Let's say a city wants to build a new downtown streetcar route. Just as an analogy:
The Pacific Blvd spur is going to be extended up to Denman St.
Ignoring cost, let's say there are two options for the routing: in mixed traffic, and on dedicated lanes (technically not a streetcar, but included for this analysis.)
The dedicated lanes are taken mostly from parallel parking stalls on the curb.
Should the streetcar operate on the parallel side streets, (away from the businesses, towards the apartment complexes)- in this case Drake Street, or on Arterials -in this case Davie Street.
I couldn't find any literature on the subject, so I decided to ask here. Portland's mixed-traffic streetcar, for example, operates mostly on side roads (I guess to reduce traffic interference). However, if a streetcar has dedicated space, the equation may be different. (Better ridership and speeds compensate for loss of parking space for businesses?)