Six Months of The Hop
The Hop streetcar in Milwaukee, Wisconsin has completed six months of service.
Six months of The Hop! The Hop opened to the public six calendar months ago, on November 2, 2018. I've ridden it every single day of this time, and I'm more optimistic than ever that The Hop is, right now, serving well in its functions to motivate development (the construction along the route is testament to that), provide transportation (I see that every day while using it and seeing more and more residential, routine use), and interest people to see Milwaukee (as I see regularly on-board--people talking about Milwaukee and seeing neighborhoods and places they have never seen--even statements by long-time residents). The Hop has demonstrated itself for these functions as well as its ability to get through snow, rain, the polar vortex, and other conditions. I think expanding it is the next step! The Main Line now serves downtown, and yes, that is just a specific area of the city, but like libraries, Fiserv Forum, MAM, the lakefront, Discovery World, and other public features, it is located in a specific place, but invites everyone to use it. Downtown has long been considered "everybody's neighborhood"--the central area of Milwaukee--central to business and visitors--and the Hop's extension can serve to move and share this prosperity and development further out to more neighborhoods. In my own studies of urban transportation, I have learned how all transportation is context-specific, and that streetcars have a historic and demonstrated modern function in connecting densely populated areas. And densely populated areas have been demonstrated to support the kind of people-oriented knowledge economy that is in Milwaukee's potential.
Six Months of The Hop
The Hop streetcar in Milwaukee, Wisconsin has completed six months of service.
Six months of The Hop! The Hop opened to the public six calendar months ago, on November 2, 2018. I've ridden it every single day of this time, and I'm more optimistic than ever that The Hop is, right now, serving well in its functions to motivate development (the construction along the route is testament to that), provide transportation (I see that every day while using it and seeing more and more residential, routine use), and interest people to see Milwaukee (as I see regularly on-board--people talking about Milwaukee and seeing neighborhoods and places they have never seen--even statements by long-time residents). The Hop has demonstrated itself for these functions as well as its ability to get through snow, rain, the polar vortex, and other conditions. I think expanding it is the next step! The Main Line now serves downtown, and yes, that is just a specific area of the city, but like libraries, Fiserv Forum, MAM, the lakefront, Discovery World, and other public features, it is located in a specific place, but invites everyone to use it. Downtown has long been considered "everybody's neighborhood"--the central area of Milwaukee--central to business and visitors--and the Hop's extension can serve to move and share this prosperity and development further out to more neighborhoods. In my own studies of urban transportation, I have learned how all transportation is context-specific, and that streetcars have a historic and demonstrated modern function in connecting densely populated areas. And densely populated areas have been demonstrated to support the kind of people-oriented knowledge economy that is in Milwaukee's potential.