Why more light rail than streetcar development in American cities?? (compared, area)

[BAA17]

I really like the new growth of light rail in American cities but IMO, streetcars would be a lot more efficient and would be more cost benefit. They look better in cities, provide easy access since you don't have to go to a station, are much cheaper to build, and provide better short distance transit. During the beginning of the 20th century American cities were packed with streetcars and then with the rise of suburbia most of those cities got rid of them. So why hate on streetcars?

[chirack]

At a basic level street cars are equivalent to busses grade separated light rail is
not. Street cars predate buses and do have some advantages but busses are
usually cheaper and more flexible(i.e. can run down a street without tracks and
can be more easily rerouted.). Grade separated light rail or at least light rail that has traffic signal priority
can travel faster than a car if it does not need to mingle in the street with
pedestrian, cars, trucks, and bikes.

[Komeht]

street cars not only have to sit in traffic - just like buses, but they also have no flexibility to switch lanes as a bus can.

[BAA17]

Not neccassarily, most streetcars have their own lanes while some buses do like express and rapid buses but most buses sit in normal street traffic while a streetcar has its own lane and only has to wait at a stop light.

[annie_himself]

Originally Posted by Komeht

street cars not only have to sit in traffic - just like buses, but they also have no flexibility to switch lanes as a bus can.

No they don't. Some sit in the neutral ground, some in the street.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by BAA17

Why more light rail than streetcar development in American cities??

1) Capacity.
2) Dedicated ROW avoids surface traffic (presuming you mean to differentiate between street cars and light-rail on a dedicated ROW; sometimes light rail shares ROW with street traffic)

[nei]

There's not much advantage of streetcars over buses. Cities have buses already these days, so there's little point in replacing them with streetcars. If you can get them to run on a ROW for part to all of the way, then you have an improvemetn.

[kidphilly]

Originally Posted by nei

There's not much advantage of streetcars over buses. Cities have buses already these days, so there's little point in replacing them with streetcars. If you can get them to run on a ROW for part to all of the way, then you have an improvemetn.

Mostly agree, though there is some studie that suggest LR/Street car investment can be more positive to an area but without at least partial ROW it generally is no better than buses (without some of the flexibility)

One other aspect is I believe that LR is more effeciaent to scale in cost per rider on a particular line

[annie_himself]

Originally Posted by nei

There's not much advantage of streetcars over buses. Cities have buses already these days, so there's little point in replacing them with streetcars. If you can get them to run on a ROW for part to all of the way, then you have an improvemetn.

Streetcars improve QOL, real estate values, and spur investment along the line. There's a huge advantage in streetcars compared to buses.

[james777]

Originally Posted by BAA17

I really like the new growth of light rail in American cities but IMO, streetcars would be a lot more efficient and would be more cost benefit. They look better in cities, provide easy access since you don't have to go to a station, are much cheaper to build, and provide better short distance transit. During the beginning of the 20th century American cities were packed with streetcars and then with the rise of suburbia most of those cities got rid of them. So why hate on streetcars?

The reason that they do not install them more instead of light rail is the same reason that streetcars were eliminated fifty years ago in many cities, they block automobile traffic. Only on wide boulevards with space to spare can streetcars be given dedicated lanes and you don't see that too often in the US.