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Some good suggestions (especially Cincy), but I would add Providence to the list. It's not the biggest city (1.6M in the metro), but it's fairly dense and has a layout that would be conducive to at LEAST light rail. With Providence, you wouldn't have to build the rail line first and hope they develop around it. You have the existing density and walkability in place, and it would serve the city well from the start.
I would think there would also be the opportunity to link a Providence LRT system with the Boston system to facilitate travel between those metros.
The main two streetcar lines here have their own right of way, yet are all subject to street traffic. We call them streetcars as a cultural thing but I've always referred to them as light rail. As far as I know, they are both at grade and are structurally the same with the same class of train cars being used.
Of course there is a difference. Seattle has a light rail and a streetcar and they are very different. Streetcar is like a bus, stops by the sidewalk and gets stuck in traffic. Light rail is like a subway. It has huge stations, a lot of them underground and it doesn't get stuck in traffic.
Of course there is a difference. Seattle has a light rail and a streetcar and they are very different. Streetcar is like a bus, stops by the sidewalk and gets stuck in traffic. Light rail is like a subway. It has huge stations, a lot of them underground and it doesn't get stuck in traffic.
It's not always that cut and dry. Cleveland's rapids and Pittsburgh's T share aspects of both light rail and streetcars (and the "T" stands for Trolley...so throw in a third category for that). Both systems have large stretches with their own right-of-way, but also have parts where they share the road (Pittsburgh) and cross car intersections at-grade (Cleveland). And both systems include large stations as well as stops that are little more than a bus shelter, and sometimes not even that.
Of course there is a difference. Seattle has a light rail and a streetcar and they are very different. Streetcar is like a bus, stops by the sidewalk and gets stuck in traffic. Light rail is like a subway. It has huge stations, a lot of them underground and it doesn't get stuck in traffic.
Depends on the streetcar, for example the famous streetcars in New Orleans don't get stuck in traffic and serve as mass transit for local residents in addition to being a tourist attraction. So in a way New Orleans does have a "light rail" and it works quite efficiently.
I would say Vegas surprises me. And not because its so urban and dense because its not. But it seems like a no brainer to figure out some type of light rail connecting the strips hotels and casinos.
I would say Vegas surprises me. And not because its so urban and dense because its not. But it seems like a no brainer to figure out some type of light rail connecting the strips hotels and casinos.
They have "The Deuce" double decker buses and SDX routes to serve that need. It's not that great because it often gets packed to standing room only, and it's not like you can predict non-busy times because there is no "gambling rush hour" to avoid. Additionally, the route now takes a round about route to stop at Bonneville Transit Center to connect with other routes, which is like 5 blocks outside of the main downtown area and mixes regular commuter riders in with tourist riders.
You're right that the lack of a more robust transportation connector is kind of glaring. The Strip being outside of Vegas city limits probably plays into that. There's also not much incentive from the big casinos to make it easier for people to leave. But the monorail does exist, so maybe that's not a problem.
Of course there is a difference. Seattle has a light rail and a streetcar and they are very different. Streetcar is like a bus, stops by the sidewalk and gets stuck in traffic. Light rail is like a subway. It has huge stations, a lot of them underground and it doesn't get stuck in traffic.
What is Houston's system?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom Lennox 70
Depends on the streetcar, for example the famous streetcars in New Orleans don't get stuck in traffic and serve as mass transit for local residents in addition to being a tourist attraction. So in a way New Orleans does have a "light rail" and it works quite efficiently.
They do get stuck. When people are turning in front of them and when they enter the CBD. Rampart doesn't have a ROW until St Claude either.
It's a little known fact that Richmond had the first commercially successful system of electric trolley cars in the world. The system went into operation in May, 1888 and was eventually expanded to serve all sections of the city. Photos of downtown Richmond taken in the 1940s show dozens of electric street cars travelling up and down the median of East Broad Street. Richmond abandoned its trolley system in 1949.
IMO, the perfect re-introduction of trolleys to Richmond would begin with a loop connecting the Fan District/VCU with downtown. Trolleys would travel east/west on Broad St. from Belvedere Street; then north/south on 17th St. (Shockoe) and then westbound on Main Street to Monroe Park (eastbound would use Cary Street).
This route would connect Virginia Commonwealth University with its huge medical campus (MCV) in downtown and also connect the convention center/city/state offices with the entertainment, hotel, residential and financial areas located near the James River. Eventually the system could expand west to the Boulevard to serve the Museum District/Byrd Park as well as the West Cary Street shopping district.
Like Rome, Richmond is built on seven hills, and a light rail line would be a godsend to pedestrians attempting to navigate some of these hills during the city's hot humid summers and occasional icy winters. And a trolley line seems the perfect way to connect the 35,000 students/faculty of VCU with its downtown MCV campus.
Interesting, but Windsor Ontario had an electric streetcar system (the first in Canada) two years before that in 1886!
The Richmond Union Passenger Railway, in Richmond, Virginia, was the first practical electric trolley (tram) system, and set the pattern for most subsequent electric trolley systems around the world. It is an IEEE milestone in engineering.
In the US, electric trams (trolley cars) were first successfully tested in service in Richmond, Virginia, in 1888, in the Richmond Union Passenger Railway built by Frank J. Sprague. Another was by John Joseph Wright, brother of the famous mining entrepreneur Whitaker Wright, in Toronto in 1883. The first commercial installation of an electric streetcar in the United States was built in 1884 in Cleveland, Ohio and operated for a period of one year by the East Cleveland Street Railway Company.[39] Earlier installations proved difficult or unreliable. Siemens’ line, for example, provided power through a live rail and a return rail, like a model train, limiting the voltage that could be used, and providing electric shocks to people and animals crossing the tracks.[40] Siemens later designed his own version of overhead current collection, called the bow collector, and Thorold, Ontario, opened in 1887, and was considered quite successful at the time. While this line proved quite versatile as one of the earliest fully functional electric streetcar installations, it required horse-drawn support while climbing the Niagara Escarpment and for two months of the winter when hydroelectricity was not available. It continued in service in its original form into the 1950s.
Richmond was not the first city with electric trams. It was the first city with practical, fully functioning electric trams.
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