Raleigh desires streetcars in more of downtown

Raleigh, N.C. — Downtown boosters would like to expand a trolley service to get visitors to more entertainment hot spots near the city's center.

The trolley now runs on a short loop through downtown that doesn't even touch the thriving Glenwood South area, said David Diaz, president and chief executive of the Downtown Raleigh Alliance.

The group is helping city officials design a new downtown transportation system to include areas as far west as Hillsborough Street near the North Carolina State University campus. Raleigh has ordered three hybrid buses for the system, but the routes haven't been established yet.

Plans call for making the downtown transportation service free, one city official said.

Diaz said a more extensive system is needed before the new downtown convention center opens in the fall so that the thousands of visitors to events at the center can find more options to eat, drink and be merry.

"They're not going to want to walk (to Hillsborough Street). It's just a little too far, and so it would be a really nice convenience to come into the center of the city and vice versa," he said.

Restaurants like the Red Hot & Blue, at the intersection of Hillsborough Street and Oberlin Road, said they hope the expanded service has a nearby stop.

"I think it would just be a miss to not tap in," said Carmen Moran, manager of Red, Hot & Blue.

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Before "everyone" had a car, there used to be a trolley that ran down the middle of Hillsborough Street from downtown to the NC State area. Students would ride not to drink but to shop at Hudson Belk, etc.

Today's students can ride wolfline buses for free, and state employees can ride TTA buses for free as well. If the Hillsborough Street Partnership wants a free trolley to go to their front door, they should help pitch in. And they will, with a *local* tax on businesses in that corridor, not the whole city.

I know most people on here think we should tax downtown even more than we already do to build and staff a school in their neighborhood that only their children can go to, and the city looking into anything other than that is a "waste" of "their" tax dollars. But they are wrong.

ncwebguy
May 5, 2008 6:19 p.m.

This is a wonderful thing. Charlotte has a Gold Rush Trolley that goes all over Uptown Charlotte and connects with the Light Rail Station. 1,000's of people us it daily. It is also FREE!

Seems like it goes more places than the Raleigh Trolley though.

jeffthompson
May 5, 2008 3:08 p.m.

Thats not a streetcar! That is just a bus and I don't see that its any business of the city to be offering free bus trips anywhere.

haggis basher
May 5, 2008 12:36 p.m.

if you live downtown and you get drunk downtown, you should be able to stumble home without getting near a car.

and they can't attract too many upscale places to hillsborough street because A) there's no much property on that block. B) It's a college area and the average college kid doesn't have $60 per meal. C) It's full of panhandlers.

foetine
May 5, 2008 9:46 a.m.

Don't you just love election seasons. That old "Free" word just pops up everywhere; or another politician favorite. I will tax the pants off of that guy over there so I can give you some "Free" stuff. I lost track, how many taxes and fees did Raleigh raise this year? And let us not forget, the old tiered water pricing is heading right for ya. Maybe Raleigh ought to consider "Free" water. Nah the bus ride will cool you off during the next drought.

whatelseisnew
May 2, 2008 9:50 p.m.