You're a dame and I'm a fella!

/obscure?
// =P

It should be safe since GM won't be in a position to do anything about it this time.

On a non snarky note:

$3,333,333.333333 for a street car? A glorified BUS with no steering wheel?

Too bad they didn't buy a SLUT like Seattle did.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/332081_slut18.html

100 years of journalistic excellence and no route is given? Nice.

ok, that's kind of cool i think...

but cooler still is the "odd photo" on the side

DC also has HIV.

"District Council Member Jim Graham, who previously opposed an attempt to bring streetcars back to Washington, is now fully in support of the new project."

It's all about the votes...

Sounds like a Stella idea to me.

Streetcar-by Shootings in 5... 4... 3...

As a dude who studied southern literature last semester, im getting a kick out of these replies.

Wikipedia link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DC_Streetcar

"The District currently owns three Inekon streetcars that will serve the system; they currently sit in the Czech Republic."

Um, three streetcars? Wow. Might want to buy another one or two of those things to make it worth the price of track installation.

Stella!!!

streetcars > buses

Really, buses are the absolute bottom of the worst of public transportation. It's just a big car. You still have deal with it being public transportation, without any of the benefits of riding the bigger, faster vehicles.

The DC Metro is quite nice, or at least it was when I last rode it.

Why do they need streetcars fighting with city traffic?

I've always depended on the kindness of the taxpayers

the_chief: DC also has HIV.

No kidding. Seven percent of black men in the district have HIV. That's on par with West Africa.

eplies.


skinink: "Really, was the Bush Administration just all FUD? He did try things like the Tax Rebates and had grand ideas like No Child Left Behind, and having your retirement funds put in the stock market (what a disaster that would have been) but otherwise it seemed like all doom and gloom.

Granted this is barely the first two months of Obama Nation so he has plenty of time left to do good or fark it all up. So we'll see."

Whatever one might think about the incoming or outgoing administrations, this seems more like an internal DC matter.

Then again, as someone else noted, this article is JUST FRIGGIN' HORRIBLE so we can't really be sure.

/Where's it going?
//Who's paying?
///Fares? Estimated ridership?
////Anything? Bueller? Bueller?

Hm, it just occurred to me that Stella was an idiot, Blanche was a nutball, and Stanley was a cool guy you can have a beer with.

jpat: 100 years of journalistic excellence and no route is given? Nice.

The first one will be in SE along the Anacostia Water front. That section of DC does not have overheard wire restrictions. The car's will have standard catenary lines, similar to the light rail along Howard St in Baltimore.

DDOT PDF of SE line


The second line will run along H ST NE from Union Station to Benning Road. This section of the city does have the overhead wire restrictions. Everything I've read ignores the overhead-wire issue though, except for one article that sort-of implies that H Street will use the wires as well.

DDOT PDF for proposed H Street line

Jaakobi: Hm, it just occurred to me that Stella was an idiot, Blanche was a nutball, and Stanley was a cool guy you can have a beer with.

He was Dubbya?

The Loaf: The first one will be in SE along the Anacostia Water front.

Will it be equipped with bullet proof glass?

i>

That's a really good point. I suppose I'll think about it for a while.

I just don't understand why these are so expensive. A century ago there were streetcars everywhere; they couldn't've cost that much back then.

This is what I thought was a good observation.
I'm not too good at doing stuff.

holiday_inn_in_cambodia: He was Dubbya?

No, even he would've been a better president.

Extend the Metro into Georgetown.

DeadZone: Extend the Metro into Georgetown.

The limousine crowd will never allow it. Better to have gridlock on M street 24rs a day.

Streetcars never vanished because of any conspiracy. They cannot detour if there are traffic or weather related problems. One car on a line goes out,it holds up the others. That's why when gasoline powered buses became practical,they replaced streetcars. More so when families could have their own cars.

DC couldn't think of anything else it could spend 25 million dollars on? I guess their schools are top notch and there's no crime.

Has an even better idea.

This is going to be as much of a disaster as when Memphis put in a trolley to nowhere.

holiday_inn_in_cambodia

I've always depended on the kindness of the taxpayers

More and more of us learning to harvest public funds. You can't win if you don't play.

tb tibbles: Streetcars never vanished because of any conspiracy. They cannot detour if there are traffic or weather related problems. One car on a line goes out,it holds up the others. That's why when gasoline powered buses became practical,they replaced streetcars. More so when families could have their own cars.

This is correct.

Cool. H Street has a lot going on nightlife-wise now, but its just a pain in the ass to get there. This will help a lot.

Jaakobi: holiday_inn_in_cambodia: He was Dubbya?

No, even he would've been a better president.

Apart from the whole RAPE thing, I suppose

/cue that stoopid creepy lincoln pic

I live in a city with streetcars (called 'trams' here) and they are awesome.

This is why:
1. They have permanent routes, so you never have to worry about where to find one or where it goes to. You see tracks on the ground, follow them for a block and you're at the station.
2. Have right-of-way so they are mostly on time, unlike buses.
3. Even if they're not on time, it's just five minutes until the next one shows up.
4. Quiet, clean - unlike buses.
5. Motorist wouldn't dare to dream of cutting off a tram. It can't swerve and won't stop.
6. The newer ones has easy access, even for handicapped and elderly passengers.
7. All the best bars/clubs are within walking distance of a tram stop, so you never risk getting a DWI.
8. You can read the paper/a book while going to work.

Finally, it adds a certain picturesque je ne sais quoi to the street scene.

AbiNormal: DC couldn't think of anything else it could spend 25 million dollars on? I guess their schools are top notch and there's no crime.

THIS.

Worst public schools in the damn nation, and we're getting streetcars. I'd wager good money that 50% of DCPS middle schoolers couldn't spell "streetcar".

/Once tutored a 5th grader who spelled "cat" k-a-t.

flaminio:
I just don't understand why these are so expensive. A century ago there were streetcars everywhere; they couldn'tve cost that much back then.

They didn't cost that much back then. But back then, the city would give out a charter to a private firm, who was then on their own to sink or swim. You'd be amazed how simple and inexpensive engineering gets when you have to get the job done and don't have millions to blow on it.

Old trolley companies tended to be very good at simple, inexpensive, functional systems. Realize that until the PCC came along, most streetcars were blindingly simple, and even the PCC wasn't much more complex, yet a huge leap in performance and comfort. All the current fads of streetcar design - articulation, low floors, hollow axles, double ended, dynamic brakes - it was all seen 100 years ago in the US.

But there isn't a simple, standard, modular streetcar design in the US anymore. Stations aren't simple strips of concrete with awnings and a sign. We no longer have simple fareboxes. Trolley poles and single wire has been replaced with pantographs and catenary systems more suited for high speed rail than a lowly streetcar. Tracks aren't simply put in the street anymore.

Guess what changed about mass transit....

/hint: BMT was profitable right up till the year they were forced to sell themselves to NY city...

We find out which one of President Hussein's new cabinet members took the bribe to greenlight this in 4...3...2...

Quel: Cool. H Street has a lot going on nightlife-wise now, but its just a pain in the ass to get there. This will help a lot.

Provided they don't shut them down at an unreasonable time.

TheLittleLemon: AbiNormal: DC couldn't think of anything else it could spend 25 million dollars on? I guess their schools are top notch and there's no crime.

THIS.

Worst public schools in the damn nation, and we're getting streetcars. I'd wager good money that 50% of DCPS middle schoolers couldn't spell "streetcar".

/Once tutored a 5th grader who spelled "cat" k-a-t.


Wow, fith grad an he leff off the ovver T

hogans: The DC Metro is quite nice, or at least it was when I last rode it.

Why do they need streetcars fighting with city traffic?

When did you ride it? Its awful and smells like a toilet.

The Loaf: The first one will be in SE along the Anacostia Water front. That section of DC does not have overheard wire restrictions.

Is No Such Agency up to its old Bushian tricks again??

Came in for a reference to one of the best Simpsons epidodes ever. Was not disappointed.

Got a monorail reference too. Bonus!

Great! Now we have yet another mode of mass transit we can use when committing suicide!

/too soon?

buckeyebrain: Streetcar-by Shootings in 5... 4... 3...

Nah. Too hard to make that illegal left turn to get away from the cops.

ToddMU03: hogans: The DC Metro is quite nice, or at least it was when I last rode it.

Why do they need streetcars fighting with city traffic?

When did you ride it? Its awful and smells like a toilet.

What, did you go into town and find yourself not surrounded by white suburbanites like in Falls Church?

tb tibbles: Streetcars never vanished because of any conspiracy. They cannot detour if there are traffic or weather related problems. One car on a line goes out,it holds up the others. That's why when gasoline powered buses became practical,they replaced streetcars. More so when families could have their own cars.

If that's the case, then why did GM buy the majority stake in the Los Angeles Red Car line in the 30's and minority stakes in every other streetcar system in the country, then push them to be replaced by buses?