Flawed Future Routes make Streetcar even Less Desirable

One of the biggest issues with the proposal is not just the initial route, but the three proposed future expansions that have received very little attention by the media. If we put in the initial phase at $60+ million plus the 20-year downtown LID tax, then the city has gone down a path of no retreat. They must expand the system or admit it was a failure.

The future expansions will have to be paid for in tomorrows dollars – meaning more expensive – and both the Broadway and Capital phases have the same problem the downtown phase has – no development of the kind they are claiming will take place because they are either already developed or development is already planned for those areas. However, they WILL put in more LID taxes in those areas which will drive up lease rates and discourage the existing property tenants.

This is a massive flaw in the Boise plan compared to other streetcar cities like Little Rock, which added their streetcar as part of an overall $300 million district marketplace – and even then their streetcar was not added until 2004 even though the market district development started in 1996.