City of Everett is looking into an idea to put in actual streetcars on a line serviced by trolley-styled busses:
HeraldNet: Everett streetcar could work, but would be spendy
While the construction would be expensive, research in the article shows that it turns out to be a good investment in the future for the areas surrounding trolley lines. Both Tacoma and Seattle have seen upticks in development and ridership in neighborhoods around the rails.
Everett is just now discussing the opportunity; we'll be watching this closely.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
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Why is transportaton planning so segmented in the USA. If you want to have an integrated system follow the German or Swiss systems. One ticket works on all modes of transport and the schedules and routes are integrated by the master scheduling system.
ReplyDeleteWe had great times traveling anywhere in Germany 5 people can travel all weekend for $19 total. This weekend ticket gets people on a system that would be otherwise lightly loaded on weekends and folks use the weekend to go great distances to visit or do a weeks work in another city. We went from Bavaria to Berlin in a weekend and stopped numerous times without making reservations. A wonderful experinece that the USA could emulate if they wanted to.
My thought is that the U.S. might be on the way towards this kind of system. Look at the factors driving this theory: rising fuel costs that make personal travel more expensive now than ever; increased ridership on Amtrak, likely due to those fuel costs plus air travel issues; tracks around the U.S. being built rather than pulled out; trolley and light-rail systems on the upswing everywhere.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it will happen overnight, and the system may never be as comprehensive as Europe, but consider that the U.S. is a whole lot bigger than Europe in land mass; it would be a big job to do what that society already has in place.
But we can hope for something like it anyway!