First off, it’s a tram, not a streetcar.
Second, why do they even exist in Toronto on 2 lane streets? I mean look at Queen, Dundas or College Street. Most streets during the day have on street parking. That means that cars BEHIND a tram are stuck with a poor choice: either sit behind trams for up to an hour or race around them at a light thereby endangering pedestrians. Not a great choice. Thanks TTC for not using your brains.
In fact, I can only figure a few pros and so many cons.
Pros:
1. Smoother ride!
Uhmmmm….
2. errrr, pretty colours?
3. OK, maybe if the fuel price spikes up and we can use relatively cheap renewable power through the grid lines then we’d have another pro. Then again a better way to use renewable wind/water energy is to transform it into hydrogen gas and move/store THAT.
Now Some of the Cons:
So many… I don’t know where to start.
1. Dangerous: Racing around the trams are only part of it the whole overhead wiring infrastructure is nuts! why have those? I’ve seen them come down and entire streets shut down.
The tram tracks are dangerous; cars slide on them in wet and snowy conditions (saw it today again)
Riders have to cross the road from the sidewalk to the middle lane. Why? This is just ASKING for riders to be hit. Find me a Tram rider that doesn’t have a close call and I’ll find you a liar.
2. Extra Pollution: not only does it take pollution at the source to create electricity, but all that infrastructure loses energy along the transmission route. And too it took a lot of energy to mine and process the metals that are used for all those towers, wires etc.
Oh and there is more on pollution: you know those 5 cars that are ALWAYS trapped behind trams? Well they are all spewing extra fumes they didn’t need to.
3. Non-standard equipment: if you make an order for buses AND trams then you have to pay more. A larger order means more knocked off the price. Having parts, yards and mechanics trained on both costs more too.
4. Tram Gridlock: there is no point in having a tram route longer than 2 km in a city. At least if you want to run the service more than twice an hour. After that point, the second street car is caught up behind the first one. And that makes the second one an unglorified caboose since the first one will be doing all the work picking up passengers etc. And of course if it’s longer than 4km, you’ll get a third one caught up, etc. etc.
I’ve seen line ups of seven street cars on Queen St. W before. SEVEN!
5. Not Flexible: If there is even one small thing lying on the tram route, then that road is closed to trams. Or has to use alternate routes.
Oh and I love when it gets cold and the drivers have to get out with crowbars to manually batter open switches at intersections.
6. Ugly: The entire tram setup with crowds of wires in the sky are just damn unattractive. As a pedestrian, instead of looking at sky, you’re busy looking at wire mess that wants to fall and electrocute you.
What can be done to decrease the Overall Poopy-ness of Trams?
Well dedicated tram lanes DO help overcome a lot of the issues. But not all. There are stories too about not allowing on street parking for 2 lane roads with trams. But likely, it’d just be smarter to get hybrid buses that run on renewable fuels.
Bad Ideas Made Worse
I think it was in Seattle. A bus that runs on the overhead electric wires meant for trams. There are absolutely no benefits to that compared to a normal bus. As ideas go, The Easy Bake Blender for Kids sounds a lot smarter.