Comments on: Crystal City Streetcar May Get Built Before Pike Streetcar

By: Charles

Charles — Fri, 25 May 2012 13:31:20 +0000

A streetcar will do NOTHING to alleviate real congestion. Who are they kidding?

It will however give thoughtless politicians a thing to say they “did something” however ineffective and show-off it is, to get re-elected.

Better to spend the tax dollars on improving teacher salaries (so they don’t have to, ya know, buy their own school supplies, hello.

By: TrojanHorse

TrojanHorse — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 04:49:34 +0000

Not that you’d ever use public transit but one day one of these streetcars will break down. A bus or car will be able to switch lanes but the next trolley will not be able to do as they will be on the same track.

Have you ever tried to get onto 395 from Columbia Pike? Two lanes can hop on simultaneously. What happens to the dude in the right hand lane with a trolley next to him on the left , and to all the drivers behind him when he has to stop so the ##%$%% can get out of the way.

By: TrojanHorse

TrojanHorse — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 04:34:31 +0000

“On whether streetcars carry more people than buses, there is no ambiguity,” claims PolitiFact. “Streetcars have a maximum capacity of 92 riders, according to Fetsch. That’s nearly double the 51 or so riders who can fit on a single bus.” That’s dead wrong because, in addition to the capacity of individual vehicles, you have to consider frequency. For safety reasons, streetcars must be separated at least two or three minutes apart. Buses can run on downtown streets every 22 seconds. That means, even if a single bus has only half the capacity of the streetcar, a bus line has three more times the capacity of a streetcar line.

Simple math-buses are cheaper and can be green using natural gas….the street car is a novelty that will wear off and we’ll be stuck paying the price via bonds, increased rents, and higher taxes.

By: Fygar

Fygar — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 17:52:58 +0000

Crystal City is so small, why not just have a couple Rickshaws?

By: Truther

Truther — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 17:38:57 +0000

This post is a plea for streetcars, not a plea for a *Pike* streetcar.

“ubiquitous diesel bus”
-Quite a few PikeRide buses are CNG. Have you ever been on a 16 bus?

“streetcars/ light rail … is much better at attracting new ridership”

-It’s already the busiest bus corridor in Virginia, and the trolley will *not* replace most buses on the Pike.

“Developers don’t write checks for buses”

-The Penrose Square, Siena Park, and Halstead developers all wrote checks with no streetcar.

“Building a streetcar system is…mostly about economic development”

This isn’t H St NE – is $250+ million the best use of a County with an overburdened school system, infrequent off-peak bus service and a shrinking police force?

By: PEldridge

PEldridge — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 16:00:50 +0000

I disagree that Bus Rapid Transit as panacea for area transit woes. Unfortunately, the ubiquitous diesel bus operated by ART/DASH/Metro fails to deliver the route building capacity needed to facilitate this process. Taken as a whole these vehicles continue to suffer from a combination of poor public perception, questionable environmental impact coupled with concerns about their reliability. On the other hand streetcars/ light rail with its capacity to operate in a multiple unit fashion can carry more people than buses and is much better at attracting new ridership – many whom are first time riders who choose it for its superior speed, comfort and convenience. These riders represent decreases in driving and an increase in overall transit usage. As we have with Norfolk’s new light rail system, The Tide, ridership has nearly doubled from a projected 2,900 to an estimated 5,600 daily users in the first month of operation. As Len Brandrup, Transportation Director, Kenosha, Wisconsin’s notes, “Streetcars have sex appeal. It resonates with folks. … Developers don’t write checks for buses.” Even the heritage streetcar operation in Tampa Florida had projected an initial annual ridership of 350,000 and as transit agency spokes person Ed Crawford pointed out, “actual ridership has never been that low.”
Transit friendly development should also have been the focus of Ms. Leone and the Chamber as they prepared their recommendations. Again, developers are willing to invest in new properties along light rail routes since convenient transit benefits the community as a whole. Portland Oregon’s Pearl District was a rundown collection of warehouses, seedy hotels and abandon buildings. Now a decade later with a functioning light rail extension it represents over $57 million in mix use development with 7,000 housing units and 4.6 million square feet of retail/office space. Such development does not always translate into high price neighborhoods pushing out the elderly or lower income residences. The addition of a single parking space to an urban residential
development adds $25,000 to these costs. With close proximity to fast, efficient transit, residents don’t need as much access to parking, and per-unit development costs reflect these savings. John Schneider, a Cincinnati-based Transportation Consultant states, “Building a streetcar system is partly about transportation but it’s mostly about economic development.”
Finally light rail/streetcars tend to have a lower operational costs based on their ability to handle larger capacities and the availability of electric power. Taken as a whole electric utility prices tend to be more stable than those of oil and with the volatility in the petroleum market these can only be reflected in higher prices at the fare box. Also, the average life of a bus is 10 to 15 years versus the 30 to 40 year life cycle of the comparable rail car making replacement of buses more frequent and in the end more costly.
As Canadian writer Ryan McGreal notes, “cities that have embraced light rail are enjoying growing ridership, cleaner air, and copious new investments. Cities that continue to eschew it will fall farther and farther behind.” It appears there are some at this forum are taking such a rear guard action.

By: drax

drax — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 13:51:23 +0000

Yes, it is. You got a better one?

By: Chris Slatt

Chris Slatt — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 13:36:40 +0000

The Columbia Pike Streetcar plans include both those items: fewer stops and signal priority. They also include off-vehicle fare collection (no more stopping on your way in to pay for your trip), ingress/egress through multiple doors to speed boarding (no more bottleneck at a single door) and level boarding (streetcar floor is level with the streetcar stop so no waiting for bus to “kneel” or waiting for a lift to operate in order for a wheelchair to board).

Also higher capacity, quieter operation, smoother acceleration and the peace of mind that comes from knowing you can buy a house or setup a business next to it without fear that WMATA’s gonna reroute it in six months like they do with the buses all the time.

By: CourthouseChris

CourthouseChris — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 13:35:56 +0000

Whatever Novasteve-Alt; the panhandling homeless are far more aggressive in DC than anything I ever saw in Portland.

By: Chris R

Chris R — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 13:35:10 +0000

Just to let people know some facts
you cannot physically add any more buses to Columbia Pike without actually making them all go slower.
Articulated buses only carry 30% more people than a regular bus
So streetcars carry more people and therefore have less operators = winning
Build it ASAP before the Pike gets completely choked – the people are coming regardless.