Independent public transport, cycling and walking news & comment. Supporting all forms of moving towards a more environmentally sound NZ

Friday, August 5, 2011

The $64 million (plus an extra $50 millon) dollar question - why bother with streetcars, an obsolete technology?

Tranzwatching in Milwaukee USA

A former radio celebrity in Milwaukee returns to his childhood to ask why reinventing a technology that was dumped years ago is now seen as progress

Shades of the little boy who challenged the emperor's new clothes!

Incidentally these costs are for the lighter, slower "street cars" , similar to our tramway system.

Even so they still exceed the bottom dollar costs of light rail, which typically start in CANZUS at about $25 million a kilometre for on-street systems that essentially travel at the same speed as a bus. 

However these costs are often far greater judging by current projects. In particular costs rise rapidly if light rail gets segregated lanes and corridors, or multiple vehicles, or tunnels and over-ramps, to try to match the speeds and 2 to 3 minute departure time peak hour frequency that can be achieved on segregated bus rapid transit corridors fed by multiple in routes, as on Auckland's northern busway.

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