Talk about thinking outside the box! When it comes to the traffic nightmare that we deal with daily in South Boston, one developer is proposing something a little out of the ordinary: an arial tram.
The Boston Business Journal did a little investigating and is reporting that Millennium Partners – the developer behind the Millennium Tower and the Winthrop Square proposal – is taking this idea of building an aerial tram or cable car very seriously. The proposed tram system would run from South Station to the Seaport District of South Boston. This system would be be able to transport nearly 15,000 people daily!
Millennium Partners have produced a promo video for the tram and have suggested even footing the bill for up to $100 million for this elevated idea to become a reality.
This idea is really nothing new. Other cities with the same traffic issues have tried it out including in New York City, Portland, OE, and Medellin, Colombia.
So what do you think, Southie? Good idea?
Well for starters they’re obviously a thing and exist in real life. Most commonly at ski resorts.
Would it work for Boston today? I don’t see why not. No driverless flying cars yet, what would it be in the way of? Anything to help those poor people who have arguably the worst commute in Boston.
This should be a non-starter if it doesn’t extend to the residential area of City Point. Why should taxpayers spend a penny on transportation to make the multi-million dollar developments more attractive while we wait in the cold for buses that sometimes don’t come?
Why should the paying riders of the T have a % of their fare go towards and underfunded pension? Why isn’t it going towards hiring more bus drivers & buying more buses?
You can ask a million why’s when it comes to public funds. The bottom line is the seaport has a major transportation issue that is only going to get worse as more buildings are completed. They could always extend it in future. Maybe we should get the Edison project underway before we worry about bringing more people here.
They need to run this from South Station –> Seaport –> Edison Power Plant in Southie.