[PRCo] Fw: More primitive, old-fashioned trolleys!

[Jim Holland]

"Hans-Joachim Zierke"  wrote in message news:...
 >
 > Stephen Sprunk schrieb:
 >
 >
 > > I'm curious how the "local traffic only" part is enforced...
 >
 > Don't know about procedures in France, in Germany, there is no special
 > enforcement. You can drive there, and might get away with it one time,
 > or twice, or twenty times. But of course, the cops are still allowed to
 > drive there, and they patrol these areas regularely - the high number
 > of pedestrians will also attract some of their regular guests.
 >
 > If you drive, where cars are normally not supposed to be, your chance
 > for a check is at least 90%, and then you pay. More trouble is to be
 > expected, if you hurt a pedestrian in an area, where you aren't supposed
 > to be with your car. Better discuss with your insurance company first...
 >
 >
 > > Here, in our street-running sections, there is a total ban on cars 
in the
 > > rail lanes, and there are short car lanes to get to/from
 > > otherwise-inaccessible garages and loading docks -- never more than 
a block
 > > long and often less.
 >
 > That's a common setup over here as well.
 >
 >
 >
 > > We also, unfortunately, ban pedestrians crossing the
 > > tracks except at the usual corner crosswalks; it's $200 if they 
catch you.
 >
 > Try it in situations like this:
 > http://www.tram-kassel.de/rtn/rtn_galerie/20070825-2/pic/c030557.jpg
 > http://www.tram-kassel.de/rtn/rtn_galerie/20070825-2/pic/c030560.jpg
 >
 > You will be laughed upon, and it would quickly buy you a citizen's
 > initiative for removing the streetcars out of the pedestrian zone...
 > It's your customers on that picture, so you better be a friendly
 > neighbour. It's exactly in this section, where you gain the big numbers
 > for public transport!
 >
 >
 > > I'm also curious what the tram headways are.
 >
 > Karlsruhe Kaiserstraße: 1 minute headways in rush hour, many trams
 > double traction with 70m length. The trick in Karlsruhe is, that 60%
 > of all transit users have their destination in the Kaiserstraße area, so
 > they push all lines through this street.
 > 
http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/de/trams/Karlsruhe/GT8-80C/561-590/KRH0121K.jpg 

 >
 >
 > > I can see a street being
 > > pedestrian-friendly (with no crossing restrictions) if there's only 
a few
 > > per hour, but a tram every two minutes (as we have in our LRT 
system) in
 > > each direction means there's not much time to cross safely unless 
the speeds
 > > are so low as to be useless.
 >
 > The Karlsruhe drivers will tell you, that you should never travel below
 > 15 km/h, even in a really crowded pedestrian area, because people will
 > start to behave dangerously, if you do.
 >
 >
 > > OTOH, you wouldn't need very low headways if
 > > there were several such streets in the area, as opposed to a single 
trunk
 > > line like most US LRT systems.
 >
 > City and city is different. The extreme situation in Karlsruhe is
 > created by the fact, that a quite small area serves as both the CBD and
 > shopping center for a city of 300 000, and that this street passes right
 > through the middle of it. By running all lines along this street,
 > Karlsruhe achieves > 50% transit modal share for the traffic between
 > suburbia and the CBD. (For all traffic, figures are lower, but still
 > good.)
 >
 >
 > So the main decision-guiding question should be, how important that
 > pedestrian area is as a destination.
 >
 >
 > Hans-Joachim
 >

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^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
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Jim  Holland
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Studying Pittsburgh Railways Company (PRCo)
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..............................From 1930 -- 1950
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Pennsylvania  Trolley  Museum  (PTM)
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http://www.pa-trolley.org/
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N.M.R.A.
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http://www.nmra.org/