PRT - Feasibility and Awareness

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Jonathan
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Re: PRT - Feasibility and Awareness

Post by Jonathan »

I bet there's no way in hell you could do that in 45 minutes driving in rush hour either. DC has some of the worst traffic in the country. I read a story the other day about an access road at the airport that can only be used if you are doing business at the airport, so everyone is stopping in and buying a cup of coffee and getting a receipt so they can use the road to cut 30 minutes off their commute.
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Jonathan
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Re: PRT - Feasibility and Awareness

Post by Jonathan »

Europe was built in the era of the train.
The United States was built in the era of the car.
I am retracting this statement. It is not accurate. That was my own assumption.

The reality is that every major city in the United States had a fine light rail transit system, until they were one by one systematically purchased and dismantled by General Motors in the middle of the 20th century in order to force automobile sales.

Over 100 years ago, nearly every American city with a 10,000+ population had light rail.

Raleigh
Durham
Winston-Salem
Asheville
Charlotte
Wilmington
High Point
Greensboro
Salisbury
Burlington
Gastonia
New Bern

All of these North Carolina cities had light rail.

The entire Charlotte suburban area, including both of my former hometowns of Mount Holly and Belmont, were connected. Many of these light rail systems were growing in ridership up until the day they were dismantled.

That was 100 years ago. Where are we now? A north/south Amtrak line and one 10 mile Lynx line in Charlotte. A bus system that is virtually no different today than it was when General Motors put them on the streets 100 years ago. The idea was to replace the streetcars with buses, and once people got a taste of how shitty riding the bus was, they would buy a car.

It worked.
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Re: PRT - Feasibility and Awareness

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Welcome to Toon Town
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AMartin777
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Re: PRT - Feasibility and Awareness

Post by AMartin777 »

Well, actually at one point I was going to point out the great rail barons and tycoons that had massive light and heavy rail systems crisscrossing cities and indeed the nation throughout the mid to late 1800s... (this where the 18xx and TTR boardgames ideas originate from actually). Remember, most amusement parks were in fact founded specifically with the purpose of driving weekend ridership on light rail systems to the end of their lines. Trolley lines mostly. :)
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bgwfreak777
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Re: PRT - Feasibility and Awareness

Post by bgwfreak777 »

^ Charlotte actually had a trolley parkback in the 20's as well.

I totally forgot (don't know how because I've ridden our trolley line) that Charlotte did have a huge trolley system in the 20's. Some of the old stone stations are still in existence in the Myers Park area of Charlotte. There is one near downtown also to the right of Presbyterian Hospital's main campus.
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Jonathan
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Re: PRT - Feasibility and Awareness

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/1 ... 34352.html

Ithica, NY aiming to install PRT.
"Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany are connected along a single line, the Erie Canal. Now, they are connected by the (New York State) Thruway. It would be easy to adapt. You could have a high-speed rail line, or even buses, deliver travelers to the podcar stations, and the podcars take them wherever they want to go in the city," he said.
Hey, that sounds familiar!
I see PRT as a compliment to heavy line mass transit. A number of PRT experts have said just that. NC State has long discussed a monorail linking Centennial Campus to Main Campus. PRT would be a perfect solution for this. Link up NC State, downtown Raleigh, North Hills, Crabtree, and other beltline areas; it could be great. But, outside of that I think you need the hub and spoke. Direct rail lines connecting Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh, Cary, Wake Forest, and RTP. The RTP area would be another perfect candidate for a PRT grid. This is how the existing PRT systems (Morgantown, Heathrow) will work.
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bgwfreak777
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Re: PRT - Feasibility and Awareness

Post by bgwfreak777 »

Let's try this again...I think my computer is dying.

I saw a good film at the Charlotte film festival called Sprawling From Gracethat covered a lot of this and I thought he did a pretty good job overall. If you get a chance to see it, I'd recommend it.

Charlotte's mayor is in it as well.
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Re: PRT - Feasibility and Awareness

Post by bgwfreak777 »

LYNX turns 1 today.
Charlotte, N.C., November 24, 2008-- One year ago today, the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) celebrated the grand opening of the LYNX Blue Line, North Carolina’s first light rail line. This monumental achievement marked a new era for public transportation in the Charlotte region. Twelve months and five million trips later, the LYNX Blue Line is still exceeding expectations in a number of areas including ridership, safety and reliability.

“CATS is proud to mark the LYNX anniversary by celebrating the tremendous success we’ve achieved over the last year,” said CATS Chief Executive Officer Keith Parker. “We’re averaging over 16,000 trips a day during the week. That’s nearly double the original projection of 9,100. Also, we’re on time for 99.5 percent of all trips and we’ve had no preventable accidents since we opened. Thanks to the overwhelming support of our community and region, CATS continues to shatter projections and surpass expectations.”

LYNX is more than a convenient way to get around Charlotte. It has also proven to be an important stimulus to the local economy. Private development investment along the line has topped $1.86 billion. Property values in the corridor have grown by 52 percent since 2000, compared to the countywide average increase of 40 percent in the same time period.

James Mathis of Charlotte Center City Partners says his district has experienced this economic benefit first-hand. “The LYNX Blue Line has been and will continue to be the driver for the redevelopment of Historic South End. The South End district is welcoming 1,455 new residential apartment units to the neighborhood over the next two years and I am positive the light rail was the catalyst. We are a better neighborhood with this wonderful infrastructure, thanks to the leadership that made it happen.”

The business community has also seen the positive impacts of light rail on their bottom lines. “We’ve seen an increase in foot traffic as commuters come in for coffee and breakfast in the morning and end their day by picking up groceries for dinner,” said Chuck Richards of Reid’s Fine Foods on 7th Street. “We see more customers who ride the light rail Uptown for special events, and Seventh Street Station is a convenient stop for popular attractions and lunch at Reid’s.”

For more information about CATS and its services, log onto www.ridetransit.org or call 704-336-RIDE.
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Jonathan
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Re: PRT - Feasibility and Awareness

Post by Jonathan »

I saw the PRT at West Virginia Saturday. Would have maybe taken a ride on it for you, but it was closed until August for maintenance.
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Re: PRT - Feasibility and Awareness

Post by AMartin777 »

And yet people consider West Virginia a backwards state. I guess not. :)

But, of course, that is hardly a modern PRT system. It's almost the same as a mini subway system rather than individual units. Also, some of the stations are built in-line rather than offline which can really kill efficiency.
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Jonathan
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Re: PRT - Feasibility and Awareness

Post by Jonathan »

Sort of. During off-peak times they do run it more like a subway, but in on-peak it runs like PRT where you pick your station and it goes straight there. Even though the stations are inline I'm pretty sure there are bypasses around each station. They are also building an expansion to it.
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Re: PRT - Feasibility and Awareness

Post by chargercrazy »

I think this article needs to be in here, even though it is about vehicle traffic.

http://jalopnik.com/5533260/why-street- ... -dangerous

What say you?
AKA the bearded dude
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