6 ms·

When I was a kid, I used to go visit family in Dayton, Ohio. We would take a day to "go downtown" and hop on the local electrically powered trollybus, pay some

by bane 12y ago

When I was a kid, I used to go visit family in Dayton, Ohio. We would take a day to "go downtown" and hop on the local electrically powered trollybus, pay some minimal fee and get a comfortable ride from suburbia to city. We'd go and walk around and hit a few department stores, eat some food, maybe take the bus a couple more times, and then grab a trollybus to get back home. It was easy, cheap and just worked. I understand some of the system is still active in the city. It's kind of mindblowing to me that there's only 5 such systems in all of the United States. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolleybuses_in_Dayton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolleybuses_in_Dayton

tedunangst 12y ago
Why does it have to be a trolleybus? What's wrong with a regular (possibly hybrid) bus?
- bane 12y ago
  It was built in 1888, doesn't smell, probably cheaper than laying track and moving trollies around.
  - Buge 12y ago
    Regular buses don't involve track or trollies.
  - __z 12y ago
    I was a regular bus rider for most of my childhood and all of my adolescence. Buses were never "smelly" to me. Nowadays all of our buses are hybrid anyways.
- andrewliebchen 12y ago
  Streetcar lines don't change like bus routes do. Their funding is harder to cut, and indeed their operating expenses are less than busses. Businesses can count on their presence into the future, as can riders who try to plan their car-less lives in their community.
  - huxley 12y ago
    Wish it was that certain. The US and Canada once had almost 100 municipalities with streetcar lines in the first half of the 20th century, there may be a dozen or so left now. One could blame GM [1] but many municipalities abandoned their systems without much pressure. Toronto --which I believe has the largest streetcar system in North America-- has had to employ a blacksmith for the last 3 decades to forge parts for the aging streetcars [2], though they apparently expect to retire him as the fleet is modernized. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspi... [2] http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/meet-pat-maietta-the-ttc-s-last-remaining-blacksmith-1.2513352 http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/meet-pat-maietta-the-t...
    - andrewliebchen 11y ago
      They certainly tend to stick around longer than bus routes. Streetcars represent significant infrastructure spending, while a bus route can be changed by a bureaucrat.

by bane 12y ago

tedunangst 12y ago

Why does it have to be a trolleybus? What's wrong with a regular (possibly hybrid) bus?

bane 12y ago
It was built in 1888, doesn't smell, probably cheaper than laying track and moving trollies around.
- Buge 12y ago
  Regular buses don't involve track or trollies.
- __z 12y ago
  I was a regular bus rider for most of my childhood and all of my adolescence. Buses were never "smelly" to me. Nowadays all of our buses are hybrid anyways.
andrewliebchen 12y ago
Streetcar lines don't change like bus routes do. Their funding is harder to cut, and indeed their operating expenses are less than busses. Businesses can count on their presence into the future, as can riders who try to plan their car-less lives in their community.
- huxley 12y ago
  Wish it was that certain. The US and Canada once had almost 100 municipalities with streetcar lines in the first half of the 20th century, there may be a dozen or so left now. One could blame GM [1] but many municipalities abandoned their systems without much pressure. Toronto --which I believe has the largest streetcar system in North America-- has had to employ a blacksmith for the last 3 decades to forge parts for the aging streetcars [2], though they apparently expect to retire him as the fleet is modernized. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspi... [2] http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/meet-pat-maietta-the-ttc-s-last-remaining-blacksmith-1.2513352 http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/meet-pat-maietta-the-t...
  - andrewliebchen 11y ago
    They certainly tend to stick around longer than bus routes. Streetcars represent significant infrastructure spending, while a bus route can be changed by a bureaucrat.