Sunday Movie: Trams!

A love letter to trams. (Not Just Bikes)

Trams in this sense mean surface light rail with transit-lane priority on arterials, like Link on MLK, or the MAX Blue Line outside downtown. Not stuck in car congestion or shunted away to freeways.

He makes some interesting counterarguments to many STB authors/commentators' positions:

• Trams can integrate well into a pedestrian plaza, giving a pedestrian space with an added amenity for pedestrians". People quickly learn to step away from the track when it comes, and reclaim the space when it leaves, and it doesn't bother them. In contrast, a bus or BRT requires a visible street" lane that mars the pedestrian experience and ambience and up significant space and divides the area.

• Trams cost more than buses initially, but they have lower operating costs, especially the per passenger-trip cost if they're well used. They would be well used in a corridor of any significant size (e.g., Aurora, Rainier+Renton, Leary Way). With grant funding available only for new lines/capital costs, cities should keep their operating costs low so they can afford to run them through any economic ups and downs.

• Trams complement underground metros, and it can be worthwhile to have both a tram and a metro along the same street sometimes. Trams are suited to shorter trips, where close station spacing, platforms right at the sidewalk, and seeing the city along the way are important. Metros are suited to longer trips, where speed is more important. In cities with a robust metro+tram network, there's a lot of transferring between them for a metro's speed and a tram's short-distance and last-mile service. Tram-trains can combine in-city arterial service with a full-speed express segment to a neighboring city.

• Buses have a role as feeders from lower-density areas, but the primary routes in cities should be trams.

Race the L8 Video

Video of the Race the L8 run. (Juan Rodriguez) So many creative activities. Dancing, hopscotch, juggling, driving toy cars, walking a bike, walking with a soda can on your head, and all the creative signs. I wonder what it was like being on the bus not knowing there was going to be a parade for your route next to you.

This is an open thread.