Links post for Monday
January 18, 2010
Links post for Monday
January 18, 2010
Here’s a roundup of some transport-related links that you might like – so much is happening right now owing to the Olympics, plus people have sent me some interesting items!
- Bombardier gave some media and bloggers a sneak peek of the new Olympic Line streetcar that will be running January 21 to March 21. Check out some great posts and photos from City Caucus, Stephen Rees, and Miss 604! Paul Hillsdon also has a post on making 2010 the year of the streetcar. (Btw, the line is free to ride, and it opens to the public on January 21 at 9:30 a.m.!)
- Two transit operators from Sault Transit will be driving for VANOC’s Olympic Bus Network during the Games. Welcome, guys!
- Tinkerblue has a post about Olympic ads and colours now on display around town, including SkyTrain stations.
- Lots of stories about how to get around Vancouver for the Olympics are popping up: for example, here’s one from the Bellingham Herald, plus blog posts from Amuse Consulting and Miss 604. (Check out travelsmart2010.ca as well, plus we’ll have more in the runup to the Games!)
- Gordon Price points out a treat for transportation nerds.
- Slate had a fun article on transit psychology experiments. For example, what’s it like asking someone to give you their seat on the subway?
- A list of transit-themed songs.
- Wired suggests iPhone apps that commuters would love. Some are US-centric, but if they work for you, go for it. (Or maybe they’re inspiration for making your own app :)
- Canada Line stuff: Bryan sent along photos from the Canada Line preview tour in July, and Ivan sent in his general Canada Line photo gallery. Tsushima Masaki also has a remix video from the launch of the Line in August. And Dennis has a Flickr gallery of a Canada Line OMC tour.
- Ouch: Reason.com says that the recession is forcing California transit riders to drive instead.
- Edit: Bryan has sent along a second gallery showing the second Olympic Line streetcar being unloaded!
7 Comments
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While beautiful and fun to drive, this model of Flexity is definitely a narrow European design, and when (not if) Vancouver gets it’s own we definitely should aim for a more standard North American width (similar to Toronto’s order of these same cars). It would allow full 2×2 seating, giving more seats and a more comfortable ride to passengers.
It’s actually an issue that came up at the APTA Streetcar Sub-committee meeting I attended last fall in Seattle where we were trying to design a common standard for the modern North American streetcar. Managers from Seattle and Portland were strongly recommending using a wider width unlike what they already purchased for many reasons including creating easier “docking” of both buses and streetcars at shared platforms. Platform height standards also came in to the discussion. It was a fascinating discussion to be part of.
And Stephen is slightly wrong in that video, the toggle he points to is the mirror deploying switch, the turn signal switch is the toggle just to the right of the one he pointed to, on the other side of the yellow door unlock button. Also in normal operation an operator wouldn’t need to select each switch, that would be automatically done when you program your route in to the computer system, the toggle is only for manually flipping a switch when short turning and such.
The Flexity is a fantastic car, rides beautifully, great acceleration, beautiful finishing on the inside and out, and would make a great addition to Vancouver.
Idle question: why are European streetcar designs so much narrower? Is it because of the smaller street widths over there?
Exactly, streets are much narrower. It’s also why the mirrors on these particular cars automatically retract when the doors close, there’s not even enough room to have those sticking out in Brussels.
One thing I like seeing in the pictures are number of bench seats, as well as singles.
I just can’t wait to get on of these amazing streetcars, they’re so cool. But I’m wondering what will to both the line and the streetcars once the Olympics are over?
The streetcars are going back to Europe. The line will be part of the streetcar network that circles False Creek.
http://vancouver.ca/engsvcs/transport/streetcar/phasing.htm
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