Yes. This. It's a thing on it's own. If you love ferris wheels or tourist trains to tiny mountain towns this is perhaps lovely. If you find them gauche then this is probably an abomination. Ours is a city suffused with nostalgia, so it is almost surprising to me that we did not already have something like this. But it is worth noting that the zoo line is nearly as big a draw as the polar bears, as I recall. It is a VERY popular feature. And it ain't free, last I checked. I don't know how this will fall out, but I fully expect that it will be fun and people will ride it. Even me. It will draw ME back to the loop. I won't go every week, or even every month. But you can bet your bottom dollar that I'll end up there a little more often, even if the only reason is to watch the darn thing roll by. And I bet I'm not the only one. It's worth noting that folks in Seattle actually complained when their cars moved down here. And Portland, too. Even though they still had the modern cars. (Seattle was, for a time, entirely without. And I think the waterfront line from whence the green cars came is still in limbo.) North South will happen more quickly. It will be more important. It will connect better with everything else. It will probably be cheaper. It's still taken . . . twenty years? Dear god, how long? And it will assuredly not turn a profit. (Nor should it need to.) But it's a different beast entirely.wabash wrote: ↑Feb 20, 2017I think this has been debated ad nauseum, but the Loop Trolley is a diversion, a tourist attraction, a place-making feature, a single man's whimsical folly, and an homage to an important piece of St. Louis history. Genetically it's more closely related to the zoo train than Metrolink.
It's not a transit solution and has nothing to do with St. Louis having "a coherent, useful transit system." The fact that it exists should not meaningfully contribute to, or take away from, St. Louis's accomplishments and shortcomings in providing mass transit solutions.
So maybe this should be somewhere other than the transportation threads. But maybe let's try not to crap all over someone else's party. It's a museum, or a kiddie ride, or a tourist attraction. It was never to my recollection billed as a solution to a problem. Or even, really, a way to actually get anywhere. It's a toy. Always was. A glorious toy for all of us as wish to play with. I suppose we can debate whether that deserves tax dollars, but I bet the percentage return is better than your average major league sports team. (Will have to see how things actually fall out.) This is not the first, nor will it be the last, entertainment investment of tax bucks. Scenic trails, sports teams, and maybe even art museums are to some appreciable extent essentially entertainment. And they all get tax money. (And some of them are even mistaken as transportation from time to time.) And usually . . . I think they're worth it.
