4 ms·

The reason they are failing is because they are slow ass and never modernized. Now they are primarily tourist traps. SF is a bad example of a city with street c

by melony 4y ago

The reason they are failing is because they are slow ass and never modernized. Now they are primarily tourist traps. SF is a bad example of a city with street cars, there are many countries with much better implementations of street cars. You need to give street cars priority and make sure they don't get overly slowed down by city traffic. If you want people to take streetcars, overhaul the entire infrastructure. You can keep the outer decoration and layout but the insides should be replaced with the latest tech from Siemens/the Japanese.

defrost 4y ago
eg: Melbourne, Australia > Trams are a major form of public transport in Melbourne, the capital city of the state of Victoria, Australia. > As of May 2017, the Melbourne tramway network consists of 250 kilometres of double track, 493 trams, 24 routes, and 1,763 tram stops. > The system is the largest operational urban tram network in the world. As featured in the engineering nerd cult classic film Malcolm (1986) [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wffDBsSgS5Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wffDBsSgS5Q
- spacehunt 4y ago
  Melbourne is not a great example of a modern fast system though. The trams are far too slow in the inner suburbs, with the exception of parts of 96/119.
- deepdriver 4y ago
  You don't even need to be a wealthy country. Tram service is excellent in Zagreb, capital of Croatia, where they've had electrics trams for more than a century: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trams_in_Zagreb https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trams_in_Zagreb To someone from a place with modern, well-maintained light rail, I imagine Bay Area streetcars seem as quaint and outdated as old Ford cars in Cuba look to Americans.
  - Symbiote 4y ago
    > To someone from a place with modern, well-maintained light rail, I imagine Bay Area streetcars seem as quaint and outdated as old Ford cars in Cuba look to Americans. This is why San Francisco's streetcars are a tourist attraction. Few people go to Edinburgh just to ride on a modern tram, but some people visit Scotland and take a trip on a steam train (with or without the Harry Potter theme).
    - quesera 4y ago
      > This is why San Francisco's streetcars are a tourist attraction San Francisco's Cable Cars are a tourist transaction. They do also move thousands of officeworkers to downtown daily, though. But the streetcar system is much larger than the cable car system, and it is definitely not a tourist attraction.
      - Taniwha 4y ago
        I think that what confuses people is that they run historic street cars down the surface Market St for the tourists, and more modern street cars underground (under Market St, above ground in the suburbs) for the locals
m-ee 4y ago
The N Judah actually managed to get slower. Having trouble finding the photo but someone posted an N Judah schedule on reddit from the early 1900s and it was actually faster to get to downtown than it is now. EDIT- Article about it https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/01/us/san-francisco-muni-strives-to-recapture-streetcar-speeds-of-1912.html https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/01/us/san-francisco-muni-str...
- flomo 4y ago
  The T-Third is also slower than the bus it replaced, and that was only like 20 years ago.

by melony 4y ago

defrost 4y ago

eg: Melbourne, Australia > Trams are a major form of public transport in Melbourne, the capital city of the state of Victoria, Australia. > As of May 2017, the Melbourne tramway network consists of 250 kilometres of double track, 493 trams, 24 routes, and 1,763 tram stops. > The system is the largest operational urban tram network in the world. As featured in the engineering nerd cult classic film Malcolm (1986) [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wffDBsSgS5Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wffDBsSgS5Q

spacehunt 4y ago
Melbourne is not a great example of a modern fast system though. The trams are far too slow in the inner suburbs, with the exception of parts of 96/119.
deepdriver 4y ago
You don't even need to be a wealthy country. Tram service is excellent in Zagreb, capital of Croatia, where they've had electrics trams for more than a century: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trams_in_Zagreb https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trams_in_Zagreb To someone from a place with modern, well-maintained light rail, I imagine Bay Area streetcars seem as quaint and outdated as old Ford cars in Cuba look to Americans.
- Symbiote 4y ago
  > To someone from a place with modern, well-maintained light rail, I imagine Bay Area streetcars seem as quaint and outdated as old Ford cars in Cuba look to Americans. This is why San Francisco's streetcars are a tourist attraction. Few people go to Edinburgh just to ride on a modern tram, but some people visit Scotland and take a trip on a steam train (with or without the Harry Potter theme).
  - quesera 4y ago
    > This is why San Francisco's streetcars are a tourist attraction San Francisco's Cable Cars are a tourist transaction. They do also move thousands of officeworkers to downtown daily, though. But the streetcar system is much larger than the cable car system, and it is definitely not a tourist attraction.
    - Taniwha 4y ago
      I think that what confuses people is that they run historic street cars down the surface Market St for the tourists, and more modern street cars underground (under Market St, above ground in the suburbs) for the locals

m-ee 4y ago

The N Judah actually managed to get slower. Having trouble finding the photo but someone posted an N Judah schedule on reddit from the early 1900s and it was actually faster to get to downtown than it is now. EDIT- Article about it https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/01/us/san-francisco-muni-strives-to-recapture-streetcar-speeds-of-1912.html https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/01/us/san-francisco-muni-str...

flomo 4y ago
The T-Third is also slower than the bus it replaced, and that was only like 20 years ago.