A streetcar that runs on battery power with no wire may as well be a rubber tire bus.

A bus would save millions of dollars in this case.

The area rep gets a $50 million fed grant that has to be matched with $3 million local money.

Not much detail about the $50 million (or so!) gap between the total system cost of $103 million(so they say) and the $53 million they sort of have.

I bet the diamond and interlock part alone would eat a good chunk of the $53 million!

Electric bus cost is about $700,000 per bus.

Lord help burning tax money!





Rotary Sub Wrote:
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> Wires are not necessarily required for light rail
> operations. This can be a reality for shorter
> lines. Brookville’s Modern Streetcars have off
> wire capability. The system in Detroit does not
> have any wire on its alignment. The cars are
> powered by batteries that are re-charges at each
> ends of the line. In Dallas the same type of car
> runs on an alignment that has overhead wire on
> some sections, but not on others. The products are
> out there to enable transit agencies to provide
> service using electric vehicle’s without the
> investment of stringing overhead wire.