Streetcars
This article on streetcars is somewhat inexplicably the fifth most e-mailed article on nytimes.com.
Update: It's now the third most e-mailed. What's up with all silly these NY Times readers? Don't they understand that streetcars are no different from buses??
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At least it is not a re-hash like what the San Francisco Chronicle did about the F-Market and Wharves line. It still is one of MUNI's best performers despite the odds stacked against it that keeps OTP down. It runs on Market St, on the surface, it's a streetcar, and it's still popular.
http://blog.streetcar.org/2008/08/what-have-we-learned.html
http://blog.streetcar.org/2008/07/how-the-fline-came-to-be.html
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/05/BADT1251IF.D...
http://blog.streetcar.org/2008/08/chron-fline-too-popular-for-ow.html
The F-line draws more riders than the Cable Cars.(MUNI Charges more for the latter, and they use the excuse that only tourists use them)
Great links, thanks. Doesn't the F-line sort of have its own right-of-way?
Right now, not on Market St, but they are working on it. They have a short stretch of private right of way though. They also have another line that is ready to go, the E-Embarcadero line, but they do not have a turnaround loop. The PCC was a mostly single-ended car. with few built as double-enders, and MUNI had some of those, but they are among the ones out to bid for repairs. 5 Double-enders is all they need to get the E-line running with minimal service. They got a New Orleans Car in their fleet, two in fact, one that was bought from a museum, the other that was on loan from New Orleans.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F_Market_&_Wharves#Route
Oops, a double post, sorry.
One of the interesting things here is that we have four communities interested in streetcars who can barely talk to one another.
First, and most important in today's dynamics, are the urban movers and shakers who don't know much about streetcars except they seem to work. In the process of learning how and why they work, they may end up knowing more than most of us. Or not.
Second, we have TC Mits- the common man in the street. For one reason or another (but probably not sentiment, in today's America) s/he thinks streetcars would be a step up from buses. Improbably, the ignorance of TC Mits (that streetcars are fast rail vehicles) is actually closer to the mark than the assertion by some local transit fans that streetcars are not light rail- streetcars become light rail when they run on light rail ROW, and vice versa.
Thirdly, we have modern rail transit advocates who, judging from blogposts, don't know or care that much about the history of electric transit.
And fourthly, we have the now declining species of the trolley fans, juice jacks, traction buffs, and electric rail fans. They built models, they published books, they restored trolleys and hung wire- because they had ridden and loved electric traction.
In a not-unrelated development, the Center for Wooden Boats can now be reached by a ride on the streetcar. This institution, old and young together, restores and builds wooden boats that the public can rent and use on Lake Union. Classes are taught, children and the disabled are helped to participate, interns are supported, festivals and regattas are held, and anyone who gets that close to the water gains a renewed interest in keeping the water clean.
There's a lesson in there someplace.