[PRCo] Re: Portland Green Line

[Joshua Dunfield]

2009/9/17 Phillip Clark Campbell <pcc_sr at yahoo.com>:
> Train length is hardly a qualifier of success.  Systems
> of the 40s and 50s were generally single cars;  some
> had MU service which ended quite early in Pgh. didn't it.

Different ball game.  They weren't trying to make everyone transfer to
a single line.

To be fair, I'm not sure Tri-Met is trying to do that on the Eastside,
but they definitely did on the Westside.  Westside MAX service was an
improvement in many ways, but a formerly lucky minority who had a
one-seat trip downtown on rush-hour express buses ended up with a
slower commute and an extra transfer.

> It is acknowledged that city streets dictate train length;
> that has to be accepted.  Blocking an intersection is
> wrong; transit trains need to work within the confines
> of theenvironment.

It "has to be accepted" that stopping at a red light because a MAX
train is dwelling is incomparably worse than stopping at a red light
for some other reason?

Anyway, Portland's downtown grid wasn't a gift from God.  Closing off
a few cross streets 24/7 wouldn't cause an apocalypse.

-j.