Spending $50,000 to study trolley service running from Peabody Square to the Salem commuter rail station sounds like one of those proposals singled out by state spending critics for derision.
But the proposed “high rail” trolley to connect the two cities and linking Peabody to the commuter rail is an idea that makes more sense the more it is examined for one simple reason: Parking.
North Shore communities without exception are 18th-century creations with buildings bunched close together or configured around town and city squares. The horses, wagons, carriages and, yes, trolleys that clattered along 19th-century streets and disappeared in the 20th-century were replaced by an increasing number of cars lining streets, congesting traffic, and underscoring the notion that a partial, maybe even wholesale return, to mass transit makes sense.
Peabody state Rep. Thomas Walsh looks to the future of transportation evolution on the North Shore when he talks about young people living near Peabody Square and getting to work by jumping on a trolley and then a Boston-bound commuter rail train.
Mayor Ted Bettencourt called a Peabody-Salem trolley link “… an idea worthy of careful consideration.” That’s one way of saying an idea sounds good, but it may or may not work. Mass transit projects usually can’t get built because, cost-wise, they don’t seem to offer much bang for the buck.
Without a study completed and ready for examination, it’s difficult to suggest a transit link between the two cities will ease parking congestion and spur a real estate boom driven by transit-minded renters and buyers.
But two questions should be asked of any transit proposal: 1. Is the existing transportation system working? 2. What are the downsides of introducing a new system?
People aren’t going to limit automobile use unless costs and inconvenience motivate them to do so. The answer to Question 2 is that trolleys are never going to duplicate the personalized convenience of motor vehicle transportation.
But they could become an increasingly prominent “task-specific” transportation option. If Peabody residents think it makes more sense to travel to work by commuter rail than by car, they might embrace a trolley link to Salem. By the same token, if people in Peabody consistently regard downtown Salem as a popular destination, they will take a trolley to get there.
The trolley proposal is going to need a lot of supporters who aren’t shy about explaining why the Peabody-Salem transit link makes sense. But the ultimate question of whether building a trolley line justifies its no-doubt expensive price tag can only be answered once the link is built and used to maximum potential.