Originally proposed in the 1990s by Blueberry Hill owner Joe Edwards, the Loop Trolley has had a rocky history, starting and stopping construction for years before being completed in 2018. The plan for the Trolley was to revitalize the Delmar Loop and bring in more traffic, but the abysmal ticket sales for the 2.2-mile long transportation blunder proved otherwise.

In November of 2018, the Loop Trolley opened with a ceremony at Delmar Hall after several delays. A little over a year later, it has been announced that the Loop Trolley is being discontinued due to a lack of revenue, only making $37,354.20 from 17,292 riders compared to a proposed profit of $394,433 from 400,000 riders in its first year—a benchmark the trolley did not meet and was not close to meeting. $51 million was invested into the Loop Trolley only for it to not keep its promises. From the beginning, it seemed as though the general public believed that the idea of this trolley was a bad idea, and lo and behold, they were right.

Throughout the construction and its short-lived and long-awaited run, the Trolley proved to be an annoyance and a safety hazard. People have been injured by the rails, and construction at important intersections on the Loop has forced businesses to lose customers, move locations and close. The Trolley has also been the cause of numerous car accidents, hitting cars while running as well as being hit by cars.

A previous Student Life Staff Editorial stated, “The history of the Trolley is one of waste: Mismanagement of funding both pre- and post-construction has continued to afflict the proposed budget.” And this continues to ring true a little over a year after its opening. It makes you wonder what could have been done with this $51 million that would have been more productive and more effective. And yes, while hindsight is 20/20, foresight should have been a major player in the decision-making process around the Trolley. So much money was funneled into a 2.2-mile streetcar that took passengers virtually nowhere. Created under the guise of the betterment of St. Louis, this Trolley has done nothing to improve transportation in the city, and if that were the real concern, then an expansion of the St. Louis Metro System would have done a better job than the Trolley. St. Louis’s public transportation system could have been improved using the money wasted.

From all of this, there are a few lessons to be learned: namely, connect the people to what they want to be connected to. Going from the Delmar Loop to partway through Forest Park is not an ideal ride, and while 2.2 miles, in theory, seems like a lot, in practice it’s not much walking. See where the people want to go, and take them there. Also, think about things in terms of practicality, not aesthetics. The idea of the Trolley was nice and it looked aesthetically vintage like it was supposed to, but that’s all it did. It didn’t even brush the promises and quotas it was supposed to reach; this could have been avoided if plans had been made by looking at the “investment” practically. And finally, if there was ever an investment for Wash. U. to have a hand in—even a small one—this wasn’t it.