[media-credit name=’Derek Montgomery’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]
In a presentation and dialogue meeting, Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and Charlie Hales, an engineer involved in a streetcar system in Portland, Ore., discussed the possibility of implementing a similar system in Madison.

Cieslewicz visited Portland in late summer to tour the city’s streetcar system and consider the possibility of a streetcar addition in Madison. As a part of his economic development plan, Cieslewicz expressed growing interest in the addition of a streetcar system.

Portland features both a streetcar system used to connect the downtown areas and a larger, faster light rail system to connect the outside suburbs with the city.

“These are two different technologies serving two different needs and there has to be a good conversation on what will work best,” Cieslewicz said.

During the meeting Cieslewicz expressed interest in a streetcar system in the downtown area that might one day help connect areas like Sun Prairie and Middleton to Madison.

“The importance of this technology is that it has to be city friendly, it has to be about details. Madisonians want to be heard,” the mayor added.

Cieslewicz’s plan includes five objectives: the technology should be city-neighborhood friendly, the rail system should help shape land use and create value in the city, complement the Madison metro bus system, find equitable values in determining the costs and the developing proposal should require input by all portions of the city.

The streetcars in Portland are eight feet wide by 66 feet long and required only a foot-deep trench to install, according to Hales. The trolleys also feature small advertisements on the cars and shelters. Cieslewicz, who rode on the Portland streetcars, testified the rides are smooth with frequent stops every 600 to 800 feet.

“You compromise speed for frequency,” Cieslewicz said. “There are more people standing than sitting. They’re drinking coffee and they don’t spill it. That’s the difference of being on rails versus tires.”

Hales said the streetcar system has been a boom for development in the downtown area because it provides circulation throughout the system and complements the current bus system.

The system also helped spur growth in regions of Portland devoid of commercial interest and downtown residency, according to Hales. The Portland street car averages 6,000 people a day — double what the city had originally expected.

Cieslewicz said growth like this is important, but “there needs to be a series of policies working towards a goal, and we have policies like inclusionary zoning in place to deal with affordable housing issues.”

Some raised questions about the compatibility of bicyclists with the rail systems.

“The bicycle community had to learn through experience,” Hales said, which garnered a response from the mayor.

“It’s like Darwinism for bicyclists,” Cieslewicz said.

According to Hales, the Portland system recovers only 6 to 8 percent of the operating revenue from user fares, with approximately two-thirds of the regional transit agency paying the operating costs. The downtown Portland area offers a fare-free zone for streetcars and buses.

Madison does not have a regional transit agency as Portland does, but the city could apply for state funding, according to Cieslewicz. Approximately 45 percent of the operating cost for transportation already comes from the state, he added.