Chasing numbers

RTA has a plan for the Canal Streetcar. It's a very data-driven plan.   The objective is to get one specific number down a little bit. 

The proposal, which has not yet been finalized, could be rolled out as a pilot project from May through December of this year.

Officials say it would trim almost 14 minutes from the trip from the river to Carrollton and about 10 minutes and 30 seconds going the other way, according to a report presented to RTA board members Thursday. That would mean trips in either direction would take about 22 minutes.

That's all well and good if all you do is track how long it takes to move one streetcar from point A to point B.  That's an easily measurable outcome.  Everybody loves those.  Unfortunately it doesn't account for people's actual experience traveling through or along the affected route. That's trickier.

For streetcar passengers, it might depend on where they're starting from.  For some, they may have to walk significantly further.

The plan calls for eliminating 30 of the 49 stops along the route, mostly in the area between Carrollton and Claiborne avenues. The longest distance between stops would be the seven-block stretch between Carrollton and Jefferson Davis Parkway.

If, in theory, we're saving 10 minutes heading in bound on the streetcar, how much are we giving back if we have to walk an extra 4 or 5 blocks to board?  That sounds like it's almost a wash already. By focusing only on the streetcar travel time, we're deliberately ignoring the effect on the transit system from a holistic perspective. That includes the effect on vehicular traffic, by the way.

The eliminated stops would largely coincide with the closing of intersections and crossings that allow U-turns across the neutral ground. According to the plan, 17 intersections that don’t have traffic signals would be closed, as would five turnarounds.

In other words, they're planning a severe interruption of the street grid at Canal Street which is already something of a bottleneck as it is.  The new scheme will further congest neighborhood traffic flow and funnel even more cars onto Broad and Jeff Davis.  Eliminating the turnarounds is also likely to jam up Canal Street as well.

So lots of people are going to have a harder time getting through this area of town.  BUT the streetcar moves between stops at a marginally faster rate.  Does that make for a more efficient and user friendly transit system?  Who cares, so long as we achieve our designated measurable outcome, the project justifies itself.