Spokane Transit Authority and others are revisiting the idea of developing a multimillion-dollar high-performance transit system, though the envisioned system is different in scale and function from the light-rail commuter system voters denounced in 2006.

A light-rail streetcar system is one of the options being discussed, but other options that would cost millions of dollars, rather than tens of millions of dollars, also are on the table.

"This is an opportunity to think big," STA CEO Susan Meyer says. "We spend a lot of time thinking about how to live within our means, but it's captivating to think about what a well-suited project would do for us in Spokane."

STA, the city of Spokane, and other parties have developed three alternatives ranging in price from $15 million to $153 million for a system that would run from the Browne's Addition neighborhood west of downtown Spokane to the Gonzaga University campus northeast of the city's core. The three-mile route would run through downtown and the University District, stopping at 12 to 14 substations along the route every 10 minutes during peak times.

Meyer says advocates for the plans are meeting with downtown property owners, elected officials, and others to determine whether there is enough support to move forward with such a system and are trying to get a sense for which mode people prefer—and ultimately how much they'd be willing to invest in such a system.

If it were to move forward, a high-performance transit system could be funded primarily with a mix of a local-improvement district mill levy, a parking-meter fee increase, a voter-approved increase in sales tax, and federal funds, Meyer says. Federal funds typically require local matches, she says.

If the community were to commit to such a project, it could take four years to secure funding, engineer, design, and build, STA says.

The three modes under consideration are enhanced bus, electric trolley bus, and railed streetcar.

Karl Otterstrom, STA's director of planning, says there would be a $3 million-a-mile embedded cost in a high-performance transit system, regardless of the mode selected. Such costs would include construction of the substations, signage, automated off-board ticketing systems, and maintenance-and-storage requirements, among others.

In addition, regardless of mode, the operating cost would range from $2 million to $4 million annually.

As the name suggests, an enhanced bus system would consist of high-end buses that are designed on the exterior to look like a rail car and configured inside to incorporate more standing room. They could have diesel engines, diesel-electric hybrid systems, or electric propulsion.

Otterstrom says such buses likely would carry up to 90 passengers comfortably, but would have a maximum capacity—what he calls a crush capacity—of 125 people.

The cost of such a system would be about $5 million a mile, or about $15 million in all, Otterstrom says.

An electric trolley bus would cost anywhere from $6 million a mile to $12 million a mile, or $18 million to $36 million for the entire project.

Such a system would have electric-powered vehicles that would rely on an overhead catenary network, with which a rod would extend from each bus to an electric line overhead to draw power. While such buses would be designed to look like streetcars, they would have rubber tires like conventional vehicles.

The capacity of each vehicle would be similar to that of the enhanced buses, Otterstrom says.

For railed streetcars, the cost would range from $34 million to $51 million a mile, or $102 million to $151 million in all.

Realistically, Meyer says, the light-rail option would fall at the lower end of that range. Projects in other communities with costs at the higher end of the range involved constructing new bridges and making other infrastructure improvements that wouldn't be necessary in Spokane. Still, she says, the light-rail option likely would be more than three times the cost of an electric trolley bus system.

Steve Blaska, STA's director of operations, says the embedded track, of course, would be one of the primary high-ticket items, as would the cars themselves. In addition, such a system would need a separate maintenance facility and staff, as well as track to get from the line to the maintenance garage.

Enhanced buses and trolley buses, which typically are equipped with engines that allow them to be operated offline, could be maintained in the same place—and by the same personnel—as its current fleet of buses.

While more costly, Meyer says there are benefits to railed streetcars that the other options don't possess. Such a system is scalable, meaning that additional cars can be added as demand increases, whereas bus capacity remains static.

Also, she says, because of the rail, it's a permanent fixture.

Regardless of the cost and attributes, property owners along the route and others involved will determine which mode prevails and if such a project will move forward. Ideally, Meyer says, some sort of consensus will be determined within the next few months.

"We will do it when and if the stakeholders want to do it," Meyer says.