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Has anyone ridden this thing yet? I did last week just for fun. It didn't seem very useful or efficient, as we saw several X2s pass us while we waited for the streetcar. We could have just walked that distance rather than waiting. We used it during the day and there was hardly anyone on it. I imagine it's much more heavily used at night or on the weekends.
Where it terminates by Union Station, is it actually walkable and convenient to the metro? H street itself is such a short stretch, on its own I just don't see any real benefit from this streetcar unless it expands which will probably not happen after wasting a quarter billion dollars on this thing.
The street car is brand new. But more importantly it was not built for 2016. It was built more for 2020 and beyond. Rail transportation projects are not usually built for current conditions. They are built for future conditions (or what is projected to be the future). Metro was not built for the 1970's. It was built for the 1990's and 2000's.
The streetcar is useless trash at the moment, but in time it will mature and improve.
This forum has a lot of CAVE people:
C = Citizens
A = Against
V = Virtually
E = Everything
Where it terminates by Union Station, is it actually walkable and convenient to the metro?
It terminates in the middle of the street by Union Station. To get to the metro from there, you have to cross the eastbound street lanes and go into the Union Station garage, then walk a bit until you get to the stairs which lead you down into the Amtrak entrance to Union Station. Then from there you walk to the metro entrance. The total walk is maybe 5-8 mins?
It terminates in the middle of the street by Union Station. To get to the metro from there, you have to cross the eastbound street lanes and go into the Union Station garage, then walk a bit until you get to the stairs which lead you down into the Amtrak entrance to Union Station. Then from there you walk to the metro entrance. The total walk is maybe 5-8 mins?
Ok thanks I wasn't sure how people walked through the station to get to the metro. Accessibility to the metro is supposed to be one of the selling points. Looks like you won't be able to use smartrip though once they start charging.
The street car is brand new. But more importantly it was not built for 2016. It was built more for 2020 and beyond. Rail transportation projects are not usually built for current conditions. They are built for future conditions (or what is projected to be the future). Metro was not built for the 1970's. It was built for the 1990's and 2000's.
The streetcar is useless trash at the moment, but in time it will mature and improve.
This forum has a lot of CAVE people:
C = Citizens
A = Against
V = Virtually
E = Everything
At the rate it's going, I guess our great grandkids will be able to enjoy the robust streetcar system. Right now it's going to be nothing more than a joy ride for drunk hipsters playing in their newly discovered neighborhood.
Spending 200 mill and only having this raggedy line to show for it is not a good sign for the future. It doesn't sound like the MLK line is coming up any time soon. They'll have to justify using a lot more tax payer dollars for any future lines so they better have more sound plans in place, with better financial oversight, or this thing is going to be scrapped.
Metro was not built for the 1990s or 2000s, which is why there are tons of problems with it now. It wasn't designed for the population capacity we are at now.
Metro was not built for the 1990s or 2000s, which is why there are tons of problems with it now. It wasn't designed for the population capacity we are at now.
Weak argument.
Metro was built for what they thought the 1990's and 2000's would be. Since no one has a crystal ball, they were not 100% spot on. But you should know better. I should not have to explain this.
Seems the opinions on the streetcar fall into 2 camps:
1) the streetcar is not very useful, further extensions should be scraped and focus on bus/metro.
2) the streetcar is not very useful, but it will become more useful as the system is built out more.
Personally, I tend to fall into the 1st camp. The streetcar has 2 issues: 1) it's too limited to be useful for moving about the city 2) its too slow to compete with buses.
Expansion will solve the 1st, but not the 2nd issue. Plus, the expansion will be painfully slow, even if fully funded and well managed.
Maybe long term a tram system with dedicated lanes makes sense, but I would build out an express bus network in the near term and then work on gradually converting the lines over to a tram (only if it has a dedicated lane).
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