March 27, 2008
Morning Roundup: Money For Maryland, Not Metro
Good morning, Washington. The Capital Weather Gang says it's hard to pin down exactly what's in store for us today, but reading between the lines makes it sound like it'll be drizzly and slightly chilly. Ick. Spring sounds a lot better when it's been talked about in the abstract, a healthy distance from the rainy, muddy mess that it actually is.
Constellation May Credit Customers: As you know, taxpayers across the country will be receiving $600 economic stimulus checks in a few weeks. Now it looks like Maryland energy consumers will be getting an additional windfall: the Post is reporting that Constellation Energy and Governor Martin O'Malley will announce a large settlement agreement later today, resulting in a $170 credit for over a million customers.
Metro Faces Formidable Repair Needs: The Post details a $489 million laundry list of fixes that the Metro system is in need of, $244 million of which must be completed in the next two years. WMATA has no idea where the money will be coming from — that's par for the course, but this time the situation has been exacerbated by the slowing economy's effect on local governments' tax revenues. However, a fare hike is not among the solutions being considered.
Briefly Noted: Trail derailment near Richmond leads to Amtrak delays... Two dead, two critically wounded in Hyattsville drive-by shooting... Body found in C&O Canal near Chain Bridge... Child safe after being in back of car when it was stolen (video)... GW Parkway to be improved between Spout Run and 495... New free tourist trolley to debut in Old Town April 1...
This Day In DCist: One year ago we talked to New Rock Church of Fire and had our minds blown by the Inn at Little Washington. Two years ago City Desk debuted and Verizon turned to graffiti for advertising.
Image posted to DCist Photos by Flickr user 2waymonologue
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Um, that King Street "trolly" is basically a small red bus with the word "TROLLY" painted on the side in big friendly letters. Old Town was going to build a REAL trolly on rails, but the King Street businesses nixed it. They figured the years of construction would hurt business. That, and it was going to cost $1.2 zillion dollars.
As far as trollys go, it's weaker than Dick Cheney's heart.
Oh, yes. I went there.
Yes lame, but will it replace the ugly ass free bus?
Has there been any news about the crime scene at the Promenade Apartments at 19th & Columbia yesterday morning? I think I saw a body out front when I was walking to work.
According to MPD: At around 6:30 AM, (yesterday) morning, a woman in her 40s fell to her death from one of the balconies at the Promenade Apts. The death is presently under investigation, although there are no present indications of foul play.
I like how the article says it's a trolley, but with wheels so it can go on the street. As Monkey pointed out, they have a name for that: a bus.
From a taxidermic perspective: "trolley" is another word for a catenary-pole. So technically, a streetcar isn't a trolley unless it gets power from above. And that's why the term "trackless trolley" (i.e. electric bus that gets power from a catenary) is an accurate term.
A vehicle that gets its power from an internal cumbustion engine and runs without tracks is neither a streetcar nor a trolley nor a trackless trolley. It's a bus.
If they want it to sound cute, they should call it a jitney.
Saw a dude get a jaywalking ticket outside the Woodley Park Metro this morning. I find the crackdowns kinda silly (though I am surprised I haven't seen anyone get hit at that particular spot on Conn. Ave). But this guy was asking for it. The cops were obviously there to issue tickets and he walked directly at the cop as he crossed the street. I guess the umbrella and iPod earphones made him oblivious.
Yay Old Town trolley. I believe it is replacing the Dash (which runs free on weekends only), but co-workers are complaining that it doesn't run early enough for them to take their lazy asses to work when they get off the metro.
It seems pretty crowded every time I've seen it go by. Must be tourists, or the PTOers on their lunch breaks.
also, I don't think King Street is wide enough to support a rail system without taking out some of Ye Olde Sidewalks.
Spring is a rainy mess, but I love the cheap daffodils for sale at the Metro flower carts. Far better than roses.
yer "child safe" and "trolley" links are both linking to the trolley story...FYI
"also, I don't think King Street is wide enough to support a rail system without taking out some of Ye Olde Sidewalks."
Couldn't they just run in the same lanes as the cars? I assume that there were streetcars through Alexandria at some point in the past (I know there was one that went down through Alexandria to Mount Vernon, but I think that went down Washington St.)
I said this before, but I think that Virginia should work towards having some sort of a rail system on Route 7 all the way from Old Town to Leesburg. That would link up Old Town, Bailey's Crossroad, Seven Corners, Falls Church, Great Falls (sorta), Dulles Town Center, and Leesburg. It would link more existant "nodes" than the Silver Line would.
I don't think King Street is wide enough to support a rail system without taking out some of Ye Olde Sidewalks.
It would be if you restricted car traffic on King Street, which needs to happen anyway. The section between Route 1 and the riverfront especially would benefit from the elimination of car traffic, with allowances for buses or streetcars or Olde Thyme Horseless Trollies. King Street, after all, doesn't go anywhere. It doesn't provide vehicular access to anything but Mai Thai. Of course I predict a chorus of protest from homeowners on Prince and Cameron Streets; but we can distract those people by drumming up false plans to build a waterfront Costco in Founder's Park. They'll shout themselves hoarse and have no outrage left to fight the King Street plan.
Reid - King Street did have a streetcar back in the day, but there wasn't enough room for two-way traffic AND parking. They'd need to make it look like P Street in Georgetown.
The BeyonDC blog dude pretty much has your rail line mapped in his "transit vision." That's some mighty nice urban planner porn. No pricetag, of course, but we'll discuss our fee after the pleasantries.
Reid,
The problem behind with that is, from old town (Union Station) to 395, there really isn't mush there besides rich people and their homes; and there are some parts of King that are basically a narrow 2 lane road. Duke Street is the main east west corridor for Alexandria and best suited for a rail line. Ideally a street car/ trolly/buttwagons would go up Duke/Littleriver and meet up with the Columbia Pike Streetcar. Unfortunately, RT 7 would be the hardest way to get to Leesburg. I hate to say it, but turning the WOD trail into the rail line, like it used to be, would be the most realistic and practical; especially since it could run from a Potomac Yard infill station directly to Leesburg.
The biggest problems with reverting the W&OD trail back to rail service are that the right-of-way was never wide enough for more than one set of tracks, and big chunks of the right-of-way inside the Beltway were used for I-66. It could work for one-way commuter service during rush hours, but it could never support a Metro-like schedule.
Current mass transit theory holds that you must call a bus a "trolley" if you wish the middle class to use it.
Why not use rickshaws?
"I hate to say it, but turning the WOD trail into the rail line, like it used to be, would be the most realistic and practical"
I think it's less likely to occur than some sort of a BRT-eventually-rail system on Route 7. The problem with the WO&D is similar to the problem you see with the Purple Line. You have your ordinary pro-car anti-transit types who would oppose it generally, bu then you'd also have all those people with property or golf courses along the trail, and then people who just like the trail (which includes a lot of the natural constituency who would support transit projects). Focus on Route 7 and you have the normal anti-transit types, plus the "How-dare-you-take-my-lane-away" types. Not pushovers, but at least you wouldn't be antagonizing the types that would support it.
But I do agree that the WO&D would hit many of the same nodes (although not Tysons) plus Herndon and Ashburnm, which would be a positive.
I think we also agree that they're both highly unlikely.
Or pedicabs driven by hot blondes in tight shirts?
Hot blondes driving me out 7 to the Outlets would be a good idea, as long as I can pay them in deeply discounted Ts.
Ideally a street car/ trolly/buttwagons would go up Duke/Littleriver and meet up with the Columbia Pike Streetcar.
Commonwealth Avenue is dying for streetcar access. So split from King near Union Station, run that puppy up Commonwealth, get on Braddock, and reunite with Route 7 near Quaker Lane, right where King Street starts to turn into a suburban clusterfuck. After that, it's four or six lanes pretty much all the way to Falls Church.