QuoteSeven years after tracks were laid and more than a decade after policymakers proposed it, Washington D.C.'s new streetcar line finally carried passengers along H Street on Saturday. The long-delayed, 2.2-mile line has cost the city $200 million since its inception. While opening weekend was filled with fanfare and excitement, many Washingtonians also expressed doubt about the system's viability and usefulness.
For starters, the Washington Post pointed out that the streetcar took 26 minutes to travel the line end to end, but it took 27 minutes to walk the same route, 19 minutes on a bus and just seven minutes in an Uber. Although the District notes that modern streetcars "operate at average speeds of 25 to 35 mph in mixed traffic on city streets," the average speed of the D.C. streetcar is about 12 to 15 mph.
Full article: https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/dc-streetcar-starts-service-response
It should be noted that the streetcar is very capable of making the 25-35 and even 45 mph speeds, but the way they are designing and implementing them saddles them with auto and bus competition in regular traffic lanes. Jacksonville has done the same thing with the on and off idea of a 'Riverside-Downtown' streetcar. The only real benefit to building that line is capacity increase and TOD. So a streetcar on the Skyway could easily make the same or better speeds then the current vehicles with a much greater capacity, however if we lowered them into a traffic lane we'd kill many of those advantages. This is where the 'Rapid Streetcar' concept is so tempting, streetcar on or alongside railroad right-of-way and abandoned rail corridors, in medians, exclusive right-of-way and side of the roads built with a no-frills approach actually allows these vehicles to perform much like a heavy rail metro at a fraction of the cost. If we absolutely must build in the street the only street running in downtown should be limited to Water, Newnan, Beaver and perhaps Lee, with signal priority.
Now about those AVERAGE speeds? According to the APTA for the year 2011:
City transit Bus - 12.7 mph
BRT Bus - 12.7 mph
Trolley Bus - 7.1 mph *These systems are pretty much limited to Central Business Districts
Streetcar - 8.2 mph * These systems are frequently in mixed traffic
Light Rail - 15.6 mph
Aerial Tram - 8.1 mph
Heavy Rail - 20.0 mph
Commuter Rail - 32.7 mph
Now speaking to capacity it gets really interesting:
Nationally rail transit only represents 22% of Vehicle Revenue Miles and just 15.4% of all Transit Vehicle Revenue Hours but turns out some 45% of all Unlinked Passenger Trips and 55.6% of all Passenger Miles.
As we've said over and over on MJ, this is where the economy is and we're foolish for not chasing this dream.
http://www.washingtonian.com/2016/02/27/the-dc-streetcar-is-finally-running/
The problem with stories like the Washington Post is that it assumes the initial 2.2 miles is all that will ever be built. It would be as if no roads at all existed and after the first 2 miles of asphault was laid we said, "What a waste. It doesn't connect to anything."
Quote from: Ocklawaha on March 01, 2016, 11:01:20 AM
City transit Bus - 12.7 mph
LOL, you gotta be kidding.... Where is this, New Delhi somewhere?
Just like the thread says, mixed reactions.
http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/dc-streetcars-begin-full-service/57983829
I'm with Washingtonians and the Post on this. There was already efficient bus there, but as the neighborhood became more "white", I guess, it was time to put in a more "white" oriented streetcar. But now that streetcars have been back operating in a handful of cities and transit in general has become a part of everyone's lives, people are just not so shy about basic buses any more.
That, and my experience with streetcars is largely the same - in dense, crowded cities it is often just as fast to walk as it is to take a bus or a streetcar (one in the same in my opinion). Either is largely for maybe having a seat for your commute should you be so lucky, or mentally feeling like you're going faster because you're in a vehicle, or maybe it's air-conditioned or heated, but often times a walk is about as fast and could in reality be more pleasant.
Waste of money it would seem...not a huge fan of streetcars, myself. Light rail and heavy rail, commuter rail, etc I see more value in, personally, based on my own anecdotal experience.
(http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/files/2016/03/joshkramer_streetcar.jpg)
To celebrate the start of streetcar passenger service, Washington City Paper sent artist Josh Kramer to sketch its first day.
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2016/03/03/sketch-book-the-streetcars-first-day/
Quote from: I-10east on March 01, 2016, 05:32:45 PM
Quote from: Ocklawaha on March 01, 2016, 11:01:20 AM
City transit Bus - 12.7 mph
LOL, you gotta be kidding.... Where is this, New Delhi somewhere?
You can contact the American Public Transit Association yourself rather then play false information game. You have to take into account these speeds are inclusive of the entire trip including stops, not just the speed of the vehicle itself. http://www.apta.com/resources/statistics/Pages/default.aspx
Quote from: simms3 on March 01, 2016, 07:06:39 PM
Either is largely for maybe having a seat for your commute should you be so lucky, or mentally feeling like you're going faster because you're in a vehicle, or maybe it's air-conditioned or heated, but often times a walk is about as fast and could in reality be more pleasant.
Waste of money it would seem...not a huge fan of streetcars, myself. Light rail and heavy rail, commuter rail, etc I see more value in, personally, based on my own anecdotal experience.
In a urban core such as San Francisco, Washington or Philadelphia, I tend to agree with you. Except for TOD value, a streetcar IN THE STREET WITH MIXED TRAFFIC is not optimum. However flip this to a streetcar in a broad median such as St. Charles Street in New Orleans (which once had 6 tracks - most of any system in the world) and you've equalized the speeds to a fraction above the nearby auto traffic. Its after the streetcar leaves the traditionally imagined setting that it gets head and shoulders above the lowly bus, BRT or otherwise. FACT- Virtually all streetcars are capable of 35-45 mph straight out of the box and if they were planned accordingly, broad medians in choke points, and exclusive right-of-way everywhere else, you get Light Rail/Commuter Rail/Mini Metro performance at a streetcar price. This is known in the industry as 'Rapid Streetcar.'
Another thing that might be going on in these new projects is these are simply starter segments with intended extension beyond. Something like our own Skyway but hopefully with a acutal project completion somewhere in the future. In Jacksonville it would equate to getting the cross downtown segment on the ground along a narrowed Water Street with broadened medians. From the Prime Osborn or Maxwell House Plant and beyond the streetcar could be on exclusive right of way protected by crossing gates and signals at every major road crossing and able to sprint from station to station. Think - METRO @ STREETCAR PRICES.