After recording this video I got a better mic. Keep watching and I promise it is better. Or throw your "get a better mic" comment on the pile idk I can't stop you.
Re: Accessibility - can you read the interstitial cue cards out loud? It helps blind people, but honestly it makes it possible for me to get the full video even if I'm listening while doing chores.
@@tjejojyj Oh that's normal in my downtown of Prague 😁. But we always blame the car drivers, so that's that. Also, I know this is a joke, but YUMBLtv actually has an interesting video "Cities:skylines is car-centric and that's fine". Highly recommended!
It's such a shame to see investment wasted on pointless systems like that, when a worthwhile system can work really well. In Croydon, a suburb of London, a brand new tram (streetcar) network was built in the 1990s, with 17 miles of track across 3 lines connecting the town centre with neighbouring towns and suburbs. Trams run at least every 10 minutes, and more frequently than that on many lines. One branch runs to a highly deprived outlying neighbourhood and has replaced buses as the main service into town, giving a big boost for local residents, while another branch replaced a little-used low-frequency rail line. The network carries nearly 30 million passengers a year (80 thousand a day), and has been a huge success.
The light rail in the Gold Coast, Australia is a good example for American light rail. The city only had buses and a railway on the outer edge connecting to a major city. The new light rail connects the centres along the line with the railway and bus services. it also has a cross platform connection to airport express buses which is important as it's a tourist destination similar to Florida. The trams run every 7-8 minutes with 7 car trams, which is much better than what there is in the US. There is mostly separated lanes and signal priority which makes it very fast. This is how the new streetcars should be instead of what's in place
Yeah, the Australians have been killing it recently compared to American light rail. I was in the GC a year ago and took the tram; it was really good. People in New Zealand, where I live, I think still have a lot of misconceptions about "dinky trams" left over from the memory of our old tram systems. The Gold Coast Tram is a prime example of how modern trams can be smooth, quiet and fast if done right. More of a "street train" than a "dinky tram".
The Tempe streetcar only opened a few months ago, and the route is somewhat circuitous, but not a loop. At least it has a major university campus along the line. It goes from the Dorsey/Apache light rail stop, along Apache Blvd, then Mill Rd, and then along Rio Salado Pkwy to the Marina Heights development. The only split section is in downtown Tempe, from Rio Salado Pkwy to University Dr, where northbound streetcars go along Mill Rd, while southbound streetcars go down Ash Ave. At least it seems to be integrated quite well into the regional transit network. It shares 2 stops with the light rail (it has a 3rd platform at the Dorsey/Apache station, and the 3rd St/Mill and 3rd St/Ash stops are on opposite ends of the 3rd St/Mill light rail stop, and I think the streetcars use the main Valley Metro Operations and Maintenance Center for maintenance). I don’t know when service will be improved to every 15 minutes, but it’s supposed to at some point. In May 2023, fares will be raised from free (as it’s the first year) to $1/ride, though I hope and bet that Valley Metro fare cards (e.g. ASU and employer-provided transit passes) can be used with the streetcar, as so many streetcar riders are university students. The streetcar also goes into some areas without good local bus service (mainly on the south side of the university campus, where there aren’t any east-west bus connections). I’m not sure if Valley Metro has released any ridership data yet.
I feel the $300 million limit was a bad move. This limited the scope of the projects and seems to have prevented them from being useful as a form of transit. With a bit more funding, old railway/streetcar lines could have been reopened, provided a decent amount of trackbed remains, and served an actual purpose. The majority of Manchester's Metrolink system built in the 80's relied on existing commuter rail lines to get it going. These routes were deemed to have more local ridership and were built at a time railways were declining in the UK. Conversion to light rail could give these routes more frequent service and crossing the city centre at street level could help boost connections in the city as well as provide better north/south connection. Crucially, Metrolink was designed to resolve the lack of connectivity between Manchester's north and south railway stations, on opposite sides of the city centre, by providing a light rail link between them. I think some of these US systems underestimate the importance of having a reason for their existence lol. The system cost £145 million (£302 million in today's money), which paid for a 19.2 mile network, mostly converted from heavy rail, although with a couple of miles of extra track through the city itself. Costs would have been much higher, has this infrastructure not already been mostly in place. This also makes it quite unique among tram systems, with doors being raised above street level quite a bit, requiring platforms at standard heavy rail heights. Accessibility is good though, as trams/platforms are standardised to make level boarding possible. It was also designed with expansion in mind, with the city centre tracks designed around more future routes. Over the years, the system has incrementally grown to 63 miles, with the latest line opening to little fanfare in the middle of COVID-19 lockdown. The system has been successful, with fares mostly covering operating costs and the system moving 43.7 million people in 2018. (Approx 120,000 riders per day)
Kitchener Waterloo did it right, they connected nearly all big ticket destinations, connected the two city centres together, along with the corresponding suburbs, and has bus terminuses at end stations. The line basically runs as a streetcar / light rail hybrid; much like interurbans, it runs along old railways in the suburbs and along roads in the city centres.
It's unfortunate buses have a bad stigma in the US. From an accessibility standpoint, I think Richmond did a good job with the Pulse since they have level boarding. I'd argue that in most cases, the monies used to build modern streetcars would be better off used to build BRT-lite with some dedicated lanes, signal priority, and level boarding. Of course, that doesn't drive property values like streetcars apparently do. Good content, and it's about damn time we got some more leftist Cities Skyline (donoteat where are you).
for $10 million Houston redesigned their entire bus network using existing fleet and no new infrastructure. If the money for every streetcar was used to redesign bus systems and improve service cities would gain thousands more transit riders 😬
In short: Streetcars have the potential to be a good idea... if American cities could just stop sucking at them. If urban developers and politicians would just get their greedy short-sighted asses out of the way and let transit planners actually do their jobs, to plan effective transit system to increase public mobility rather than score short-term PR victories and drive up property values for no real reason or gain, we could once again have public transport networks built around integrated streetcar & bus systems that could equal anything they have in... basically anywhere else in the developed world. You know... like we used to.
In London we have a pretty good bus system which has high frequency service, countdown screens at bus stops, etc. Buses elsewhere in Britain are shit and getting worse (thanks to Thatcher deregulating them and Cameron defunding them). But I'm still angry that most of our trams were destroyed in the 60s. London once had the most extensive tram network in the world.
As a resident of a UK city hobbled by 70s car-centrism and 80s bus deregulation (Leeds), it's always a trip to be reminded the US has contrived to be multitudes worse.
Medhat Heck, even compared to most Australian cities. Granted, we’re about as bad once you get outside the cities, but still. Asian cities are just on another level entirely. I feel like we’d do a lot better here in Australia if we weren’t hampered by halfassed plans and incredibly inept project management that results in absurd cost blowouts for eminently foreseeable problems.
I’m so excited for this series! I moved to Portland, OR when I started college a decade ago - I fell in love with the street cars and MAX light rail. It encouraged me to pursue a graduate degree and a career in municipal government, and I now work on a variety of municipal projects from parks to transportation.
Here in Omaha were lucky when it comes to the ability to make transit routes to be used by visitors, because our airport, our convention center, TD Ameritrade park (where the college world series is played), the now regional HQ of Conagra, the history museum, the Amtrak station, the zoo, and a bunch of hotels are all on the same street (10th st.) or less than two blocks away, all within 6 miles. Do we have a bus route on 10th Street? Nope.
And they're building some kind of BRT-lite along Dodge now too, right? Glad Omaha is finally making at least some kind of effort towards transit and density. The sprawl is getting out of hand.
@@awesomelyshorticles woooo now get a train between lincoln and omaha! Except I did hear actually that they're taking bids for a daily bus line between lincoln and omaha so that'd be cool get that game day traffic on a train dammit lmao
I live in St. Louis and just want to say that the "Loop Trolley" should never have been built. Few people wanted it, it went over budget and schedule immediately (over 2 years late), it served little to no purpose, and made the whole area less friendly while it was built (several businesses closed or relocated due to fewer visitors braving the construction) and operated (several parked cars were hit since it had to share a lane/parking and it broke down all the time, including on its last journey before closing). The people who actually live here feel like we got monorail'd. To add insult to injury last I heard we had to pay the federal money back or risk not getting any future grants. It feels like Joe Edwards (one of the biggest proponents of it) just wanted a toy and/or to devalue a bunch of real estate along the path and snatch it up for himself.
When my area had trolleys, 70 percent of ROW was private high speed routes with only street running in the major down town sections of the various communities served. Some branches acted like fast frequently rail service and generally the system operated decent with the longest route being 45 minutes. Once they removed the system, 2 lines were converted to streets and the rest which were ether private or streets with special car lanes just abandoned/ road widened. Buses follow the more public ROW routes and or go on the roads that best connect them. On the final line to close on October 15, 1950 the trolley took 20 minutes normally in the past (by then only 4 cars remained making 35 minute services) to traverse the route which once out of the 2 down town sections was a 50mph line. Today the bus takes 45 minutes even with more frequent buses than there were street cars. 8 buses. Most of the ROW was fully abandoned.
Oh fine, I'll follow this yet another urban planning channel even if I have no massive interest in urban planning. Great videos so far! Blame donut eat >:(
An excellent presentation which confirms my worry that many new streetcars operate over routes not attractive to potential riders. The idea of one-way loops diminishes the "walkability" factor as the line is only usable in one direction without needing to either ride the full route to get back to ones own stop, or needing to walk a long distance between the loops. Also, poor frequency and strange operating hours don't encourage ridership, in spite of free fares. El Paso and the St Louis Delmar Loop don't/didn't operate until 11.00 (I seem to remember) which is crazy.
Of course Toronto’s streetcar system is nothing like these second generation streetcars, having kept ours from the 1800’s and being over 80km long, but for a (North) American city I think we pulled the integration between buses and streetcars off pretty well, as it’s normal to see buses run on streetcar lines, and the lines connect to many high frequency bus lines
19:30 Route 15 is restoring their trolley service later this year in September! They have been completely restoring them from start to finish and hopefully enough will be completed in time for the reopening.
As an enormous streetcar nerd myself, I wasn't offended by your critiques of modern systems because all the problems you laid out are accurate and: 1. Not intrinsic to the actual vehicles themselves or their equipment 2. Entirely the fault of the ridiculous way our garbage neo-liberal hell country views/builds transit Streetcars done well (i.e. with service laid out logically for the purpose of actually transporting people and service density similar to early 20th century systems but with modern accessibility) are a truly wonderful thing to behold. Sadly, that's not how our ghoulish capitalist state builds them. To the point about older designs, there's no reason you couldn't make a low floor PCC car or other beautiful old streetcar design with modern materials/construction techniques. Manufacturers don't make them and cities don't buy them because everything has to look like a silvery turd caught in a wind tunnel for the techie "wow factor" nowadays. There are few things I wouldn't do to have low floor Bridge Units wandering around Oakland carrying my fat ass across the bay in style. Your channel is amazing! I'm glad I was sent here and I'm looking forward to more!
In this video there were a few times where you made a distinction between “Streetcars” and “Light Rail”. However, I have a hard time distinguishing between the two technologies. It seems to me that they are basically the same technology and any distinction between them speaks more to how planners envision their use (down town circulation vs longer distance commutes). For example, I work in Norfolk VA which has a “Light Rail” that feels like a Streetcar downtown with stops every 1500 ft and a Light Rail outside the city with off street tracks & stops every 1.5 miles. All of this is to say I would enjoy a video on this topic and/or on the “Failure and Success” of Light Rail. I look forward to watching the rest of your videos. :)
US buses are almost universally low floor, thanks to the Americans with Disabilities Act. The struggle comes with that it is extremely rare buses are level and close enough to a stop platform that they can be boarded without deploying a ramp and involving the driver. Most buses are only equipped with a front door ramp, they're too narrow for a wheelchair to be moved past the area behind the driver, and the rear is high floor.
@@bigmoodenergy As you describe it, that would be a "low entry" bus, that does unnecessarily complicate things for people in wheelchairs. Is the "Americans with Disabilites Act" a legal obligation ? And if it is, who has to follow it ? The vehicle manufacturers or the transport authorities ? Transport authorities in the EU are required by law to make public transport accessible to everyone by 2022.
@@GTFan8899 The ADA as it is typically referred to in US is federal law requiring accessibility measures for people with all types of disabilities and covers pretty much every facet of life from buildings, to transit, to paperwork. Everyone in the US is required to follow it though there are exceptions for older structures (though if you renovate then it kicks in), single family homes, and other more specific ones like undue burden etc.
Was wondering the same thing. True about the ramps even with low-floor buses (for another thing people often stand too close so the bus won't be parked ideally, which can cause all sorts of problems. No such thing with vehicles on fixed rails for obvious reasons).
RIP septa rt 15. I hope to see it and other discontinued rts come back one day. I want a street car so bad. Wish the trollies were lowwer to the ground too.
They are saying it's supposed to come back online in 2021. I know SEPTA isn't usually the most reliable when it comes to stuff like this, but I can kind of see this as a special case given the circumstances of major street work happening right on the rout. I'm hopeful they bring it back again.
Yes, can’t wait for the next episode, being an DC area resident, I wonder if this fictional metro system will have problems with escalators, differed track maintenance, trains constantly running delayed, and people just hating on it. It’s gonna be fun. Also another one who was sent by well there’s your problem.
Yesss! That's the good stuff! The differences between the US and Europe are interesting. Over here in Finland the trams are now equally expensive as other forms of transit (where it used to be cheaper) but it is integrated at least in terms of tickets and although it rarely shares stops with buses, it connects to the major bus stations (and the train stations, and the ferries). The network is fairly good too and covers a fairly large area around the main city centre. Of course this area is already pretty heavily gentrified. You can still sort of afford to live in these neighbourhoods (especially if you got there early enough that they can't raise your rent quite as high as they'd like to) but it's pretty clear that the tram doesn't go to the cheaper areas; that's where you take the bus, or the train if you're lucky. I don’t know the history so I don't know if the tram drove gentrification. It's been around for a lot longer than the streetcars you talked about here. But I could definitely imagine it might have? There's definitely an impression that I get that the tram is more acceptable for even somewhat wealthier people to take. On the other hand it's also the easiest form of mass transit to fare dodge so that's cool and a potential reason for poorer people to stay. (I mean I know some people who rely on it but that's anecdotal.) Our public transport is way overpriced, it's a significant monthly expense if you don't have a lot of money. And the worst part is that they keep hiking up those prices so you can't even rely on the already high costs to at least stay the same.
I liked Stockholms set up when I visited a couple of months back, it has its large metro rail system that spanned out in all directions but their tram/light rail systems which all linked up to metro stations went essentially in a more east to west kind of set up so basically the trams acted more as a connector service which catered to less populous routes but linked up to the larger lines and the frequency was out of this world. I am Australian so we have have some of the similar car centric issues when it comes to transport as America so seeing how much of Europe operates within cities and regionally is both inspiring and depressing lol.
So glad I found this series. Can't wait for the commuter rail episode, where you will presumably talk about the best commuter rail system in the US, Metro-North. Fight me LIRR fans.
Light rail is a very good investment. The Green Line in Boston can carry loads of people with just as much efficiency as a metro but with much more flexibility. They even run on the street still on one of the lines
@@bigmoodenergy well, I Cant Believe Its Not Butter! Your city is very good, i first thought it was supposed to be a knock-off Omaha until you said it was supposed to be a generic mid sized midwestern city!
I would say that some of the Milwaukee info is incorrect or misleading. 1) Most of it's funding to build came from local on route TIF and federal funds from long before the Obama administration. The federal funds were actually about half of the amount allocated for a whole city light rail system awarded I believe in the same timeframe that Portland was awarded for their LRT. The problems came in determining where it would go and after years of the funds being devalued, local arguing, and the county spending half of the funds on new buses the city asked the Obama administration if it could use the remaining deinflated funds on a streetcar. 2) The numbers listed are accurate but the Milwaukee streetcar had just opened on Nov 2018 so 2019 is literally it's first year in operation and not really indicative of longer term numbers like a few of those other systems like Kansas City. 3) I would say it is more of a straight line route for how Milwaukee is setup as the loop seen if you look at it's map is a one block division in order to avoid underground infrastructure particularly steam lines and a large telephone/fiber exchange vault to lower costs as replacing/moving those items would have easily doubled the cost. Milwaukee also doesn't have a RTA due to state law preventing their creation unfortunately (thanks Walker). The idea in Milwaukee is that it will grow to be a hybrid streetcar (downtown) LRT (outside downtown) if we can ever get any transit funding (or urban funding at all) going. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed the video and concept just wanted to clarify I few things I caught that were not quite right about a system I know.
Agreed! The Hop didn't do so bad in its initial launch, it's on the better half of streetcars for sure. Doing a video on 12+ systems at once painted them with a pretty broad stroke. For each trait I described, at least a few systems didn't fit, Milwaukee got lumped in with a bunch of stuff that didn't apply. I almost included talking about the public-private funding setup for The Hop, particularly it's sponsorship from the Potawatomi Casino but I didn't fit it in. The next videos should be a bit more granular (until light rail lol oh boy)
I'm surprised the Amtrak is not in your downtown, as rails tend to follow rivers and have the station smack dab in what becomes the central business district. When the trains first arrived, the business district would grow up around the station, as rail is more reliable than water in bad weather and drought situations. Looking forward to the rest of your episodes, hoping you will work on pedestrian/cycling issues, too.
I put it outside of town for a future episode on Amshacks. If you watch Ep 2 you'll see the old station is on the riverfront in a pretty central location. Some changes in the 1970's are going to move it to its current location :)
I love this video series! Keep it up. I get very excited hearing your knowledge of transit with city skylines as a reference I can understand. :D Thank you!
The "aesthetic" of your videos is so perfect. Also, not exactly a street car but Baltimore's light rail is incredibly scenic north of city. Jones Falls area - beautiful. I'm not sure how useful the light rail actually is though.
Great vid. FWIW, Ontario, Canada has tools to incentivize developers to create affordable housing in return for density. Good practice is for cities to prepare their land use plans for these sorts of infrastructure projects prior to their implementation to ensure a smooth transition, I.e no parking appropriate height provisions as of right etc.. Will watch your other vids!
It was an asymmetric road, and I needed the one-way tram lane to go in the opposite direction. Asymmetric roads unfortunately don't change directions with the upgrade tool so it had to be removed and replaced each time they were in the wrong direction
I was a little proud when you mentioned how you liked Amsterdam's bus system. :) I've never used much public transportation outside the Netherlands but I do think it's pretty great all things considered.
@@bigmoodenergy Yeah, fair. I almost added a disclaimer about it being light rail, but on the heavy side of light rail, then decided just to brag for Seattle instead. :)
Tram systems build up greatly. Once you have couple of lines expanding it is no brainer, but if have none then it's probably not worth to build all the infrastructure. BTW polish trams ride in green lane between streets wherever possible so you avoid being stuck in traffic jams and only interact with other vehicles when crossing streets or in crammed, historical parts of the city. I feel like most of drawbacks you mention are related to US implementation only, not the technology.
This comment appeared on twitter lmao Did you say AMERICA? Why didn't you put the examples of Toronto, Medellín, Cuenca, Rio de Janeiro, Santos, Mendoza or Buenos Aires?
@@loplopthebird1860 This is the best comment. I have ridden the Rio VLT and it works well for getting around downtown. There they at least had the good sense to carve out dedicated tram space and reduce car lanes on the major thoroughfares. A streetcar running entirely in mixed traffic is garbage, you've essentially built a bus on rails
Very late to the game but as a resident of toronto which has basically its original streetcar map (mostly) intact aside from the corridors that are now subways, these neo-streetcars have always been baffling to me lol. Why loop a streetcar around like three (3) city blocks??? Why have the route be the loop instead of doing a little loop at the end???? I'm surprised the Portland system has such high ridership even. The system I see the most promise in is Kansas City just in terms of the simple straight line route that can be built on easily. I mean in terms of riders per length/number of lines it's already punching above its weight.
There's nothing wrong with trams. There's everything wrong in how USA does them. In Europe trams are far superior to buses - quicker, quieter, more comfortable, more frequent. In my city one large district (2nd highest populated) after years of petitioning got a green light to build a tram lane from the main network - it's the biggest investment in my city since 1945. New lane is deeply integrated with city bus and train network to the point where there is a dedicated overpasses being build that will be shared by buses and trams, while the final loop will integrate trams and buses with the largest train station in the district (and fun fact here: you can get a monthly ticket that's shared between city bus/tram network and the PPP train network). It's a win-win for everyone.
Very objective. These seem like trophy systems. My conclusion from this is the money should have been spent on improving bus stops and high frequency service. 20 minute service is crazy. Transit will attract riders when it’s turn-up-and-go. This will happen with share autonomous vehicles that are being trialed in a number of locations. The latest ones in China seem good enough to go into permanent service.
One other thing. I used to be in a transport group with Marsden Berger who helped design the Detroit People mover. I asked him why they didn’t run single cars at twice the frequency. He said they had done it to save on maintenance because if one car failed the other one could push it. He had recommended they extend the loop rather than build the street car there. That would have been better. I highly recommend this video where he talks about the system. I was struck by his discussion on the desire to get public acceptance of automation. Watch “Marsden Berger” on Vimeo: vimeo.com/29666187?ref=em-share It’s a pity they didn’t use the Morgantown PRT design in Detroit, Jacksonville and Miami. The system has been reliable until age caught up with it and it has recently had some refurbishment.
Cincinnatian here. Would reaaaaally like if our streetcar would be expanded to match the original Cincinnati streetcar system that we ditched in favor of busses.
I kind of like it, it exists in a weird realm of "almost transit". I've heard there were proposals to expand it that didn't go anywhere. I feel like if Kenosha invested in it, it would be a really good resource.
it's almost finally dead and thank god. Last cost I saw was over $1 billion for a meandering streetcar in mixed traffic providing almost no new access to transit. New York could have light rail, but that was the wrong plan.
@@bigmoodenergy While I pretty much agree with you, I also thought the $1 billion could be better spent on making the subway more accessible or maybe help expand the subway system in the outer boroughs (Queens and Brooklyn).
I haven't ridden on a Brookville, one center door seems like it would get very congested with heavy ridership. But maybe the idea is that none of these routes will ever get enough ridership for it to matter 🤷🏻♀️
US public transportation. Most of the time it doesn't exist, and when it does, it typically sucks. But at least it gets more TH-cam content than any other! ... has anyone made a study on how streetcar lines contribute to TH-cam development and Instagram posts? Maybe that's the real goal. Indirect Internet infrastructure development.
Milwaukee's streetcar is pretty nice if you hate walking in the cold, and since it's free it helps some of the homeless here. But really we should have just gotten more buses :/
sadly the streetcar doesn't go to anybody's house, maybe your home will fare better when the metro is opened, as long as you're willing to drive to the park-n-ride
@@bigmoodenergy 3rd class citizenship is what it seems you have in mind for me. Park and ride!? What next, im gonna have to separate my own recycling?! Im very upset about this, and hope to see my residence in the next episode
Ohhhhh boy, glad that you decided to put SLC's infamous S-Line on here. This is possibly the stupidest transit project ever undertaken here, and you should definitely look into it if you want a good example of how not to build rail transit.
Also, I know you're using mods? Are you potentially gonna release an asset collection? I see some assets that I would love to use in my own cities (Street car ramps etc)
I don't have a complete asset list, but I put together a collection for the light rail and streetcar assets I'm using: steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1913308494 It might not be totally complete, but most of it should be there!
Wait, wheelchair using bus riders in the US have to be strapped in before the bus moves? In the UK, generally the driver will lower the bus and put out a ramp, then you get on, back up to the partition in the wheelchair space, and put the brakes on. That's it!
it varies by city, a general practice is to board with a ramp, then either the rider or the driver converts the front bench of seats into a wheelchair area and there are like bungie hooks that get strapped onto the wheelchair and then have to be undone when leaving. It's a really slow clunky process.
The Stl Loop trolley project was an embarrassing failure. It served no other purpose than being something drunk millenials out on friday nights could make a big deal about using, instead of just walking from the tapas bar to the bubble tea bar. Not to mention all the cars that it ran into or was hit by :)
In principle, it's not super hard to build a good transportation system. People use any kind of transport to get to where they're going, so the system has to take people where they want to go, when they want to go. In other words, it has to be useful. I think public transport has too often been pushed with ideas about "taking public space back from cars" or "getting cars off the road", when convenience is what should be talked about. No-one rides public transport to work in order to save the planet or contribute to some grand socialist ideal. I certainly don't. I would drive to work every day. People, including myself, do it because in their case public transport is comparatively better than other modes of transport. For example, they may spend longer on their daily commute, but they don't have to look for or pay for a parking space or be stuck in traffic. Some cities are doing this the wrong way by making driving exceedingly difficult, expensive, or unpleasant. The right way is to have public transport be inexpensive, connected, segregated from other traffic as much as possible even at street level, and prioritized at traffic lights as much as possible.
might start insulting a random city's transit each episode just to get the engagement up a little. I'll start: Seattle's light rail sucks in like 5 different ways
The information is awesome, but this is one of the worst visually edited videos I’ve ever seen. It’s dizzying at best and the music insertion has no flow. Thank you for narration though.
After recording this video I got a better mic. Keep watching and I promise it is better. Or throw your "get a better mic" comment on the pile idk I can't stop you.
Re: Accessibility - can you read the interstitial cue cards out loud? It helps blind people, but honestly it makes it possible for me to get the full video even if I'm listening while doing chores.
@@PanAndScanBuddy yes, thank you for that, I will start reading title cards
"Well There's Your Problem" sent me here.
Subbed and rang the bell.
16:50 I love how accurate this simulation is, they even include drivers mowing people down in crosswalks
if there is one thing cities skylines gets right, it's the terror of cars running things down left and right
Yes and at 17:00 the cars drive straight though the street car too!!
@@tjejojyj Oh that's normal in my downtown of Prague 😁. But we always blame the car drivers, so that's that.
Also, I know this is a joke, but YUMBLtv actually has an interesting video "Cities:skylines is car-centric and that's fine". Highly recommended!
It's such a shame to see investment wasted on pointless systems like that, when a worthwhile system can work really well.
In Croydon, a suburb of London, a brand new tram (streetcar) network was built in the 1990s, with 17 miles of track across 3 lines connecting the town centre with neighbouring towns and suburbs. Trams run at least every 10 minutes, and more frequently than that on many lines. One branch runs to a highly deprived outlying neighbourhood and has replaced buses as the main service into town, giving a big boost for local residents, while another branch replaced a little-used low-frequency rail line. The network carries nearly 30 million passengers a year (80 thousand a day), and has been a huge success.
Face reveal 😳
bigmoodenergy Can you do a video on people movers? Or the Orange County street car? Or Monorails? etc Thanks!! Great video btw!
The light rail in the Gold Coast, Australia is a good example for American light rail. The city only had buses and a railway on the outer edge connecting to a major city. The new light rail connects the centres along the line with the railway and bus services. it also has a cross platform connection to airport express buses which is important as it's a tourist destination similar to Florida. The trams run every 7-8 minutes with 7 car trams, which is much better than what there is in the US. There is mostly separated lanes and signal priority which makes it very fast.
This is how the new streetcars should be instead of what's in place
Yeah, the Australians have been killing it recently compared to American light rail. I was in the GC a year ago and took the tram; it was really good. People in New Zealand, where I live, I think still have a lot of misconceptions about "dinky trams" left over from the memory of our old tram systems. The Gold Coast Tram is a prime example of how modern trams can be smooth, quiet and fast if done right. More of a "street train" than a "dinky tram".
@@jmckenzie962 Auckland is doing something like Melbourne's been doing, turning s-bahn downtown tracks into subways, right?
The Tempe streetcar only opened a few months ago, and the route is somewhat circuitous, but not a loop. At least it has a major university campus along the line. It goes from the Dorsey/Apache light rail stop, along Apache Blvd, then Mill Rd, and then along Rio Salado Pkwy to the Marina Heights development. The only split section is in downtown Tempe, from Rio Salado Pkwy to University Dr, where northbound streetcars go along Mill Rd, while southbound streetcars go down Ash Ave. At least it seems to be integrated quite well into the regional transit network. It shares 2 stops with the light rail (it has a 3rd platform at the Dorsey/Apache station, and the 3rd St/Mill and 3rd St/Ash stops are on opposite ends of the 3rd St/Mill light rail stop, and I think the streetcars use the main Valley Metro Operations and Maintenance Center for maintenance). I don’t know when service will be improved to every 15 minutes, but it’s supposed to at some point. In May 2023, fares will be raised from free (as it’s the first year) to $1/ride, though I hope and bet that Valley Metro fare cards (e.g. ASU and employer-provided transit passes) can be used with the streetcar, as so many streetcar riders are university students. The streetcar also goes into some areas without good local bus service (mainly on the south side of the university campus, where there aren’t any east-west bus connections). I’m not sure if Valley Metro has released any ridership data yet.
I really appreciated the segments on Accessibility and Equity/Justice. I'm glad to see these topics get more attention in design
I feel the $300 million limit was a bad move. This limited the scope of the projects and seems to have prevented them from being useful as a form of transit.
With a bit more funding, old railway/streetcar lines could have been reopened, provided a decent amount of trackbed remains, and served an actual purpose.
The majority of Manchester's Metrolink system built in the 80's relied on existing commuter rail lines to get it going. These routes were deemed to have more local ridership and were built at a time railways were declining in the UK. Conversion to light rail could give these routes more frequent service and crossing the city centre at street level could help boost connections in the city as well as provide better north/south connection. Crucially, Metrolink was designed to resolve the lack of connectivity between Manchester's north and south railway stations, on opposite sides of the city centre, by providing a light rail link between them. I think some of these US systems underestimate the importance of having a reason for their existence lol.
The system cost £145 million (£302 million in today's money), which paid for a 19.2 mile network, mostly converted from heavy rail, although with a couple of miles of extra track through the city itself. Costs would have been much higher, has this infrastructure not already been mostly in place. This also makes it quite unique among tram systems, with doors being raised above street level quite a bit, requiring platforms at standard heavy rail heights. Accessibility is good though, as trams/platforms are standardised to make level boarding possible.
It was also designed with expansion in mind, with the city centre tracks designed around more future routes. Over the years, the system has incrementally grown to 63 miles, with the latest line opening to little fanfare in the middle of COVID-19 lockdown. The system has been successful, with fares mostly covering operating costs and the system moving 43.7 million people in 2018. (Approx 120,000 riders per day)
Yeah donoteat01 sent me here from his podcast
Kitchener Waterloo did it right, they connected nearly all big ticket destinations, connected the two city centres together, along with the corresponding suburbs, and has bus terminuses at end stations. The line basically runs as a streetcar / light rail hybrid; much like interurbans, it runs along old railways in the suburbs and along roads in the city centres.
It's unfortunate buses have a bad stigma in the US. From an accessibility standpoint, I think Richmond did a good job with the Pulse since they have level boarding. I'd argue that in most cases, the monies used to build modern streetcars would be better off used to build BRT-lite with some dedicated lanes, signal priority, and level boarding. Of course, that doesn't drive property values like streetcars apparently do.
Good content, and it's about damn time we got some more leftist Cities Skyline (donoteat where are you).
for $10 million Houston redesigned their entire bus network using existing fleet and no new infrastructure. If the money for every streetcar was used to redesign bus systems and improve service cities would gain thousands more transit riders 😬
In short: Streetcars have the potential to be a good idea... if American cities could just stop sucking at them. If urban developers and politicians would just get their greedy short-sighted asses out of the way and let transit planners actually do their jobs, to plan effective transit system to increase public mobility rather than score short-term PR victories and drive up property values for no real reason or gain, we could once again have public transport networks built around integrated streetcar & bus systems that could equal anything they have in... basically anywhere else in the developed world.
You know... like we used to.
One great solution proposed by this video: Enable noclip on your streetcar system to avoid conflict with cars.
In London we have a pretty good bus system which has high frequency service, countdown screens at bus stops, etc. Buses elsewhere in Britain are shit and getting worse (thanks to Thatcher deregulating them and Cameron defunding them).
But I'm still angry that most of our trams were destroyed in the 60s. London once had the most extensive tram network in the world.
As a resident of a UK city hobbled by 70s car-centrism and 80s bus deregulation (Leeds), it's always a trip to be reminded the US has contrived to be multitudes worse.
urban planning and transportation wise, north american cities are medieval villages compared to European and Asian developed cities.
Medhat Heck, even compared to most Australian cities. Granted, we’re about as bad once you get outside the cities, but still. Asian cities are just on another level entirely.
I feel like we’d do a lot better here in Australia if we weren’t hampered by halfassed plans and incredibly inept project management that results in absurd cost blowouts for eminently foreseeable problems.
I’m so excited for this series! I moved to Portland, OR when I started college a decade ago - I fell in love with the street cars and MAX light rail. It encouraged me to pursue a graduate degree and a career in municipal government, and I now work on a variety of municipal projects from parks to transportation.
Here in Omaha were lucky when it comes to the ability to make transit routes to be used by visitors, because our airport, our convention center, TD Ameritrade park (where the college world series is played), the now regional HQ of Conagra, the history museum, the Amtrak station, the zoo, and a bunch of hotels are all on the same street (10th st.) or less than two blocks away, all within 6 miles.
Do we have a bus route on 10th Street? Nope.
Fellow Omahan! Great to see someone else in the city interested in this sort of stuff.
And they're building some kind of BRT-lite along Dodge now too, right? Glad Omaha is finally making at least some kind of effort towards transit and density. The sprawl is getting out of hand.
@@queenjuul5501 yeah! I actually talked to one of the people involved in its development. Cant wait for it to be finished!
@@awesomelyshorticles woooo now get a train between lincoln and omaha!
Except I did hear actually that they're taking bids for a daily bus line between lincoln and omaha so that'd be cool
get that game day traffic on a train dammit lmao
I live in St. Louis and just want to say that the "Loop Trolley" should never have been built. Few people wanted it, it went over budget and schedule immediately (over 2 years late), it served little to no purpose, and made the whole area less friendly while it was built (several businesses closed or relocated due to fewer visitors braving the construction) and operated (several parked cars were hit since it had to share a lane/parking and it broke down all the time, including on its last journey before closing).
The people who actually live here feel like we got monorail'd. To add insult to injury last I heard we had to pay the federal money back or risk not getting any future grants. It feels like Joe Edwards (one of the biggest proponents of it) just wanted a toy and/or to devalue a bunch of real estate along the path and snatch it up for himself.
When my area had trolleys, 70 percent of ROW was private high speed routes with only street running in the major down town sections of the various communities served. Some branches acted like fast frequently rail service and generally the system operated decent with the longest route being 45 minutes. Once they removed the system, 2 lines were converted to streets and the rest which were ether private or streets with special car lanes just abandoned/ road widened. Buses follow the more public ROW routes and or go on the roads that best connect them. On the final line to close on October 15, 1950 the trolley took 20 minutes normally in the past (by then only 4 cars remained making 35 minute services) to traverse the route which once out of the 2 down town sections was a 50mph line. Today the bus takes 45 minutes even with more frequent buses than there were street cars. 8 buses. Most of the ROW was fully abandoned.
Oh fine, I'll follow this yet another urban planning channel even if I have no massive interest in urban planning. Great videos so far!
Blame donut eat >:(
An excellent presentation which confirms my worry that many new streetcars operate over routes not attractive to potential riders. The idea of one-way loops diminishes the "walkability" factor as the line is only usable in one direction without needing to either ride the full route to get back to ones own stop, or needing to walk a long distance between the loops. Also, poor frequency and strange operating hours don't encourage ridership, in spite of free fares. El Paso and the St Louis Delmar Loop don't/didn't operate until 11.00 (I seem to remember) which is crazy.
Of course Toronto’s streetcar system is nothing like these second generation streetcars, having kept ours from the 1800’s and being over 80km long, but for a (North) American city I think we pulled the integration between buses and streetcars off pretty well, as it’s normal to see buses run on streetcar lines, and the lines connect to many high frequency bus lines
19:30 Route 15 is restoring their trolley service later this year in September! They have been completely restoring them from start to finish and hopefully enough will be completed in time for the reopening.
Loving the series already, I can't wait for the next episode. Congratulations and greetings from México!
My Do Not Eat/Wheres Your Problem binge has brought me here, guess I'm about to binge all of these now!
As an enormous streetcar nerd myself, I wasn't offended by your critiques of modern systems because all the problems you laid out are accurate and:
1. Not intrinsic to the actual vehicles themselves or their equipment
2. Entirely the fault of the ridiculous way our garbage neo-liberal hell country views/builds transit
Streetcars done well (i.e. with service laid out logically for the purpose of actually transporting people and service density similar to early 20th century systems but with modern accessibility) are a truly wonderful thing to behold. Sadly, that's not how our ghoulish capitalist state builds them.
To the point about older designs, there's no reason you couldn't make a low floor PCC car or other beautiful old streetcar design with modern materials/construction techniques. Manufacturers don't make them and cities don't buy them because everything has to look like a silvery turd caught in a wind tunnel for the techie "wow factor" nowadays. There are few things I wouldn't do to have low floor Bridge Units wandering around Oakland carrying my fat ass across the bay in style.
Your channel is amazing! I'm glad I was sent here and I'm looking forward to more!
In this video there were a few times where you made a distinction between “Streetcars” and “Light Rail”. However, I have a hard time distinguishing between the two technologies. It seems to me that they are basically the same technology and any distinction between them speaks more to how planners envision their use (down town circulation vs longer distance commutes). For example, I work in Norfolk VA which has a “Light Rail” that feels like a Streetcar downtown with stops every 1500 ft and a Light Rail outside the city with off street tracks & stops every 1.5 miles.
All of this is to say I would enjoy a video on this topic and/or on the “Failure and Success” of Light Rail.
I look forward to watching the rest of your videos. :)
Oh hell yeah, I am sticking around for this!
19:56 Are low-floor buses non-existent in the US ? (Asking as a german who works in public transport.)
US buses are almost universally low floor, thanks to the Americans with Disabilities Act. The struggle comes with that it is extremely rare buses are level and close enough to a stop platform that they can be boarded without deploying a ramp and involving the driver.
Most buses are only equipped with a front door ramp, they're too narrow for a wheelchair to be moved past the area behind the driver, and the rear is high floor.
@@bigmoodenergy As you describe it, that would be a "low entry" bus, that does unnecessarily complicate things for people in wheelchairs. Is the "Americans with Disabilites Act" a legal obligation ? And if it is, who has to follow it ? The vehicle manufacturers or the transport authorities ? Transport authorities in the EU are required by law to make public transport accessible to everyone by 2022.
@@GTFan8899 The ADA as it is typically referred to in US is federal law requiring accessibility measures for people with all types of disabilities and covers pretty much every facet of life from buildings, to transit, to paperwork. Everyone in the US is required to follow it though there are exceptions for older structures (though if you renovate then it kicks in), single family homes, and other more specific ones like undue burden etc.
Was wondering the same thing. True about the ramps even with low-floor buses (for another thing people often stand too close so the bus won't be parked ideally, which can cause all sorts of problems. No such thing with vehicles on fixed rails for obvious reasons).
RIP septa rt 15. I hope to see it and other discontinued rts come back one day. I want a street car so bad. Wish the trollies were lowwer to the ground too.
They are saying it's supposed to come back online in 2021. I know SEPTA isn't usually the most reliable when it comes to stuff like this, but I can kind of see this as a special case given the circumstances of major street work happening right on the rout. I'm hopeful they bring it back again.
Yes, can’t wait for the next episode, being an DC area resident, I wonder if this fictional metro system will have problems with escalators, differed track maintenance, trains constantly running delayed, and people just hating on it. It’s gonna be fun. Also another one who was sent by well there’s your problem.
This channel deserves more views
Yesss! That's the good stuff!
The differences between the US and Europe are interesting. Over here in Finland the trams are now equally expensive as other forms of transit (where it used to be cheaper) but it is integrated at least in terms of tickets and although it rarely shares stops with buses, it connects to the major bus stations (and the train stations, and the ferries). The network is fairly good too and covers a fairly large area around the main city centre.
Of course this area is already pretty heavily gentrified. You can still sort of afford to live in these neighbourhoods (especially if you got there early enough that they can't raise your rent quite as high as they'd like to) but it's pretty clear that the tram doesn't go to the cheaper areas; that's where you take the bus, or the train if you're lucky. I don’t know the history so I don't know if the tram drove gentrification. It's been around for a lot longer than the streetcars you talked about here. But I could definitely imagine it might have? There's definitely an impression that I get that the tram is more acceptable for even somewhat wealthier people to take. On the other hand it's also the easiest form of mass transit to fare dodge so that's cool and a potential reason for poorer people to stay. (I mean I know some people who rely on it but that's anecdotal.) Our public transport is way overpriced, it's a significant monthly expense if you don't have a lot of money. And the worst part is that they keep hiking up those prices so you can't even rely on the already high costs to at least stay the same.
I liked Stockholms set up when I visited a couple of months back, it has its large metro rail system that spanned out in all directions but their tram/light rail systems which all linked up to metro stations went essentially in a more east to west kind of set up so basically the trams acted more as a connector service which catered to less populous routes but linked up to the larger lines and the frequency was out of this world.
I am Australian so we have have some of the similar car centric issues when it comes to transport as America so seeing how much of Europe operates within cities and regionally is both inspiring and depressing lol.
So glad I found this series.
Can't wait for the commuter rail episode, where you will presumably talk about the best commuter rail system in the US, Metro-North.
Fight me LIRR fans.
I was an NJT rider for a while so.............. I will definitely concede MNRR being better.
FIGHT US LIRR AND NJT
Love the Jane Jacobs-esque thumbnails!
I love trams and cities skylines. Why have In only now discovered your channel. Great video!
Light rail is a very good investment. The Green Line in Boston can carry loads of people with just as much efficiency as a metro but with much more flexibility. They even run on the street still on one of the lines
I love your videos. I’m from Calgary, Canada, home of the C Train.. Fellow train and transit geek..
I love the C Train, early light rail has a look that I think the C Train really exemplifies, it's neat
Came here from Well Theres Your Problem cause im starved of Donoteat content
i started this project to buy donoteat more time to finish franklin ep11 while everyone watches the discount margarine version of his content here
@@bigmoodenergy well, I Cant Believe Its Not Butter! Your city is very good, i first thought it was supposed to be a knock-off Omaha until you said it was supposed to be a generic mid sized midwestern city!
structural engineer here, great content! keep it up!
I would say that some of the Milwaukee info is incorrect or misleading. 1) Most of it's funding to build came from local on route TIF and federal funds from long before the Obama administration. The federal funds were actually about half of the amount allocated for a whole city light rail system awarded I believe in the same timeframe that Portland was awarded for their LRT. The problems came in determining where it would go and after years of the funds being devalued, local arguing, and the county spending half of the funds on new buses the city asked the Obama administration if it could use the remaining deinflated funds on a streetcar. 2) The numbers listed are accurate but the Milwaukee streetcar had just opened on Nov 2018 so 2019 is literally it's first year in operation and not really indicative of longer term numbers like a few of those other systems like Kansas City. 3) I would say it is more of a straight line route for how Milwaukee is setup as the loop seen if you look at it's map is a one block division in order to avoid underground infrastructure particularly steam lines and a large telephone/fiber exchange vault to lower costs as replacing/moving those items would have easily doubled the cost. Milwaukee also doesn't have a RTA due to state law preventing their creation unfortunately (thanks Walker). The idea in Milwaukee is that it will grow to be a hybrid streetcar (downtown) LRT (outside downtown) if we can ever get any transit funding (or urban funding at all) going. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed the video and concept just wanted to clarify I few things I caught that were not quite right about a system I know.
Bussing long distances is such a god damn pain. It's god damn near 90 god damn minutes from my house in riverwest to Total Wine
Agreed! The Hop didn't do so bad in its initial launch, it's on the better half of streetcars for sure.
Doing a video on 12+ systems at once painted them with a pretty broad stroke. For each trait I described, at least a few systems didn't fit, Milwaukee got lumped in with a bunch of stuff that didn't apply. I almost included talking about the public-private funding setup for The Hop, particularly it's sponsorship from the Potawatomi Casino but I didn't fit it in.
The next videos should be a bit more granular (until light rail lol oh boy)
I'm surprised the Amtrak is not in your downtown, as rails tend to follow rivers and have the station smack dab in what becomes the central business district. When the trains first arrived, the business district would grow up around the station, as rail is more reliable than water in bad weather and drought situations. Looking forward to the rest of your episodes, hoping you will work on pedestrian/cycling issues, too.
I put it outside of town for a future episode on Amshacks. If you watch Ep 2 you'll see the old station is on the riverfront in a pretty central location. Some changes in the 1970's are going to move it to its current location :)
I love this video series! Keep it up. I get very excited hearing your knowledge of transit with city skylines as a reference I can understand. :D Thank you!
The "aesthetic" of your videos is so perfect.
Also, not exactly a street car but Baltimore's light rail is incredibly scenic north of city. Jones Falls area - beautiful. I'm not sure how useful the light rail actually is though.
Great vid. FWIW, Ontario, Canada has tools to incentivize developers to create affordable housing in return for density. Good practice is for cities to prepare their land use plans for these sorts of infrastructure projects prior to their implementation to ensure a smooth transition, I.e no parking appropriate height provisions as of right etc.. Will watch your other vids!
5:20 Why are they deleting the roads instead of upgrading them with the exclamation point?
It was an asymmetric road, and I needed the one-way tram lane to go in the opposite direction. Asymmetric roads unfortunately don't change directions with the upgrade tool so it had to be removed and replaced each time they were in the wrong direction
I was a little proud when you mentioned how you liked Amsterdam's bus system. :) I've never used much public transportation outside the Netherlands but I do think it's pretty great all things considered.
Nice video !
WTYP sent me and I'm glad they did.
Goddam this great.
Just noticed the little train car necklace that's so cute :)
I got it at a streetcar museum and then lost it while traveling a few weeks after I filmed this :|
@@bigmoodenergy Oh that's too bad. Hopefully you can get another one soon
I like your sense of humor!
I'm liking, I'm subscribing, I'm ringing that bell.
I feel kinda weird for saying this but I felt exhilarated when you gave praise to the local street cars that I used while in Uni.
also sent by well there's ur problem but glad to find another train girl :)
Seattle also opened two subway stops in that time period: Capitol Hill and University of Washington.
To clarify, I was counting heavy rail stations, a lot of which weren't even underground so subway isn't the exactly correct term
@@bigmoodenergy Yeah, fair. I almost added a disclaimer about it being light rail, but on the heavy side of light rail, then decided just to brag for Seattle instead. :)
Tram systems build up greatly. Once you have couple of lines expanding it is no brainer, but if have none then it's probably not worth to build all the infrastructure. BTW polish trams ride in green lane between streets wherever possible so you avoid being stuck in traffic jams and only interact with other vehicles when crossing streets or in crammed, historical parts of the city.
I feel like most of drawbacks you mention are related to US implementation only, not the technology.
this is Failure and Success of Great ~American~ Transit
This comment appeared on twitter lmao
Did you say AMERICA? Why didn't you put the examples of Toronto, Medellín, Cuenca, Rio de Janeiro, Santos, Mendoza or Buenos Aires?
@@loplopthebird1860 This is the best comment. I have ridden the Rio VLT and it works well for getting around downtown. There they at least had the good sense to carve out dedicated tram space and reduce car lanes on the major thoroughfares. A streetcar running entirely in mixed traffic is garbage, you've essentially built a bus on rails
I absolutely love your videos. Omg
thank you!
Very late to the game but as a resident of toronto which has basically its original streetcar map (mostly) intact aside from the corridors that are now subways, these neo-streetcars have always been baffling to me lol. Why loop a streetcar around like three (3) city blocks??? Why have the route be the loop instead of doing a little loop at the end???? I'm surprised the Portland system has such high ridership even. The system I see the most promise in is Kansas City just in terms of the simple straight line route that can be built on easily. I mean in terms of riders per length/number of lines it's already punching above its weight.
There's nothing wrong with trams.
There's everything wrong in how USA does them.
In Europe trams are far superior to buses - quicker, quieter, more comfortable, more frequent. In my city one large district (2nd highest populated) after years of petitioning got a green light to build a tram lane from the main network - it's the biggest investment in my city since 1945. New lane is deeply integrated with city bus and train network to the point where there is a dedicated overpasses being build that will be shared by buses and trams, while the final loop will integrate trams and buses with the largest train station in the district (and fun fact here: you can get a monthly ticket that's shared between city bus/tram network and the PPP train network). It's a win-win for everyone.
Does anyone know of some good analysis of the Detroit streetcar system?
For new subway stations since 2010 you missed Assembly on the MBTA Orange Line in 2014
You can reverse the direction of one way roads by right-clicking with the upgrade tool.
Very objective. These seem like trophy systems.
My conclusion from this is the money should have been spent on improving bus stops and high frequency service.
20 minute service is crazy. Transit will attract riders when it’s turn-up-and-go. This will happen with share autonomous vehicles that are being trialed in a number of locations. The latest ones in China seem good enough to go into permanent service.
A-list content. Great channel.
One other thing. I used to be in a transport group with Marsden Berger who helped design the Detroit People mover. I asked him why they didn’t run single cars at twice the frequency. He said they had done it to save on maintenance because if one car failed the other one could push it.
He had recommended they extend the loop rather than build the street car there. That would have been better.
I highly recommend this video where he talks about the system. I was struck by his discussion on the desire to get public acceptance of automation.
Watch “Marsden Berger” on Vimeo: vimeo.com/29666187?ref=em-share
It’s a pity they didn’t use the Morgantown PRT design in Detroit, Jacksonville and Miami. The system has been reliable until age caught up with it and it has recently had some refurbishment.
Cincinnatian here. Would reaaaaally like if our streetcar would be expanded to match the original Cincinnati streetcar system that we ditched in favor of busses.
Unrelated: 14:47 - D'awww, that's sweet.
Opinion on Kenosha Streetcar?
I kind of like it, it exists in a weird realm of "almost transit". I've heard there were proposals to expand it that didn't go anywhere. I feel like if Kenosha invested in it, it would be a really good resource.
I wonder what's your thoughts on the street car line they're trying to build in New York City
it's almost finally dead and thank god. Last cost I saw was over $1 billion for a meandering streetcar in mixed traffic providing almost no new access to transit.
New York could have light rail, but that was the wrong plan.
@@bigmoodenergy While I pretty much agree with you, I also thought the $1 billion could be better spent on making the subway more accessible or maybe help expand the subway system in the outer boroughs (Queens and Brooklyn).
Not a fan of the fact that the Brookville Streetcar only have doors in the center
I haven't ridden on a Brookville, one center door seems like it would get very congested with heavy ridership. But maybe the idea is that none of these routes will ever get enough ridership for it to matter 🤷🏻♀️
US public transportation. Most of the time it doesn't exist, and when it does, it typically sucks. But at least it gets more TH-cam content than any other!
... has anyone made a study on how streetcar lines contribute to TH-cam development and Instagram posts? Maybe that's the real goal. Indirect Internet infrastructure development.
Milwaukee's streetcar is pretty nice if you hate walking in the cold, and since it's free it helps some of the homeless here. But really we should have just gotten more buses :/
Good stuff
STL here, the Loop trolley was an obvious boondoggle from the get-go; nobody is surprised that it's turned into a shitshow
Seattle
I like streetcars, but they're better when there is a lot less automobile traffic
Still mad my midwestern house isnt in this midwestern city, nor is it serviced by the street car. I cannot abide this erasure.
sadly the streetcar doesn't go to anybody's house, maybe your home will fare better when the metro is opened, as long as you're willing to drive to the park-n-ride
@@bigmoodenergy 3rd class citizenship is what it seems you have in mind for me. Park and ride!? What next, im gonna have to separate my own recycling?!
Im very upset about this, and hope to see my residence in the next episode
Ohhhhh boy, glad that you decided to put SLC's infamous S-Line on here. This is possibly the stupidest transit project ever undertaken here, and you should definitely look into it if you want a good example of how not to build rail transit.
Room for improvement on the audio quality but good video 👍
this was the last video I did before getting a new mic, it was really rough
Hey hey hey hey Los Angeles has a proposal for a streetcar in downtown you forgot 😡
Milwaukee here. The Hop would be great if they ever actually expand it... But they won't.
Donoteat01 sent me
They are waiting until the gentrification moves past brewers hill and into harambe before laying tracks up mlk :/
Ditto for bringing the Cincy streetcar up to the University, but good luck getting that backwards city to even consider making it good :(.
rip scitrek 10:40
Also, I know you're using mods? Are you potentially gonna release an asset collection? I see some assets that I would love to use in my own cities (Street car ramps etc)
I don't have a complete asset list, but I put together a collection for the light rail and streetcar assets I'm using: steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1913308494
It might not be totally complete, but most of it should be there!
17:12 OHO
Wait, wheelchair using bus riders in the US have to be strapped in before the bus moves? In the UK, generally the driver will lower the bus and put out a ramp, then you get on, back up to the partition in the wheelchair space, and put the brakes on. That's it!
it varies by city, a general practice is to board with a ramp, then either the rider or the driver converts the front bench of seats into a wheelchair area and there are like bungie hooks that get strapped onto the wheelchair and then have to be undone when leaving. It's a really slow clunky process.
I know it's not the focus of the series, but how do you feel about streetcar use in Europe?
The Stl Loop trolley project was an embarrassing failure. It served no other purpose than being something drunk millenials out on friday nights could make a big deal about using, instead of just walking from the tapas bar to the bubble tea bar. Not to mention all the cars that it ran into or was hit by :)
This is so cool but you really need to get a better microphone
this is the last video with a bad mic, I got a Blue Yeti after this
In principle, it's not super hard to build a good transportation system. People use any kind of transport to get to where they're going, so the system has to take people where they want to go, when they want to go. In other words, it has to be useful. I think public transport has too often been pushed with ideas about "taking public space back from cars" or "getting cars off the road", when convenience is what should be talked about. No-one rides public transport to work in order to save the planet or contribute to some grand socialist ideal. I certainly don't. I would drive to work every day. People, including myself, do it because in their case public transport is comparatively better than other modes of transport. For example, they may spend longer on their daily commute, but they don't have to look for or pay for a parking space or be stuck in traffic. Some cities are doing this the wrong way by making driving exceedingly difficult, expensive, or unpleasant. The right way is to have public transport be inexpensive, connected, segregated from other traffic as much as possible even at street level, and prioritized at traffic lights as much as possible.
Quick! everyone say their most controversial opinion about public transportation so people can fight in the comments for the algorithm!
might start insulting a random city's transit each episode just to get the engagement up a little.
I'll start: Seattle's light rail sucks in like 5 different ways
For information on alternatives to upscale streetcars go to www.haritagetrolley.org
And also go to
www.parrypeoplemovers.com
They seriously make shitty loop lines over there? Fucking hell that's stupid.
10:35 BECAUSE SCIENCE IS COOL
9:30 Jogger with a death wish
What a sad waste of money time and resources. Do urban managers possess any common sense anymore?
Forgets high floored tramways.
did you watch up to the part where I talked about high floored streetcars being an accessibility issue
Oh you mean "tram"
Tranvía
Street cars are cool
Detroits street car line was a huge fail! I live here and its a joke
The information is awesome, but this is one of the worst visually edited videos I’ve ever seen. It’s dizzying at best and the music insertion has no flow. Thank you for narration though.
more trains