[sustran] be sure you want it by showing you are willing to pay for ALL of it

Eric Britton eric.britton at ecoplan.org
Fri Aug 15 15:14:24 JST 2008


On Behalf Of Lee Schipper



 

To sound heretical, I think a key issue here is who pays. The US had a long
series of these built with  OPM ("other people's money") expensive,
underutilized (i.e. without good load factors), i.e. a high cost per person
transported or per unit of capacity.  I would prefer ot see a city or region
build on its own money as part of a wide-ranging set of land use changes
that assure that homes, jobs, culture, etc will be connected by the street
car.    

 

Congestion charging (as Clifford Winston  of Brookings would argue), fuel
taxes and carbon taxes may also be necessary to make any particular
collective transport "work"  i.e.. really be used.  Otherwise the results
are sitting ducks for the Otoole's of the world.

 

On the other hand, why not the less expensive BRT route. LA finally got the
go-ahead for a dedicated lane on its Wilshire Blvd route. Far lower cost
than trams (and don't even breath "metro") they expect 2 minute headways
using articulated buses.  And yes these do fit in congested spaces like
trams do, as Ottawa and Brisbane have shown at the downtown ends of their
BRT.

 

In other words, what do you want to do? Reduce traffic, increase access,
stimulate development of homes, jobs, etc in town (I think)? how do you want
to do it? Some combo of higher costs of using cars and better access through
collective transport."?

 

If the tram falls out as part of the solution, fine, But to start off by
building a tram or a BRT or metro without first asking what you want to do,
then what are the alternatives, then how to make them happen.

 

then pay for it yourself and don;t go begging elsewhere. Add a regional
gasoline tax rather than waiting for the long process to get federal money
that ultimate comes from gasoline taxes. That is, be sure you want it by
showing you are willing to pay for ALL of it. 

 

 

Lee Schipper 
Visiting Scholar 
UC Transportation Center 
Berkeley CA USA www.uctc.net 
skype: mrmeter 
+1 510 642 6889, FAX +1 510 642 6061
Cell +1 202 262 7476 
www.uctc.net <http://www.uctc.net/>   

 

 

  _____  

From: NewMobilityCafe at yahoogroups.com
[mailto:NewMobilityCafe at yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Eric Britton
Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2008 8:25 AM
To: NewMobilityCafe at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [NewMobilityCafe] Downtowns Across U.S. See Streetcars in Their
Future

From: Dave Brook [mailto:dbrook at easystreet.com] 




In reality these streetcars are being used for much the same reason that
streetcars were first built at the turn of the (last) century - to open up
new areas for real estate development. A difference is that the current
generation (at least in the US) are being used to upgrade existing
neighborhoods and tend not to have such long routes.  This is somewhat
different than the "line haul" nature of light rail, which tends to have
it's own right of way, high capacity, etc.  Still, they create the perfect
conditions for carsharing.

Dave Brook

Portland, Oregon

(US streetcar capital?)

On Aug 14, 2008, at 5:20 AM, Kevin McLaughlin wrote:






Downtowns Across the U.S. See Streetcars in Their Future

NY Times
By BOB DRIEHAUS
Published: August 13, 2008

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/14/us/14streetcar.html?r=1
<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/14/us/14streetcar.html?r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slo
gin&adxnnlx=1218716221-4ABEpGaZyRNlTSuTZd8YFQ>
&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1218716221-4ABEpGaZyRNlTSuTZd8YFQ 





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