Quote:
Originally Posted by AtlantaG8R
I would like to hear people's views as to why streetcar service makes sense over bus service in a shared road environment. I think doing this around the Beltine where its not sitting in traffic definitely makes sense, but I have a hard time understanding spending this much money to put tracks on existing roads.
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The streetcar design downtown is flawed because of lack of infrastructure to have separate lanes and the lack of funding to properly coordinate the lights for streetcar priority (supposedly this is still in the works since the last time they were all synchronized was before the Olympics - and much of that infrastructure was destroyed through decades of utility work/streetcar construction.) Hinging the future success of streetcar transit should rely more on better multi-modal street design rather than assuming the routes will be just like that downtown.
I think if the designs could be shown to be dedicated (or even mostly dedicated) transit ROWs along these routes the public would be more supportive. It works relatively well in downtown Long Beach. North Avenue could become more like an avenue - especially east of the Connector where much of the lanes are superfluous from Peachtree to Ponce City Market.
But most of the routes proposed present opportunities to re-design the thoroughfares that can and should work for multimodal use.
Most people should acknowledge that the BeltLine routes are hands-down not comparable to the success/failures of the downtown streetcar line considering they will be obviously in a dedicated ROW.
As far as bus service there's not only a stigma against riding the bus but there's a lack of permanence - the bus routes change yearly and aren't that reliable in the long-term as an incentive/investment for developers.
The streetcars (or transit for that matter) aren't meant to resolve traffic congestion - in fact transit relies on congestion through induced demand. The wider you build roads the more traffic there is - it's about tackling the issue of traffic/congestion by providing transit/transportation alternatives rather than solutions.
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