GDOT threatens to shutdown Atlanta Streetcar (cost, authority, rail)

[Gulch]

//www.city-data.com/forum/atlan...streetcar.html

Already posted

[LynnHarris]

Originally Posted by Gulch

//www.city-data.com/forum/atlan...streetcar.html

Already posted

Sorry..Will ask moderator to delete...

[neil0311]

I haven't been to this board in months now, but after reading about the streetcar elsewhere, I thought I'd come back here and see if the people who derided people like me (who predicted this $100 million boondoggle would go broke and have no ridership) would be back to apologize and admit they were wrong.

Funny how when some of us, just looking rationally at facts, said this thing was a ginormous waste of taxpayer money that would never be successful, we were just suburban, anti-transit bigots with an agenda. Funny how facts are...they are pretty objective.

[Perverse Instantiation]

Originally Posted by neil0311

I haven't been to this board in months now, but after reading about the streetcar elsewhere, I thought I'd come back here and see if the people who derided people like me (who predicted this $100 million boondoggle would go broke and have no ridership) would be back to apologize and admit they were wrong.

Funny how when some of us, just looking rationally at facts, said this thing was a ginormous waste of taxpayer money that would never be successful, we were just suburban, anti-transit bigots with an agenda. Funny how facts are...they are pretty objective.

Thing is I'm pro-transit and I knew it was going to be a failure as well(Look at the massive thread I created on the streetcar). Anyone who was objective knew the result.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by neil0311

I haven't been to this board in months now, but after reading about the streetcar elsewhere, I thought I'd come back here and see if the people who derided people like me (who predicted this $100 million boondoggle would go broke and have no ridership) would be back to apologize and admit they were wrong.

I always thought that MARTA should've run it from the get go and that it be expanded to complement the HRT system, and I still stand by that opinion.

Funny how when some of us, just looking rationally at facts, said this thing was a ginormous waste of taxpayer money that would never be successful, we were just suburban, anti-transit bigots with an agenda. Funny how facts are...they are pretty objective.

In it's current route, yes.

Do you oppose MARTA taking its operations over and them expanding it?

[primaltech]

As I've said so many times now, the problem with the Atlanta Streetcar is not with what exists with it, but what doesn't exist. The demand is there, the potential is waiting to be tapped. The concept is not the issue. The value of transit is clearly there. If you could use a streetcar system to get everywhere you want to go every day all around the city, in a fast and convenient manner, without ever having to wait more than 10 minutes or so for the next streetcar, then ridership would be off the charts, people would sell their cars for good, and it would be the most successful streetcar system in the country.

But no, we build this tiny little useless nothing of a thing, that doesn't go anywhere (so of course no one rides it), and there's not even enough vehicles to run a decent frequency, and it has to sit there in the frickin' car congestion- and we judge THAT, and everyone derides the Atlanta Streetcar as FAILURE. No, it's a proof of concept demo. At best.

The failure is not in the fact that we spent $100 million on this, it's in the fact that we are not spending $100 billion on it. It's like going to Carmax and buying just a car seat and a door. Of course it just sits there on the pavement and is useless. Of course it's a waste of $100 million and the incomplete "car" is a failure. That's what happens when you make a slow useless tourist gimmick loop ride demo. Why would there be any expectation of ridership? Who even goes to the King Center, ever?

[Sualpine]

Light rail is never the answer.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by primaltech

As I've said so many times now, the problem with the Atlanta Streetcar is not with what exists with it, but what doesn't exist. The demand is there, the potential is waiting to be tapped. The concept is not the issue. The value of transit is clearly there. If you could use a streetcar system to get everywhere you want to go every day all around the city, in a fast and convenient manner, without ever having to wait more than 10 minutes or so for the next streetcar, then ridership would be off the charts, people would sell their cars for good, and it would be the most successful streetcar system in the country.

But no, we build this tiny little useless nothing of a thing, that doesn't go anywhere (so of course no one rides it), and there's not even enough vehicles to run a decent frequency, and it has to sit there in the frickin' car congestion- and we judge THAT, and everyone derides the Atlanta Streetcar as FAILURE. No, it's a proof of concept demo. At best.

The failure is not in the fact that we spent $100 million on this, it's in the fact that we are not spending $100 billion on it. It's like going to Carmax and buying just a car seat and a door. Of course it just sits there on the pavement and is useless. Of course it's a waste of $100 million and the incomplete "car" is a failure. That's what happens when you make a slow useless tourist gimmick loop ride demo. Why would there be any expectation of ridership? Who even goes to the King Center, ever?

Remains to be seen whether demand is there or not. Very few people would sell their cars.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by Sualpine

Light rail is never the answer.

Street car is never the answer. It is just 150 year old technology that is vastly more expensive and vastly less flexible than a bus.

Light rail can be a good solution when it isn't just a streetcar traveling in mixed traffic.

[jsvh]

Of course I would prefer that transportation was privatized so private transit companies could flourish once again in Atlanta, but the streetcar is not a failure any more than a road is a failure.

I would build this section again and look forward to seeing it expanded this November.