Introducing Modern Streetcar Advocates

The Omaha streetcar conversation is back. It’s now being spearheaded by Modern Streetcar Advocates (ModernStreetcarAdvocates.org), a collaboration of community visionaries, public transportation champions and everyday people who love Omaha. Modern Streetcar Advocates believe as our city transforms, we have the opportunity to leverage what lies ahead. A streetcar in Omaha deserves to be considered through accurate, information-based conversations.

Modern Streetcar Advocates see a streetcar as a key catalyst for real growth in Omaha. They believe now is the time to connect others to the vision of a streetcar as the next step toward making Omaha a more vibrant, accessible, prosperous, cosmopolitan and successful city.

If Omaha is home to a streetcar, it would join the list of American 20 cities that already have a streetcar in service. More than 20 other cities are considering, planning, or building a streetcar. The benefits of a streetcar are immediately apparent in Kansas City where the RideKC Streetcar had an average of 7,449 daily users in July, with 2 million riders in its first year of operation, which contributed to $2 billion in downtown revitalization along the streetcar line. Modern Streetcar Advocates are excited about similar growth potential here in Omaha.

Through streetcar use and the upcoming Omaha Rapid Bus Transit (ORBT), Modern Streetcar Advocates expect more people will discover the benefits and advantages of public transit and may begin to consider less reliance on their cars.

Modern Streetcar Advocates has launched a new website, ModernStreetcarAdvocates.org, as a home for reliable information about the benefits a streetcar would bring to the city, including a significant boost to economic development and quality of life here. You can also find Modern Streetcar Advocates on Facebook, and on Twitter at @StreetcarOmaha.