Comments on: downtown la streetcar system, part iii

By: c.a. sheen

c.a. sheen — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:36:14 +0000

because its history,and eco friendly.and he also mentions it would attract tourist such as thoes who visit the cable cars in san francisco.i mean if they are restoring these beautiful building why not go the extra mile and restore part of la’s history.thats most likey why.

By: LA MapNerd

LA MapNerd — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 20:10:47 +0000

I’ve been following this series of posts with some interest, but there’s a question I don’t recall seeing addressed, and that is:

Why a streetcar?

I mean, I understand the need for a better local-circulator system for downtown residents, but I’m not clear as to why a streetcar would be a better choice than a DASH (or similar) bus system.

It’s true that the current DASH system is inadequate to the task, given its current paucity of evening and weekend service - but why not extend the operating hours of the existing system, or just add a new full-time DASH route following your preferred alignment?

Rail is important for high-speed/long-distance service, especially on private and/or grade-separated ROWs, but I don’t understand why a streetcar running on city streets in mixed traffic would be preferable to a bus.

I’m not looking for an argument here - I’m looking for enlightenment. The emphasis on rail cars in this instance puzzles me, but maybe I’m missing something.

By: Scott Mercer

Scott Mercer — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 23:18:08 +0000

Even though I live on Main Street, I would recommend putting the trolley up Broadway. Historically, there were more trolley lines along Broadway than Main or Spring. There’s just more “there” there.

I wouldn’t mind walking two (short) blocks to Broadway to use the trolley. (I already do that with bus lines) And I’m sure people living on Spring Street wouldn’t care, because they would have to walk one block either way to Broadway or Main, and, people living on Hill St. (Title Guarantee, Subway Terminal Building and Park Fifth when that’s done) would also only have to walk one block to access it.

By: Tim

Tim — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 22:03:09 +0000

I LOVE your route. Particularly the use of Main Street. Bravo. It reminds me of the streetcar route in Portland, OR., which connects their westside of downtown with the loft district to the north.

By: The Juice

The Juice — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 19:39:02 +0000

I like your design. I always thought broadway should be included in the streetcar’s path, because that area just seems like if given the right oppurtunity it can bloom and become a very nice high end retail corridor, similar to old town. I know the problem with broadway and the historic theatres is that there is no good parking options in the area. A street car would drastically improve that situation.
Also I feel that a street car should go into neighborhoods that are still developing or still underdeveloped to give the area a boost. Kind of like what the Portland streetcar did for some neighborhoods. The two neighborhoods that I think would be best served would be the china town neighborhood and city west. I think there would be a residential boom even greater than there already is, if those town areas were served. It is difficult to imagine one line covering all those areas though because it would just make the trip to long and impractical. It would seem that the solution would have to be multiple lines. Like a line like you proposed for the more touristy areas of downtown; LA live, grand ave, little tokyo, 7th st, etc. And another one or maybe two lines that would be more for residents of the area.

By: Justin

Justin — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 13:39:57 +0000

Very interesting proposal just two questions. One would be where the streetcar storage deport would be located and the other is why not extand the line to chinatown?

I really do like your concept and any talk to keep this idea floating is good.

Have you heard of these people:

http://www.ahtrolley.org/

They want to put a historic streetcar system in Echo Park with a portion of the line crossing the 101 freeway to Aliso St.

Justin