October 5-11, 2018 COMMUNITY STREETCAR COALITION NEWS CLIPS COMPILED BY BROADCAST CLIPS Milwaukee WTMJ October 10, 2018 LINK: https://bit.ly/2pRapRP There are now eleven lawsuits in the works for injuries involving the Milwaukee streetcar tracks. There's an open house for The Hop happening right now at Ogden and Prospect. The purpose of today’s open house is to show off how the hop is going to be accessible to people with disabilities. Right now there are actually several people inside The Hop learning about the features, including a spot designated just for wheelchairs. Even though The Hop is going to be accessible to all people, some people are having a tough time navigating around the tracks. “This is a hazard.” Law firm Hupy and Abraham is now working with 11 clients who say they've been hurt by the street car tracks. All of the incidents happening within about the last 3 months. Attorney Michael Hupy says all of his clients got their tires stuck in the street car tracks and fell off. 7 people were on motorcycles, 4 riding a bike. “Crossing the tracks at an angle vs. trying to ride parallel to the tracks is important.” Most of the incidents happened on the tracks near Milwaukee public market or on Ogden Avenue near Prospect. All 11 clients are now filing a notice of injury with the city of Milwaukee hoping to get reimbursed for their injuries. Yesterday one of the streetcars was damaged when someone parked on the streetcar lined opened their door, hitting the streetcar. “You really need to remember is to look over your shoulder make sure there's no oncoming traffic before you open that door, just as you would on any other street.” The city has launched a safety campaign for The Hop called Hop Smart. They have created videos to show people how to safely navigate the tracks. “It's really following the basic rules of the road. Following the traffic control that's in place, making sure that at intersections if it says no right turn on red, no turn on red.” The open house runs until six o’clock tonight at the Burns Commons Plaza. Passengers will be able to ride the hop starting for a year for free starting November second. Oklahoma City KFOR October 5, 2018 LINK: https://bit.ly/2A57MC2 In just a little over two months, the streetcar will be hitting the streets. In that time, there’s been a lot of changes around Oklahoma City and the most recent is the street lights. On Friday, traffic signals on Broadway at NW 8th and NW 11th streets will be turned on. Electronic signboards are already in place alerting drivers. “It is hard for people to cross the street; people drive 40, 50 miles an hour here.” Now those drivers will need to slow down. Areas that once never had a traffic signal have them now. “We have traffic signals that are going to be turned on on Broadway, one is at Northwest 8th and the other is at Northwest 11th.” On Friday, city crews turned on all the lights along the streetcar routes. The new street signals will help guide the streetcars throughout traffic so drivers know when to stop and when to go. It’s a change that could help ease traffic, but it could also be good for business. Carl Wayne Wester is the owner of 822 Broadway salon and he hopes the new street signals near his shop will bring in new customers and keep folks safe. “I think it’s going to help slow it down and make it safer for pedestrians, people walking their dogs, walking with their kids.” Folks said the new lights could be a bit confusing for some drivers. However, they believe it will be a smooth ride. “I think as traffic figures it out it’ll be okay, but you’re going to have to slow down to figure out how it exactly works.” 2 PRINT COVERAGE Police: Two accidents in two days involving The Hop TMJ4 By Pete Zervakis October 10, 2018 For the second time in two days, an inattentive driver opened the door of a parked vehicle and hit Milwaukee's new streetcar. The Hop is scheduled to begin operating next month, but Downtown commuters have seen cars gliding along the tracks on test runs in recent weeks. According to Milwaukee Police, officers responded to a "property damage only accident" near Jackson and Juneau at 11:40 a.m. Wednesday. "A person who was parked opened their vehicle door and it was struck by the streetcar," Police said in an email. No one was hurt. The collision was the same type of accident that occurred Tuesday, according to police. In a statement, officials for The Hop streetcar said: "There was another incident involving The Hop today, again as the result of a parked vehicle's door opening into the lane of traffic. Nobody was injured, and the damage to both vehicles was minimal." "Once again, the City of Milwaukee reminds the entire community to be diligent in following all of the typical rules of the road, including using caution when opening doors as bicycles, buses, cars, trucks or streetcars could be approaching from behind," a spokesperson for The Hop said. LINK: https://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news/police-two-accidents-in-two-days-involving-the-hop 3 Milwaukee man suing over streetcar talk about crash, injuries CBS 58 By Mark McPherson October 10, 2018 The Milwaukee street car isn’t fully operational yet, and there are already 11 people suing the city over the dangers. John Rivera and his wife are suing the city to cover medical bills, after a crash in August when their motorcycle tire got stuck in the track near St. Paul and Water Streets. They are suing the city to help cover medical bills… and hopefully force a change. “We took a pretty bad fall, and the medical bills haven’t been cheap,” said Rivera. John got road rash on his foot and arm, and hurt his knee. His wife got the worst of it. “She had severe bruising all over her face, black eye swollen shut two days later actually, pretty good knot on her head, she also had three severe sprains in her knee,” said Rivera. “Cross the tracks at an angle versus trying to ride parallel to the track is important,” said City Engineer Jeff Polenske. Polenske says motorcycles and bikes need to be careful how they cross those tracks. “That they’re making good movements across the tracks just as they would be when they’re crossing other obsticles such as manhole covers,” said Polenske. But Rivera says that’s not always possible, and he’s not alone. In fact, his crash was not the first at that intersection. “One of the officers that should up said, he literally showed me in the ground, he said do you see those scrape marks, he goes, that’s from the other guy that fell at the exact location,” said Rivera. He’s suing to recover medical bills, but hopes it forces the city to make the tracks safer. The city thinks it will just take time. “I think there’s a time period here where people are going to become very familiar with how they should be operating around the streetcar,” said Polenske. “We all love our city, we all want good things to come to this city, we all want people to come visit the city, we just want everyone to be safe,” said Rivera. John’s wife still faces rehab on her knee. LINK: http://www.cbs58.com/news/milwaukee-man-suing-over-streetcar-talks-about-crash-injuries 4 El Paso streetcar starts pre-revenue service Progressive Railroading No Author Listed October 10, 2018 The El Paso Streetcar in Texas yesterday began pre-revenue service. During this period, the streetcar will run its downtown and uptown loops without a safety escort, according to a press release issued by the Sun Metro Mass Transit Department. Streetcar staff will operate the system's proposed schedule with no passengers on board as they evaluate "everything from streetcar speeds to roundtrip times," Sun Metro officials said. The Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority (CRRMA) is responsible for building the 4.8-mile project, including remanufacturing six Presidents' Conference Committee (PCC) streetcar vehicles that ran in the area until 1974. Sun Metro will operate and maintain the streetcars and associated facilities when the project is finished. CRRMA also is constructing track, overhead contact system lines, power stations and a maintenance and storage facility, according to the agency's website. Brookville Equipment Corp. is restoring six PCC streetcars for the system. The $97 million project is slated to be completed late this year. LINK: https://www.progressiverailroading.com/passenger_rail/news/El-Paso-streetcar-starts-pre- revenue-service--55849 5 Tampa transit agency drops streetcar fares, boosts service Progressive Railroading No Author Listed October 9, 2018 The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART) in Tampa, Florida, has eliminated fares and expanded service for its TECO Line heritage streetcar. The streetcar will remain fare free for three years as a result of a $2.67 million grant from the Florida Department of Transportation. Previously, it cost $2.50 to ride the system. The grant also enabled HART to boost service hours and increase frequency along the 2.7-mile line, which runs from the Ybor City neighborhood to downtown Tampa. On weekdays between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., service frequency will increase from every 20 minutes to every 15 minutes.