Pittsburgh Mayoral candidate Bob O'Connor has come up with a daring new proposal: bring back the streetcars. That's a grand idea. He suggests using them.... Pittsburgh Mayoral candidate Bob O'Connor has come up with a daring new proposal: bring back the streetcars. That's a grand idea. He suggests using them to connect Downtown and Oakland. Another grand idea.

The thing is, Streetcars, as in the historic variety, are back in fashion and used primarily to connect tourist destinations. A streetcar line connecting Station Square with PNC Park would be an even better idea. A "T Connection to Oakland would be an absolutely superb idea and a T connection to Oakland and a streetcar line from PNC Park to Station Square would throw my vote to O'Connor.

Of course we're already hearing the usual jibberish we get around these parts that responds with "buses are cheaper." In Pittsburgh we still cling to the idea that public transit is only for people without cars and there's no use spending money on systems that people would actually want to ride--if even only for the sake of riding it (as opposed to getting somewhere).

My hat is off to O'Connor in any case for bringing the idea to the public.

And, Mr. O'Connor, if Historic Streetcars would be in the works, perhaps PAT could contract with the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum
to supply and maintain the fleet, similar to the Market Street Railway in San Francisco.