I've often pondered the thought of the trolleys that used to zoom down my North Buffalo street, connecting to the Hertel No.9-23 Streetcar, taking you to points and destinations all over the city.
I have in my possession a November 1, 1939 map from the International Railway Corporation,(IRC). They were the forerunner, and must say smarter NFTA we now have. The NFTA would probably hunt me down to destroy this map. It shows a real transit system.
Streetcar routes were on streets like Hertel, Main, Bailey, Fillmore, Kensington, Broadway, Genesee, Sycamore, South Park, Seneca, Clinton, Virgil, Kehr, French, etc. Yes cars can share the road with trolleys, don't need an impact study for that!
Prior years service was on Kenmore, Delaware, Elmwood, West Ferry, Vulcan, etc.
They even had high speed trains, that ran along the former tracks in North Buffalo that went to Niagara Falls, which in turn had local trolley routes. They even had the Great Gorge trolley route which you can still walk it's old trackbed today.
Besides that the New York Central Beltline, along with the Erie Lackawanna and DL&W beltlines, circled the city with commuter trains that ran every 10-15 minutes. Could you imagine. The New York Central Beltline still exists in North Buffalo, now as a freight line, and the old EL and DL&W Beltlines are the land currently under development in North Buffalo.
With all that said, doesn't it fire anyone else up that we have probably the most useless LRRT in the world. Think about it. It goes 6 miles, doesn't really stop at any sites or important locations. It's not a regional tool. Can't take the "A"Train or the "R" Train. The Tonawanda Corridor, the former IRC high speed lines, tore up last year. Guess the NFTA won't be going through with that plan. Amherst UB North, it was tunneled a little ways, but the white elitists at the time didn't want the city element in there town. Airport corridor, Southtowns corridor, Niagara corridor. These were all plans laid out in the NFTA's original plan in 1974! That's right, 1974! They always say, it's money, and people don't want it expanded.
I believe more to the fact that the NFTA board enjoys it's stranglehold on WNY's economy. They hold all the cards. The waterfront, the airport(s), Yeah, they even forget about Niagara(The Bigger One), etc. Think about that power they yield.
Metro Rail expansion is what the people want, however one must remember we don't elect NFTA commissoners. That's right, governor appointees. That means brownnosers. Shadow governments. Gotta love'em.
This is another issue to get Carl Paladino, Brian Higgins, and others in power behind. The NFTA is just as bad as the Thruway Authority.