Stats that show the Atlanta Streetcar was a complete and utter failure of epic proportion (Marietta: transporting, amusement park)

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by fourthwarden

The graph was made by the blogger. It used the numbers from the adjusted ridership data from the National Transit Database, instead of the raw data. If they had used the raw data, you would have seen it all suddenly slam to 0 riders for the last four months.

That doesn't mean there were 0 riders, it means that there's missing data, which isn't actually all that odd. Since the blogger used the adjusted data instead, the ridership appears to approach zero, but that's just because there are zeros where the NTD is trying to estimate the ridership for missing months.

Without further data to fix the estimates, they approach zero, when reality is very different.





Right, the blog post was a bad piece of statistical analysis, and is not at all something to use as evidence. The posted graph is all but worthless as anything but a lesson in how to better do your research before making bold claims.

Do you honestly expect that on CD?

[Gulch]

I think it's safe to say that the data in the OP was debunked by about the 7th post.

[bu2]

U.S. Cities Spend $1.2 Billion on Streetcars to Nowhere - Bloomberg Politics

Article removed - use link above to read. Do not post articles w/o direct ok from author - just post links to the articles.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by bu2

U.S. Cities Spend $1.2 Billion on Streetcars to Nowhere - Bloomberg Politics

1 year is not long enough to judge is a project is successful or not. If that is the case, in year one of the federal interstate project, when no cities were connected, did the media portray it as a failure?

[magnetar]

I still cringe every day when I see this thread pop up given how brutally and thoroughly its entire premise has been debunked. Can we close it and consolidate our streetcar whining into a single thread?

[roadtrip75]

I still cringe every day when I see the Atlanta streetcar still exists given how brutally and thoroughly its entire premise has been debunked. Can we close it and consolidate our money wasting efforts into a single service (MARTA)?

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by roadtrip75

I still cringe every day when I see the Atlanta streetcar still exists given how brutally and thoroughly its entire premise has been debunked. Can we close it and consolidate our money wasting efforts into a single service (MARTA)?

Don't worry, I do the same thing when I see the freeway system and how it destroyed urban America.

[Pemgin]

Originally Posted by roadtrip75

I still cringe every day when I see the Atlanta streetcar still exists given how brutally and thoroughly its entire premise has been debunked. Can we close it and consolidate our money wasting efforts into a single service (MARTA)?

edgy

[Caleb Longstreet]

Originally Posted by fourthwarden

Boy, you sure do love to put down things you see as childish, without looking to see the bigger picture. Yes downtown has a ferris wheel. It also has the Equtable building. If has places to get icecream, and cuban sandwitches, and gyros, and burritos. It has the court house, capital, hospitals, and hotels, all of which are surrounded by scyscraper offices and housing.

Your argument seems to be this:

the streetcar is an attraction for tourists. It is this because it goes to tourist places, and is short. Therefore, since it is an attraction for tourists, we should not extend it beyond those touristy places.

That is terrible circular logic that will only serve to feed a self-fulfilling profecy of failure. Yes the current loop won't stand up well on its own, that's why all those expansion plans are in the works, or seeking funding! The loop was built to handle capacity upgrades and extensions. It was built to be built from. It won't ever be more than it is, unless we build upon it!

I call it like I see it, good OR bad. I think ANY money spent in downtown Atlanta needs to go to refurbishing and improving downtown Atlanta. No side shows or interest. Improve the cabs, add more MARTA rail, improve bus services, clean up the filth and crime, bulldoze 1/2 of that which lies below Marietta Street and start over.....


Ferris Wheels, Log Flumes, Street Cars, Underground can wait. If you research the number of larger companies in downtown you will clearly see the migration towards Mid-Town and points North. Most of those buildings downtown can be refurbished or gutted. Much like the nice hotel across from 180 Peachtree. I think it's a Marriott Courtyard. They did a nice job on a famous old building.


More of THAT and less of the things that get under my skin. Downtown is not for Six Flags like entertainment. Street cars can never be taken seriously in this city. Better cab, Bus, Shuttle, and yes, Marta Rail, can. Things we NEED, not things we LIKE........

[primaltech]

Who cares how long it's been running? It's a 2 mile loop! The project you are judging as a failure is under construction and is only 1/25th complete in its build out.

That's like only giving Star Wars the funding for 5 minutes of footage, and then calling it the worst movie of the decade and an epic flop.

Reminds me of the MARTA train. Conservatives out in the suburbs refusing to fund it or let it go anywhere, and then in the next breath complaining that it's useless. The street car is not a failure- it is an inanimate object. It's a tool that the city can and should use as a transit system. So how about let's build that and do that. While making all the needed operating improvements along the way.

The failure and waste of money is if you just leave it in the state it's in now, or pull up the tracks that they just got done building. Make the money invested so far just that- an investment. Learn lessons and keep plowing ahead. And let MARTA operate it.