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Construction begins on Tucson Sun Link streetcar line
Streets and roads in Tucson and greater Pima are falling apart, and the powers to be use Fed money to build a system that they can’t afford to maintain. The line will serve no one except u of A students going downtown to drink and party, and their fares will be discounted. Better use ? High speed rail to Phoenix - but UP will never agree without billions to upgrade their properties.
Careful Mr. Hughes. It sounds like you want the U of A students to get “high speed” rail to Pheonix. This would shift the “drink and party” economy to another metro area.
Richard Hughes, comparing a low cost streat car line to an expensive HSR project is like comparing a flight to Fresno to a flight to the moon. Nothing in common! The line will be used, which is why they are building it.
As a 50 year resident of Tucson, I know Mr. Hughes is RIGHT, and as a taxpayer 200 million doesn’t seem inexpensive to me. They had a similar trolley system here MANY years ago which no-one, including UA students, supported and was shut down as TOO EXPENSIVE to run / maintain. Phoenix Metro has built, runs and maintains a successful intra / inter city Metro rail system… and Tucson is playing with a 3 mile streetcar route?
They destroyed the historic trolley operation that had been in service for 18 years, at no cost to the city.
Another waste of taxpayer dollars for a toy toonerville trolley that some politician thinks will solve the “automobile problem”. People think it is great to have this stuff until they realize that the farebox doesn’t come close to paying for it and their taxes are going up or the truly needed services are being cut. This country has become a disgusting mess.