Atlanta streetcar to open Dec 30, 2014

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MattW

Conductor
Joined
Aug 14, 2008
Messages
1,729
Location
East of Atlanta, GA
After years of delay, the streetcar will finally open on December 30 of this year.

[link removed, proper link posted by neroden below]

Unfortunately, I have to work that day, and I'm busy the next two, so I won't be able to check it out till the weekend.
 
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Well, it finally opened today and looks great! Instead of linking a news story, I'll just link a photo album: http://imgur.com/a/9DR4w#0

I wasn't able to ride it today (new transit line isn't an excuse off of work ;) ) but I'll try and make it down there Saturday.
 
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Looks great in person too! I was able to go and ride it today. The western half is a tad slow, but the eastern half is better. The well-known connection is at Peachtree Center, but the Edgewood @ Hilliard stop is also within walking distance of the King Memorial station on the Blue/Green lines. The trains are quite nice on the inside, though it seems the announcements will never shut up. It's 100% level boarding with at least one ramp at every station back to sidewalk level. Overall, quite a nice little system.
 
It's only like 2.7 miles or so. Can't take more than 15 minutes. Closest MARTA station is at Peachtree - about a block north of the streetcar. The next closest is Five Points which is around 3-4 blocks SW of the loop.

Like so many transit operations that are designed by government, this streetcar is almost useful. It almost encourages interconnectivity with other rail transit. It almost is long enough to be inclusive.

It's almost a good plan.

But like all government plans, it's a lot of money to spend on something that has less flexibity and capacity of a bus and doesn't offer ANY efficiency benefits (ie: cutting through traffic, across parks, under buildings, etc).
 
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Interesting article from Atlanta Magazine... the author discovered that commuting by streetcar turned out to take about the same time as walking.

So, am I trading in my Civic for a trolley?

The result of this test is a resounding . . . maybe. Using the streetcar takes longer than driving. But on the plus side, I like being able to catch up on Twitter and email, and love not having to hunt for a spot in the parking deck. Yes, getting trapped in traffic in the streetcar was frustrating, but in my decade of commuting downtown, I’ve had plenty of vexing experiences stuck behind conventioneers, blocked by construction crews, or forced on detours thanks to parades and festivals. Sure, it might be healthiest to simply walk every day. But the combination of walking and riding the streetcar takes about the same amount of time, while providing a break from the weather and—yes, I’ll concede to iPhone addiction—a chance to catch up with communication at the start and end of the day.
Click to expand...
Full article: http://www.atlantamagazine.com/news-culture-articles/atlanta-streetcar-good-tourists-regular-commuters/#sthash.UOCehq0K.dpuf
Problem with streetcars is that they suffer from the same "feature creep" issue as BRT routes... both are too easy to water down (no dedicated lanes, no signal priority). But unlike BRT... watered down streetcars are very expensive and can't get in another lane to avoid a double parked car.
 
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