assume that all areas within the track would be "no parking" 24/7, so hopefully that won't be much of an issue. But I bet you might be right and we should have a towing company on standby.

Theyre keeping the street parking for sure, its the overhanging that'll be the issue. Namely long trucks and people who are otherwise garbage at parking. Its happened everywhere theres been a new streetcar. For that, Im pretty confident they not only will want, but need a towing company contracted to be on standby for the first few months. Somebody here mentioned its likely to be enough of an issue to change any angled parking to parallel. I think thatd be a good idea, giving parallel parkers a good extra several feet to not get it wrong.

I think the error you mentioned of stopping in an intersection and accidentally blocking the tracks is primarily an event-issue. It honestly can be tough to guage whether you're going to be blocking the intersection once the light turns red or not, so like mentioned, traffic control will be an important factor for that purpose.

[almighty_tuna]

It's a forgone conclusion that there will be a couple local TV pieces featuring someone from west O who drove downtown complaining how the streetcar has made event traffic so much worse. Mark my words.

"I tried to park but there was this large train in my way and I couldn't get into my spot. There needs to be more parking so this doesn't happen."
or
"The steetcar took so long to load/unload passengers and held up traffic for an entire light cycle. I live in Gretna and don't even want the streetcar. I want my tax dollars back."

[riceweb]

It's a forgone conclusion that there will be a couple local TV pieces featuring someone from west O who drove downtown complaining how the streetcar has made event traffic so much worse. Mark my words.

You say that like it's a problem that needs to be addressed. As if we're not supposed to say negative things otherwise the streetcar's feelings might get hurt.

[remline]

What happens when a car stops at an intersection at a red light, but is over the track? Does the streetcar just have to wait in that instance? I didn't know if anyone has experienced this in riding KC streetcar.

In KC, there are several places where passenger vehicles can parallel park alongside the track. Our streetcar trip was temporarily halted due to a parked vehicle that was not close enough to the curb, potentially obstructing the track. We sat near the vehicle for 10–15 minutes while the streetcar driver conferred. Eventually, the streetcar driver decided that we could squeeze past, and so we continued on our merry way, no worse for wear.

[almighty_tuna]

You say that like it's a problem that needs to be addressed. As if we're not supposed to say negative things otherwise the streetcar's feelings might get hurt.

That's a weird interpretation, given my provided examples of frivolous and uninformed complaints that generally happen with every major project in the city.

[riceweb]

You say that like it's a problem that needs to be addressed. As if we're not supposed to say negative things otherwise the streetcar's feelings might get hurt.

That's a weird interpretation, given my provided examples of frivolous and uninformed complaints that generally happen with every major project in the city.

You're assuming the complaints are frivolous and implying that those that air these complaints are in the wrong. I mean, I get it, we all know that not all complaints are real (Parks & Rec highlighted that so well), but I don't think it helps anything to be completely dismissive of complaints about the streetcar.

Rather than dunking on these people and the networks, I think it's better to keep a positive tone, focus on the benefits (like being able to park easily at Midtown Crossing, grab dinner, and then take the streetcar to the ballpark... a message that's more likely to connect with these folks, that these changes should ideally *reduce* hassle overall)

[meliketrains]

Was a massive miss not to make the streetcar lanes dedicated with no car access and to gut offstreet parking. The last year has shown how completely unnecessary those lanes are for car traffic and how people should be forced to use the dozens of garages that sit half empty at any given point. It really is just such a waste of infrastructure and sets the trams up to be worse than they should be. The good news is that this is an easy fix in the future, should Public Works/the Streetcar Board make that decision.

[nebugeater]

It's a forgone conclusion that there will be a couple local TV pieces featuring someone from west O who drove downtown complaining how the streetcar has made event traffic so much worse. Mark my words.

"I tried to park but there was this large train in my way and I couldn't get into my spot. There needs to be more parking so this doesn't happen."
or
"The steetcar took so long to load/unload passengers and held up traffic for an entire light cycle. I live in Gretna and don't even want the streetcar. I want my tax dollars back."

Hey, what ya got against Gretna??? I resemble that categorization

[stadsborgare]

For every person who rides the streetcar, that person is not driving his own car. Translation: lighter traffic than would otherwise be.

But the naysayers will not acknowledge that, even though they may benefit.

[almighty_tuna]

Hey, what ya got against Gretna??? I resemble that categorization

Haha, it was a pointed throwback to state senator Lou Ann Linehan who magically discovered the streetcar after years of it already being in progress and wanted to investigate it, hence the tax dollar aspect.

[NEDodger]

For every person who rides the streetcar, that person is not driving his own car. Translation: lighter traffic than would otherwise be.

But the naysayers will not acknowledge that, even though they may benefit.

I think many people would be fine with, say, 7 extra cars on the road in exchange for not having the current construction headaches.

[TitosBuritoBarn]

For every person who rides the streetcar, that person is not driving his own car. Translation: lighter traffic than would otherwise be.

But the naysayers will not acknowledge that, even though they may benefit.

I think many people would be fine with, say, 7 extra cars on the road in exchange for not having the current construction headaches.

Those people should keep that opinion in mind before the city widens more roads in suburbia.

[NEDodger]

For every person who rides the streetcar, that person is not driving his own car. Translation: lighter traffic than would otherwise be.

But the naysayers will not acknowledge that, even though they may benefit.

I think many people would be fine with, say, 7 extra cars on the road in exchange for not having the current construction headaches.

Those people should keep that opinion in mind before the city widens more roads in suburbia.

Those roads get used, though.

[locoluke]

For every person who rides the streetcar, that person is not driving his own car. Translation: lighter traffic than would otherwise be.

But the naysayers will not acknowledge that, even though they may benefit.

I think many people would be fine with, say, 7 extra cars on the road in exchange for not having the current construction headaches.

In 2024, the KC streetcar averaged 4K riders per day on weekdays and almost 10k riders per day on Saturdays. Sundays averaged 5k riders per day.

[TitosBuritoBarn]

Those people should keep that opinion in mind before the city widens more roads in suburbia.

Those roads get used, though.

Sure, in the same way you can buy a Model T in any color you want as long as that color is black. Maybe your circle likes their Model Ts black, but why so certain there are no people who want their Model Ts in other colors?

[Louie]

For every person who rides the streetcar, that person is not driving his own car. Translation: lighter traffic than would otherwise be.

But the naysayers will not acknowledge that, even though they may benefit.

I think many people would be fine with, say, 7 extra cars on the road in exchange for not having the current construction headaches.

Those people should keep that opinion in mind before the city widens more roads in suburbia.

Those roads get used, though.

Only because they keep getting built and added on to

[NEDodger]

Those people should keep that opinion in mind before the city widens more roads in suburbia.

Those roads get used, though.

Sure, in the same way you can buy a Model T in any color you want as long as that color is black. Maybe your circle likes their Model Ts black, but why so certain there are no people who want their Model Ts in other colors?

The projections for usage are between 850-1000 per day. And that’s likely, as with ORBT, going to be overly optimistic. The idea that this is going to be moving visible amounts of traffic off the road is not reality.

[stadsborgare]

Those people should keep that opinion in mind before the city widens more roads in suburbia.

Those roads get used, though.

Sure, in the same way you can buy a Model T in any color you want as long as that color is black. Maybe your circle likes their Model Ts black, but why so certain there are no people who want their Model Ts in other colors?

The projections for usage are between 850-1000 per day. And that’s likely, as with ORBT, going to be overly optimistic. The idea that this is going to be moving visible amounts of traffic off the road is not reality.

The streetcar's viability should be more rightly measured in decades, not the next 5 years. Omaha will continue to grow year after year, which means traffic will get worse year after year. It used to be said one could drive across this city in 20 minutes, but that's no longer. Our future is more congestion, and more, and more of it. The streetcar is but a start to help alleviate the future problem.

Many people are stuck in their ways and expect to always be able to drive up to the front door of the business they're going to, and I expect for awhile even after the streetcar is up and running, they'll still remain married to their private automobiles. Attitudes will change gradually over time. Eventually people will seek the path of least resistence.

A case in point, I bring up this scenario:
A group of friends in midtown are going to attend a concert together at the Steelhouse. Some prefer to drive to it and look for parking there, while others hop on the streetcar and take it there. The streetcalr riders arrive at the venue and wonder what's holding everybody else up? Well, they're stuck in traffic, and when they finally do arrive, are taking more time to look for parking, and after paying their $20 parking fee they walk up to where the rest of their group has been waiting for quite awhile.

Do you think that pattern will keep repeating itself, or will some of the stubborn ones eventually come around?

[Garrett]

Those people should keep that opinion in mind before the city widens more roads in suburbia.

Those roads get used, though.

Sure, in the same way you can buy a Model T in any color you want as long as that color is black. Maybe your circle likes their Model Ts black, but why so certain there are no people who want their Model Ts in other colors?

The projections for usage are between 850-1000 per day. And that’s likely, as with ORBT, going to be overly optimistic. The idea that this is going to be moving visible amounts of traffic off the road is not reality.

Those projections are extremely conservative. Kansas City had similar initial estimates and their first segment that's about as long as Omaha's was hitting between 3,000 and 5,000 riders per day.

[NEDodger]

Those people should keep that opinion in mind before the city widens more roads in suburbia.

Those roads get used, though.

Sure, in the same way you can buy a Model T in any color you want as long as that color is black. Maybe your circle likes their Model Ts black, but why so certain there are no people who want their Model Ts in other colors?

The projections for usage are between 850-1000 per day. And that’s likely, as with ORBT, going to be overly optimistic. The idea that this is going to be moving visible amounts of traffic off the road is not reality.

Those projections are extremely conservative. Kansas City had similar initial estimates and their first segment that's about as long as Omaha's was hitting between 3,000 and 5,000 riders per day.

Alright.

St. Louis’s had an estimate of 400,000 in its first year.

It had 17,000.

[TitosBuritoBarn]

Those people should keep that opinion in mind before the city widens more roads in suburbia.

Those roads get used, though.

Sure, in the same way you can buy a Model T in any color you want as long as that color is black. Maybe your circle likes their Model Ts black, but why so certain there are no people who want their Model Ts in other colors?

The projections for usage are between 850-1000 per day. And that’s likely, as with ORBT, going to be overly optimistic. The idea that this is going to be moving visible amounts of traffic off the road is not reality.

Those projections are extremely conservative. Kansas City had similar initial estimates and their first segment that's about as long as Omaha's was hitting between 3,000 and 5,000 riders per day.

Alright.

St. Louis’s had an estimate of 400,000 in its first year.

It had 17,000.

Where did you get those numbers?! They got 35,000 weekday riders the first year and while I don’t know what they were projecting it to be, i highly doubt it was more than Chicago’s fully developed L train service does on a weekday, which is 386,000.

[Garrett]

Those people should keep that opinion in mind before the city widens more roads in suburbia.

Those roads get used, though.

Sure, in the same way you can buy a Model T in any color you want as long as that color is black. Maybe your circle likes their Model Ts black, but why so certain there are no people who want their Model Ts in other colors?

The projections for usage are between 850-1000 per day. And that’s likely, as with ORBT, going to be overly optimistic. The idea that this is going to be moving visible amounts of traffic off the road is not reality.

Those projections are extremely conservative. Kansas City had similar initial estimates and their first segment that's about as long as Omaha's was hitting between 3,000 and 5,000 riders per day.

Alright.

St. Louis’s had an estimate of 400,000 in its first year.

It had 17,000.

The Saint Louis streetcar was a terrible service that only ran 4 days per week with extremely limited hours, on a heritage fleet car, on the edge of the city not even touching the densest parts of the city. It has zero things in common with Omaha’s streetcar beyond running on rails. If you build a shitty, inconsistent service, don’t be surprised when people don’t show up.

[NEDodger]

Those people should keep that opinion in mind before the city widens more roads in suburbia.

Those roads get used, though.

Sure, in the same way you can buy a Model T in any color you want as long as that color is black. Maybe your circle likes their Model Ts black, but why so certain there are no people who want their Model Ts in other colors?

The projections for usage are between 850-1000 per day. And that’s likely, as with ORBT, going to be overly optimistic. The idea that this is going to be moving visible amounts of traffic off the road is not reality.

Those projections are extremely conservative. Kansas City had similar initial estimates and their first segment that's about as long as Omaha's was hitting between 3,000 and 5,000 riders per day.

Alright.

St. Louis’s had an estimate of 400,000 in its first year.

It had 17,000.

Where did you get those numbers?! They got 35,000 weekday riders the first year and while I don’t know what they were projecting it to be, i highly doubt it was more than Chicago’s fully developed L train service does on a weekday, which is 386,000.

https://flatwaterfreepress.org/america ... ght-track/

Mmmm….where did I say it was projected to outdo Chicago’s L?

[TitosBuritoBarn]

Those people should keep that opinion in mind before the city widens more roads in suburbia.

Those roads get used, though.

Sure, in the same way you can buy a Model T in any color you want as long as that color is black. Maybe your circle likes their Model Ts black, but why so certain there are no people who want their Model Ts in other colors?

The projections for usage are between 850-1000 per day. And that’s likely, as with ORBT, going to be overly optimistic. The idea that this is going to be moving visible amounts of traffic off the road is not reality.

Those projections are extremely conservative. Kansas City had similar initial estimates and their first segment that's about as long as Omaha's was hitting between 3,000 and 5,000 riders per day.

Alright.

St. Louis’s had an estimate of 400,000 in its first year.

It had 17,000.

Where did you get those numbers?! They got 35,000 weekday riders the first year and while I don’t know what they were projecting it to be, i highly doubt it was more than Chicago’s fully developed L train service does on a weekday, which is 386,000.

https://flatwaterfreepress.org/america ... ght-track/

Mmmm….where did I say it was projected to outdo Chicago’s L?

Oh. That thing? I thought you meant MetroLink. That’s a terrible comparison and I don’t know why anyone uses it for a comparison. That’s a billionaire’s toy, not viable transit. Of course it failed. The region’s transit agency did not find it viable after studying its feasibility nor did they want anything to do with it. It was managed by a nonprofit until said agency was forced to take it over.

I was saying 400,000 predicted daily riders on the Loop Trolley, a two mile route that uses only three small trolley vehicles would be more than the entire Chicago L system does in a day. Someone should have known those numbers were absurd.