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the burden of capital investment in infrastructure was a large factor that led to the bankruptcy of many private streetcar companies. you cant expect any private company to bear the burden of of maintaining hundreds of miles of rail infrastructure. due to normal wear and tear, from time to time the tracks, trains, equipment, overhead wires, etc. had to be maintained and replaced, with little or no help from the public sector. the companies were expected to do all that on their own. the companies were expected to maintain the pavement (and replace it when needed) between the tracks, on top of maintaining the tracks and paying the conductors, maintenance personnel and other workers. these were thousands of workers each company was responsible for.
imagine if the automobile companies were responsible for building and paying for all the roads and highways their cars traveled on? the streetcar companies were in an absurd situation. to add injury to insult cities usually wouldn't allow the streetcar companies to raise their fares when they needed to in order to meet costs (since politicians didn't want to be seen by their constituents for raising the fares). streetcar companies simply could not afford to meet these totally unreasonable burdens put on them for long. so they went out of business. they were expected to pay for their own infrastructure while the auto industry enjoyed unlimited public subsidies, thousands of miles of roads and interstates paid for by taxpayers. double standard much? which is why public transit is supposed to be run by governments not by a private company because only the government has at its disposal the vast resources necessary to do so.
Having those feeder routes operating on the less congested streets and then going grade separated in the high density urban core was, in hindsight, a pretty good idea that probably saved what remains of Philadelphia's trolley system.
This is a key feature of most of the trolley systems that never shut down (Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, etc.). I wonder whether the new systems being built around the country without this element will ever be able to reach the capacity levels of some of the older systems. LRT in Los Angeles which does have an expanding subway portion looks quite promising, and will soon have the second highest ridership of any system in the country. But some of the other systems seem to suffer too much from downtown congestion and probably lose ridership as a result
This is a key feature of most of the trolley systems that never shut down (Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, etc.). I wonder whether the new systems being built around the country without this element will ever be able to reach the capacity levels of some of the older systems. LRT in Los Angeles which does have an expanding subway portion looks quite promising, and will soon have the second highest ridership of any system in the country. But some of the other systems seem to suffer too much from downtown congestion and probably lose ridership as a result
I think LA is going to place the downtown portion of its light rail in a subway (Downtown Connector). Much of the non-downtown portion runs in its own right of way rather than street running so its rather different than the old Boston-type light rails.
Calgary, Alberta's light rail has about the same ridership per mile as Boston's without a subway. But its the reverse of Boston's: outer parts are in their right of way, inner on street. A lot of users (majority?) take a bus to the light rail station as the population densities are much lower than Boston.
Right, LA is building a subway through downtown that will tie 4 lines together, with two directional exits on either end of the subway portion. And you're right that much of the surface routes are grade separated. In the case of the Green Line (L.A.'s that is), it's elevated above a freeway, so again, no street running congestion issues. Perhaps the key in all this is dedicated ROW for congested areas combined with a system of multiple lines that interconnect in a meaningful way.
Right, LA is building a subway through downtown that will tie 4 lines together, with two directional exits on either end of the subway portion. And you're right that much of the surface routes are grade separated. In the case of the Green Line (L.A.'s that is), it's elevated above a freeway, so again, no street running congestion issues. Perhaps the key in all this is dedicated ROW for congested areas combined with a system of multiple lines that interconnect in a meaningful way.
LA is lucky as they had the two streetcar systems, one connecting city neighborhoods and suburbs and the other interurban, connecting more far flung areas. The interurban system left a lot of ROWs that are still around today. The Orange Line (BRT), Expo Line, Gold Line and Blue Line are all built or are being expanded on old right of ways. This makes travel time faster obviously, but also makes building the lines much more inexpensive.
Also, I believe the LA LRT system is now 2nd in the nation, as it passed up SF this year. I believe that number is even without the Expo Line added in - it is getting a ridership of about 11k a month after opening (this is with the interim terminus of La Cienega Blvd, the Culver City terminus has since opened). With the Regional Connector adding ridership and a few new lines/extensions in the works (Crenshaw Corridor/LAX extension, Green Line South Bay Extension), Boston better look out!
Also, I believe the LA LRT system is now 2nd in the nation, as it passed up SF this year. I believe that number is even without the Expo Line added in - it is getting a ridership of about 11k a month after opening (this is with the interim terminus of La Cienega Blvd, the Culver City terminus has since opened). With the Regional Connector adding ridership and a few new lines/extensions in the works (Crenshaw Corridor/LAX extension, Green Line South Bay Extension), Boston better look out!
Yes, I saw something a while back about LA LRT surpassing SF on ridership numbers. I have no doubt it will eventually be ahead of Boston, too (still quite a ways to go on that), and I will be ecstatic when this happens. LA is a big city, it should lead in raw numbers on this.
Yes, I saw something a while back about LA LRT surpassing SF on ridership numbers. I have no doubt it will eventually be ahead of Boston, too (still quite a ways to go on that), and I will be ecstatic when this happens. LA is a big city, it should lead in raw numbers on this.
I agree it has a ways to go before it catches up to Boston. Though the ridership per track mile is still up at the top compared to the rest of the US, I would like to see it get closer to Boston's number (~8600) than what it is at today (~2700). Not sure that lofty number is achievable in the near future, but maybe doubling the current number is a reasonable near-term goal.
The author makes a great point about how his son is growing up in a Los Angeles where riding trains and buses is a normal thing that everyday people do - which is very different from the car-crazed LA (in my case, Southern CA) that people from my generation and those that are older were raised in.
The author makes a great point about how his son is growing up in a Los Angeles where riding trains and buses is a normal thing that everyday people do - which is very different from the car-crazed LA (in my case, Southern CA) that people from my generation and those that are older were raised in.
That's the LA I grew up in, too. I am so pleased by all the progress transit is making there. It is going to transform the way people live and think about LA.
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