Comment 30049

By Mr. Meister (anonymous) | Posted April 10, 2009 at 00:05:53

How is a transit system where the tram never gets above 10-15 MPH an improvement over the bus. I thought the idea of mass transit was to move people quickly and efficiently. Why would tracks attract more people than a good bus system? I am not a big believer in LRT but that has got to be better than this tram that only hits speeds of 15 MPH. Eastgate to McMaster is 18 KM at a speed of 30 KMP (15 MPH) that's going to translate into over an hour compared to 40 minutes on a King bus and 30 minutes on the B-Line. How does this attract ridership? Maybe as a tourist attraction like the trolley on the Harbourfront trail. If we are going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars should we not get an improvement?

Our downtown is a very unique place. Lower Hamilton is a long city sandwiched between the lake and the escarpment. Then we have the four mountain accesses funneling more traffic downtown. Portland city proper has a population approaching that of all of amalgamated Hamilton. The population of the metro area (the American way of doing things, they tend not to amalgamate their urban areas) is well over two million. Their trams are supported by the entire region. The tram system is less than 8 KM from one end to the other. Compare that to an 18 KM stretch from McMaster to Eastgate.

I think it is time for a reality check.

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