Friday, July 13, 2012

Derailments, Prolonged Power Outages Make Streetcars An Even Worse Alternative


Hello, Yupette,

I have been looking at the four options for transit on the Pike, same bus service, improved bus service, articulated buses, streetcars, and streetcars make no sense at all.

No one has even spoken about derailments and prolonged power outages. It's a huge operation to get a derailed streetcar back on the rails, the Pike would be closed in both directions for many hours.

If there were a prolonged loss of power, and this could occur for a number of reasons, streetcars would be immobilized, possibly for days. It would take hours for power to be restored if an overhead wire providing power to streetcars were to be damaged.

I've looked at cities that have had streetcars for decades (like Toronto) and many residents of these cities are exasperated at the problems streetcars cause.

It's beyond me why anyone with common sense would want an expensive and antiquated mode of transportation in a high density corridor with a high volume of pedestrian, bicycle, and vehicle traffic.

Pike Rider

Monday, July 9, 2012

Zimmerman Contemplating Retiring from County Board


Hey Yupette,

Talk of the ACDC Insiders is that Chris Zimmerman is going to retire after his current term on the County Board. Possibly move out of Arlington. So the Streetcar is his Legacy to Arlington, Which is why he's pushing it so hard.

Thanks for your blog. I'm three years from retirement and don't want to live in a condo where the power is going to go out every Fourth of July for 3 days. Too old for that. So I'm going to be moving on myself.

Old Democrat