The power of positive thinking
Pulling into Little Rock, Arkansas, the signs were everywhere in the Rivermarket neighborhood - new-looking tracks, elevated wiring, dense development. We had found a transit-oriented city in the notoriously spread-out mid-south, just a short drive from Wal-Mart's world headquarters in Bentonville.
Then, over the Arkansas River, a bright yellow trolley slowly inched its way across the bridge. Little Rock has not a modern, integrated transit system, but two brand-new tourist circulators, one that goes between the aformentioned Riverfront and the parking lots of North Little Rock over the river, and one that runs a loop. All told, there are three cars and 2.5 miles of track.
As it turns out, the trolley was useful for us - we needed to get from our hotel on the north side of the river to the nightlife and tourist activities on the south side. After running to catch the trolley (which was going slower than us), the one rider got off at our stop, leaving the two of us to pepper the driver with questions.
"Umm, are you going anywhere, or did you just want to ride the trolley?" he asked.
Unlike most transit employees I've met, this guy not only disliked the service, but the system itself. He made the good point that it didn't go anywhere, didn't have many riders except on weekend nights, lacked the ability to go faster than traffic and cost $20 million at the same time bus service was being cut. The cars are replica vintage trolleys cars, but even on the new car we rode, the front door kept sticking.
As we crossed the river, he radioed ahead for the driver of the other trolley to meet us at the base of the bridge to take us to where we wanted to go.
Searching for a compliment, I said "You don't get that sort of personal service on the New York City subway."
"At least the subway goes somewhere," he shot back.
However, unlike most transit employees in cities where the trains do go somewhere, the driver was very nice, telling us where to go for good beer and answering all our questions. He'd get eaten alive on WMATA.
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rj3 | 11:13 AM |
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When people would move to Little Rock for business and then ask us about the public "metropolitan" transport system, everyone would just break into hearty laughter.
