Personally, I think the BRT was the right move (even if they kneecapped it’s usefulness as a commuter line by not extending the reading line up to GE). A quick and cheap way to make our transit exponentially faster and serve people better. I’m hopeful it can get through the bus stigma, and if it proves popular those routes will be prime candidates for light rail conversion. Expansion of the streetcar though? It still just feels like a novelty unless it actually goes somewhere. Make it connect park and ride stations to destinations across the city. Give it it’s own right of way or at the very least absolute signal priority (except for emergency services). Elevate it, or run it subgrade where necessary to keep its speed up. Having ridden the current iteration a ton, it seems like the ride from camp washington to the banks would take around 45 minutes, which is not even competitive with the bus.
Personally, I think the BRT was the right move (even if they kneecapped it’s usefulness as a commuter line by not extending the reading line up to GE). A quick and cheap way to make our transit exponentially faster and serve people better. I’m hopeful it can get through the bus stigma, and if it proves popular those routes will be prime candidates for light rail conversion. Expansion of the streetcar though? It still just feels like a novelty unless it actually goes somewhere. Make it connect park and ride stations to destinations across the city. Give it it’s own right of way or at the very least absolute signal priority (except for emergency services). Elevate it, or run it subgrade where necessary to keep its speed up. Having ridden the current iteration a ton, it seems like the ride from camp washington to the banks would take around 45 minutes, which is not even competitive with the bus.