Using mass transit is more than politically correct, however. When new lines are built, they attract business. The line will link the city's burgeoning downtown with a congested residential neighborhood in the northwest. It's already begun to attract new construction and housing renovations along the route. Dannen, the streetcar project's community manager, said rail not rubber was essential for the project.
People see it and they know it's permanent.
You don't get that with a bus, because a bus route can move. But installing a rail line is more than a symbolic gesture. It is evidence of a different attitude about the car, an attitude that speaks volumes about Oregonians. In Philadelphia, the naysayers grumble about the city's few remaining trolleys as they rumble through the neighborhoods. Drivers swear at them when they slow traffic.