I am a resident of Aachen, Germany, which is a Sister City of Arlington Virginia. I am following the controversy regarding building a street car system in your County. The statements made by your county board members regarding the advantages of a streetcar system over articulated buses are deceitful, one reason that I and other Aachen citizens favor ending the Sister City agreement with Arlington.
On March 10, 2013 Aachen citizens decisively voted in a referendum to oppose a new tram (streetcar) system for Aachen which would have cost U.S. $320 million. I and others opposed the Aachen tram system for the same reasons that Arlington citizens oppose the streetcar system planned for the Columbia Pike, articulated buses (BRT) provide equivalent capacity and are much more flexible (please excuse the pun) for much less money.
Presently, two types of articulated buses are operating in Aachen, single articulated buses and double articulated buses. I am sending you a photo of one of the double articulated buses, a Van Hool AGG-300. There is also a YouTube video of an AGG-300 bus operating on Aachen's streets. The video can be found at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MMGtz3NH8U
It is unfortunate that your citizens are so poorly served by their elected leaders.
Regards,
Peter, Aachen Germany
16 comments:
Hi, I found information about the Aachen streetcar referendum, vote was 2-1 against building a streetcar system.
But wait, there's another Sister City, Reims France, that has a brand new streetcar system. It's 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) in length and cost a mere U.S. $504 million.
"It is unfortunate that your citizens are so poorly served by your elected leaders". You got that right. They and their government propaganda machine and media shills, like Scott McCaffrey, have completely censored any information about 21st Century alternatives to streetcars. Not to mention that there is no way Arlington citizens, taxpayers, and voters will be allowed to vote in a referendum about transit choices for the Pike and elsewhere.
Where are the dedicated bus lanes?
Anyone know what the main transit options are in the other Sister Cities?
Reims - city buses and a new 6.8 mile streetcar line costing $504 million.
Coyoacan (suburb of Mexico City) - subway and trolleybus system (buses with electric motors for propulsion obtaining electric power from overhead wires).
Ivano-Frankivsk - trolleybus system.
San Miguel - retired school buses from the United States, Canada, and elsewhere.
I am writing to the feds and state transportation agency responsible for funding transit systems about the lies Arlington and Fairfax County elected leaders are telling to obtain funding for their insane streetcar system.
Media shills? Like Arlington "Independent" Media?
I spoke with an Aachen visitor last year, she considers our local and state government systems to be 'antiquated'.
No, they are telling lies to obtain federal and state funding for Vornado's streetcar systems (Pike and Crystal City).
Major League lying by Chris Zimmerman and Fairfax County Supervisor Penny Gross about articulated buses needing dedicated lanes. Not true.
Check out this YouTube video about the Las Vegas BRT:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=x30ivqQEGao
I hope in the future the Post will cover news that isn't related to supporting the status quo, no matter what the status quo is costing us.
It's increasingly obvious that both the Crystal City and Columbia Pike streetcar systems will benefit Vornado, at our expense. This streetcar thing isn't about transportation at all.
I hope in the future the Post will not endorse every incumbent. Speaking of which, time for the entire top tier of Post management, editors, and reporters to retire.
Hopefully, this is the last year the Post uses summer interns to evaluate political candidates for endorsements in October.
The Post is incapable of investigative journalism in Northern Virginia, the news bureau here was closed several years ago and the local reporters and editors live in DC and Maryland.
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