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Originally Posted by tennis1400
Great article! Nice to see New Orleans getting credit that it deserves, we don't get everything right but when we do we get it really right! One thing I will say about streetcars in other cities is that most of them are simply not dense enough to support it. New Orleans' streetcars actually feel like legitimate transportation. Recently in Tampa I took their streetcar... it was silly to be frank. No density on the route, it showed up very infrequently and well it just seemed like a cartoonish version of New Orleans. There was no authenticity in it and I'm sure its a money loser.
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To be honest, I feel the same way about our own streetcars sometimes. Of the people riding the St. Charles or Riverfront lines, how many are tourists and how many are actually locals who use the streetcar to get to work? The Canal line is really the only one that serves locals to any great extent.
I continue my one-man quest to get NORTA to consider modern streetcars for the new lines. Just because most American cities operate crappy, unpleasant buses doesn't mean that all modern designs are crappy. A modern low-floor streetcar is far more comfortable to board or to stand up in than any of New Orleans' historic cars, and they are accessible for handicapped and elderly people.