this post was submitted on 08 Feb 2024
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[–] foyrkopp@lemmy.world 135 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (15 children)

Depending on your definition, this actually is not peak performance.

Subways are.

Obviously, the tunnels are absurdly expensive, but nothing moves as many people as quickly around a city as a subway.

They're also extremely reliable, meaning people are even more likely to actually use them, and their above-ground footprint is essentially zero.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 81 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Subways are for mobility (moving large numbers of people rapidly); trams are for access (getting you close to your destination). They complement each other and a well-designed city would have both.

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[–] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 45 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (8 children)

I have to disagree. Accessibility of underground transport is abhorrent. Changing from underground to aboveground buses and trains is also shit. The space use of public transport in comparison to car infrastructure is completely negligible. If anything put all the cars underground as they are ugly and stinky. This picture also give you happy chemical because it is green and is not another dead, sealed asphalt hellscape.

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[–] datelmd5sum@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago

But I like watching things outside the trams.

[–] Kedly@lemm.ee 14 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Skytrains my dude, similar footprint, same tech, and I assume it costs significantly less, and is able to dip underground when there absolutely ISNT the footprint for it above ground

[–] maxxxxpower@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 year ago (3 children)
[–] Kedly@lemm.ee 12 points 1 year ago

While monorails are cool, skytrains are literally just trains and thus insanely hard to beat for cost vs efficiency

[–] spiffy_spaceman@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago
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[–] XTornado@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago

Yeah, I guess it depende of definition. For example there is also extra costs with lighting and ventilation for example for subways.

[–] Smorty@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Totally agreed, but the image looks so nice with the grass, subways don't have that

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[–] mossy_capivara@midwest.social 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Completely agree, however I think this is decent intermediary between the larger investment into subways, especially depending on geology

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[–] uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 1 year ago

If San Francisco informs, light rail streetcars are a gateway to underground subways. It gets the city in the habit of getting on a railcar to go places while the greater infrastructure (the tunnels) are built.

MUNI is mixed undeground and street. BART is over and under and being extended to this day.

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[–] FireRetardant@lemmy.world 93 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I cannot understand people that argue their 6 lane stroad is better than this in any way. It may feel more convenient for some, but at what cost?

[–] bobs_monkey@lemm.ee 62 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Probably because public transit requires people to be around other people, and they'd rather get around in their little bubble without interaction (except giving a BMW the finger).

[–] FireRetardant@lemmy.world 46 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This but also a lack of experiencing good transit

[–] bobs_monkey@lemm.ee 14 points 1 year ago

True, but I'm just going off of my experience as an American. Too many people are so antisocial that the idea of sharing space with other strangers is foreign, mostly because they've lived so long without it. Obviously this isn't true in places like NYC, but in Los Angeles you'd have a hell of a time convincing people to give up their cars.

[–] gramathy@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is what headphones are for, fuck cars

This is from someone who feels physical discomfort when someone interacts me unprompted

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[–] Mog_fanatic@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think the key thing is most people don't like change. They know stroads. They may not love stroads but they work and it's what they've used. I've been all over the place in this country and by and large public transportation SUCKS and creates more headaches than anything. Just hopping into a car is 1000x easier. So that's the view I think most people go into this with. In the cities where public transportation is good, it's a complete game changer, but they are few and far between so most people don't have a good reference point. They see people pushing public transportation and think of their own shitty system and say F that.

[–] 4am@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago

They’ve also had to invest in their car personally and they don’t want to have their investment nullified. Who do they sell the car to if they’re no good anymore?

Of course, there will still be roads and you might still need the car; but if you have the car why not just drive straight to the place you need to go?

So personal transportation itself is a bit of a problem - you need to make the replacement better than the current status quo. If it doesn’t save people time, if it doesn’t allow people to transport goods as easily as vehicles do, they’re not going to want to give up their car; because at the end of the day it will ultimately complicate things for them.

It’s a huge challenge towards gaining acceptance for public transit.

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[–] Fried_out_Kombi@lemmy.world 83 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Just today I saw this list of the largest tram networks in history: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_tram_and_light_rail_transit_systems_ever

The largest existing one is Melbourne, at a little over 250 km of tramways. Los Angeles at its peak had over 1700 km of tramways.

Truly insane what we tore up. A crime against humanity.

[–] Rolando@lemmy.world 41 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Truly insane what we tore up.

Didn't know much about this so just looked it up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy

[–] Holzkohlen@feddit.de 12 points 1 year ago

Why does every problem ever always boil down to capitalism?

[–] bort@feddit.de 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] grue@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A few of them did, but certainly not the majority.

Atlanta's streetcar system got entirely torn out, paved over and converted to buses. We didn't get a subway system (on entirely different right-of-way, and much less of it) until decades later.

[–] Fried_out_Kombi@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Similar with Montreal. A whole grid of streetcar lines just got torn up and replaced with buses. We now have a nice metro now at least, but it certainly wasn't made from pre-existing tramways.

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[–] Jentu@lemmy.blahaj.zone 26 points 1 year ago

Off camera, there's a lawn mower driving as fast as it can away from the approaching tram

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I'm stuck in stupid America, but my British friends tell me of regular rail delays because of leaves on the rails. I assume that isn't a problem with these trains, so why is this a problem in the UK?

[–] runeko@programming.dev 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] L3mmyW1nks@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Maybe they're just taking a piss? Same for the whole train system shutting down due to a single snowflake.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

I've been looking into it since I posted that and apparently it makes the rails slippery and the trains have to slow down because of it and trains have to slow down because of it.

https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/leaves-line

So I guess the answer is that these trains have to slow down too.

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[–] 4am@lemm.ee 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

One small problem. Pantographs and tree lines.

It is beautiful though.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago

Eh, it's nothing that actually having enough budget to fund proper maintenance (e.g. tree pruning) can't solve. Presumably, any city on-the-ball enough to build decent infrastructure like this in the first place has got that covered.

[–] mossy_capivara@midwest.social 6 points 1 year ago

Proof of concept, trees I agree don't do too well with electrified infrastructure

[–] Allero@lemmy.today 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] schnokobaer@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm looking at unadulterated communism here and I hate it! Remove the green and the tracks and let honest working people park their lifted F 350 to go grocery shopping and bring little Braendin to school!

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[–] leanleft@lemmy.ml 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

devils advocate:

  • branches would fall in the tracks
  • wild animals might populate and then get harmed.

  • not citing pros
  • both can probably be mostly solved fairly easily i think
[–] applewithacape@feddit.de 25 points 1 year ago (2 children)

-concidering it is in the middle of a city there are basialy no wild animals -this isnt more dangerous to the remaining few than any 4 lane Road -there are city maintenance workers who take care of the trees -during realy bad storms there are also branches on the streets

vs

1 billion different advantages

The actuall biggest problem would be leaves on the rails in autumn.

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[–] SternburgExport@feddit.de 11 points 1 year ago

me like tramz

[–] 018118055@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The building in the background on the right is a good point of reference https://maps.app.goo.gl/nzUaXj6BJLrFNfe67

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