FOR GREAT GOVERNMENT • FGG No Extremism... Yes Progress
Subway & Bus
TROLLEYBUS: A WHOLE NEW
CONCEPT TO TRANSPORTATION
Our concept of buses is based upon a 20th-Century approach. Making bus travel more reliable is obvious, but making it chic and desirable, well… that's different. It's time to think out of the box and make street transportation elegant and cool. It's time to address congestion, over-crowding, and the plague of street-snarled cars. They are symptoms of a problem: subways stink (literally). People don't like buses because they are crowded, slow and an ugly way to get around. People lack an alternative. The proposal here provides that alternative.
Congestion gets worse by the year. If we want people to use mass transit instead of cars, taxis or car service, make mass transit chic. European cities do that with trolleys and trams. The long-term solution to congestion involves making mass transit pleasant just as it is in Vienna and Berlin with pleasant and quick trams. Revolutionize New York buses. Transform their image. Create a tram-like system of fast and elegant streetcars without the prohibitive expense of rails and cables. Modern-day buses can look and behave the same as trams. They can be spacious, clean, and elegant. But we can do it low-cost without rail. The Brooklyn BQX “tram” has gone nowhere due to overwhelming cost. There is a good low-cost alternative that can be done quickly.
We see sepia photos of long-gone streetcars that once permeated our city. The old Brooklyn Dodgers baseball club was so-named because of trams in Brooklyn streets that people dodged. Short-sided politicians foolishly dismantled a successful system. It's time to restore it. TrollyBus, utilizing emerging technologies, is a modern-day solution: electric “buses” that move quickly and look and behave exactly like streetcars. Subways are troubled and it could take decades to make it right. Buses are crowded, dreadfully slow and, frankly, perceived as low-class. Snobbery is unfortunate but it's human nature. Countless people take taxis rather than a bus. In the bygone world of New York, streetcars were pleasant. The affluent used streetcars in 1940. They don't use buses now. TrollyBus will offer massive change within three years. From sepia of past comes a solution.
1) Elegant Look • Fast Trips. TrollyBus will be elegant, have ample seating, and will move twice as fast as buses. It will have dedicated lanes. It will make far fewer stops, looking and behaving like streetcars without costly in-street rails or overhead cables. It merely requires a new design for buses. It would stop every 7 to 10 blocks, similar to subways. Would not make very time consuming stops for the handicapped. Instead, the handicapped would be given a special van service that they can call in advance for.
2) Solution for Elderly. The elderly would lose out if TrollyBus does not stop every two blocks. Designing a fast-moving system requires far fewer stops. One solution is providing the elderly with heavily discounted access to taxis and car service. Doing this will keep car drivers employed by providing a different clientele, given that TrolleyBus will reduce demand for taxis. Drivers will serve the elderly. Government will subsidize. A fast-moving trolleybus network can be created without harming the elderly who cannot walk far.
3) Frequent Service. To ensure people use TrollyBus instead of cars, we must ensure frequent service. If people know TrollyBus will come within 5-7 minutes, they will choose it over costly car service.
4) Multi-Cars • Ample Seating. European trams are long. They provide ample seating. You walk from one “car” to another. TrolleyBus will do the same. Up to three cars will be used. Entrance will be much like the current system in place, where Metrocard kiosks sell a paper ticket. You enter through any door. Tickets may also be purchased inside TrolleyBus.
5) Tire/Electric Vehicles. TrolleyBus will not require costly rails. It will have small tires to create an entirely different look from buses with huge tires. Image is important if we are to change public perceptions of “buses.” TrolleyBus will be all-electric. It will have powerful batteries connected to chargers every couple of stops, charging while people exit and enter. Even ugly, sprawling storage yards could be eliminated. Electric motors are far simpler to maintain. TrollyBuses need not return to a yard, itself reducing traffic. Maintenance is simpler. Batteries are far better than they were in past.
6) Looks Like Streetcars. The appearance of New York lost will be restored. Streetcars were handsome. The affluent used it. We will recreate that respected system as the TrollyBus will resemble trams of past. Elegance is crucial. It will not have the look of buses. We must make effort to ensure elegance, not buses of present.
7) Low-Cost. Because TrolleyBus requires no rail or electric cables, the huge expense of light rail evaporates. The major requirement is a fleet of buses that looks different than we now have. The main expense will be installing charging stations every 10 blocks so that while they load passengers, they charge. The beauty is that it need not be done all at once. Over time, old-style buses can be replaced.
8) Dedicated Lanes • Fast Trips & Fewer Stops. TrolleyBus will have dedicated lanes citywide and stop every 4-5 blocks to be much quicker than buses are now. It won't be as fast as subways, but it will provide superb alternatives to subways or cars. It will encourage mass transit ridership as people choose TrolleyBus with dedicated lanes citywide. Subways go up to 10 blocks without a stop. Let TrolleyBus do likewise to replace excruciatingly slow buses.
9) Family Discounts. To ensure ridership, families of three-plus will get discounts. This will encourage TrolleyBus use. TrolleyBus will cover the same routes as present buses, but with fewer stops for faster trips. The goal: get where you want twice as fast as current buses.
10) Improved Traffic Signal System. TrolleyBus will require D.O.T. to change traffic light timing to ensure TrolleyBuses move quickly. North/South or Cross-town, TrolleyBuses will benefit from traffic lights programmed to turn green as TrolleyBuses approach. No more long waits at traffic lights. TrolleyBuses will stop every 7-10 blocks whereas buses now stop every 1-2. Friendly traffic lights will dramatically speed travel times. Mass transit must get priority. Cars may face more traffic stops, and that's the point: encourage people to use TrolleyBus.
11) Congestion Elimination. TrolleyBus may potentially cut car congestion (and pollution!). As TrolleyBuses move quickly, car demand will plummet. Drivers will be inclined to leave the car at home and instead use TrolleyBus because it's cheap and moves quickly, given dedicated lanes and friendly traffic lights. Taxis will be seen as a poor alternative. Why take Uber when TrolleyBus gets you there in less time for a fraction of the cost? It will change the way everyone thinks about “buses.”
12) Variety of Styles. We can create different personalities. For example, Times Square or cross-town TrollyBuses along 34th, 42nd and 125th Street can have a historic 19th-Century look. TrollyBuses could resemble New Orleans or San Francisco trolleys or red London double-deckers. There is so much we can do to make the city more interesting and attractive to tourists providing jobs and income for New York residents.
Once hundreds of thousands of people view TrolleyBus as a pleasant experience, congestion could plummet. Cities like Rome and Vienna have streetcar systems. So should we. It will help our environment under attack by emissions yet merely requires a relatively low-cost fleet of TrolleyBuses replacing buses in stages over a decade. A citywide TrolleyBus network will provide wonderful alternatives to cars and subways while providing everyone, rich and poor, with an elegant option. It's time to change dated, ugly ways of past. TrolleyBus is a solution that won't break the bank
One legacy of Covid must be permanent attention to cleanliness in subway stations, subways and buses. No return to filth of past. Reopen all subway bathrooms so the homeless do not constantly stink up stations by urinating. Let's reinvent bus service and promote fast-moving bus lanes. Restore trolley service. Speed up subway signal modernization, as subways still use 1930s technology. Complete the 2nd Avenue line to 125th St. NY/NJ rail needs a third tunnel. Let's reinvent transportation.
(BTW I always take the subway going to work and events. I'm not some "limo" politician.)
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