Slog
News & ArtsTuesday, November 1, 2011
Transportation Link Down
Posted by Charles Mudede on Tue, Nov 1, 2011 at 11:29 AM
Right now at Columbia City station: "The driver was dumb enough to attempt that left. Sure learned the hard way."
3
I am stuck on a train at the sodo station now, and have been for the last half hour. Ah the ripple effects of stupidity...
6
This seems to happen once ever two months since LINK opened.
And it's always the drivers fault...not bad design.
Even though at a recent conference in Washington on light rail and transit, one of their recommendations was never to run a train at grade and to always separate it from traffic...
8
I've never understood the argument for street-level LINK. I love mass transit, and adore the SeaTac connection (albeit I wish they'd made it run that last mile to the terminal, instead of inexplicably ending a ways past the far corner of the garage), but a streetcar without segregated tracks seems to combine all the disadvantages of buses (vulnerability to traffic and to idiots, especially) with none of the advantages (flexibility of routes, some ability to circumvent obstacles). For less money than it taxes to install rails, you could paint bus-only lanes onto the street - and you could move them from year to year, or make them only apply during rush hours, etcetera.
9
@5, it's a really nice photo, it just doesn't tell us anything about the story.
@6, @7, I vaguely recall some sort of transit plan that was grade-separated. Whatever happened to that?
@6, @7, I vaguely recall some sort of transit plan that was grade-separated. Whatever happened to that?
10
I know @1 - why in the world did anyone think putting steering wheels on those light-rail trains was a good idea?
12
"One car has brought the system down."
Where prop1 sells the idea of being faster and more reliable than the bus, this would the its only weakness. Idiots who crash into it, or get hit by the street car as it basically kill the service for an hour or two. If your on the street car and its stuck in the middle of the intersection, then your waiting a long time for a bus to off load you. Metro drivers wont let you get out and walk to the sidewalk, they never have, not even at the convention center bus tunnel, they wont open the back door, even though the sidewalk is just 3 feet away.
Where prop1 sells the idea of being faster and more reliable than the bus, this would the its only weakness. Idiots who crash into it, or get hit by the street car as it basically kill the service for an hour or two. If your on the street car and its stuck in the middle of the intersection, then your waiting a long time for a bus to off load you. Metro drivers wont let you get out and walk to the sidewalk, they never have, not even at the convention center bus tunnel, they wont open the back door, even though the sidewalk is just 3 feet away.
13
I heard a rumor...well legend really about some sort of elevated train Seattle wanted to build? Is that true? I mean it sounds CRAZY!!! Having a train running on a single rail ABOVE TRAFFIC!?!?!?
Sounds like Science Fiction.
And I heard some soothsayer talk about a large public park called the Seattle something that would have been laid down over South Lake Union.
But then those are just crazy stories. Nothing like that could ever work in Seattle.
Sounds like Science Fiction.
And I heard some soothsayer talk about a large public park called the Seattle something that would have been laid down over South Lake Union.
But then those are just crazy stories. Nothing like that could ever work in Seattle.
14
But if you ran it elevated, then you could actually automate the trains instead of paying $100,000 a year for people to drive trains. That would mean LOST JOBS!!!
15
That was sarcasm and was intended to be marked as such. I previewed, but apparently signing up posts the comment automatically.
16
@13 "But then those are just crazy stories. Nothing like that could ever work in Seattle."
Correct, if you plan to fund the entire project off car tabs, then get ready for a flood of people registering their cars out of county. By the time they are caught, its too late. The project loses funding and project is delayed, which causes the costs to skyrocket.
Our own light rail would have easily failed if it was funded solely on car tabs.
Correct, if you plan to fund the entire project off car tabs, then get ready for a flood of people registering their cars out of county. By the time they are caught, its too late. The project loses funding and project is delayed, which causes the costs to skyrocket.
Our own light rail would have easily failed if it was funded solely on car tabs.
17
The video is old and I've seen it a bunch of times, but whenever these crashes happen I like to re-watch the following compilation of vehicles turning and getting hit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV2rdGX4J…
Are the Link videos easily obtainable? They need to throw that footage online and make a few bucks from the hits.
18
@11: "Seattle voters get what they deserve."
I'm otherwise happy with Light Rail. You could be slightly less of a prick about this.
I'm otherwise happy with Light Rail. You could be slightly less of a prick about this.
20
Drivers in that area seem to have learned how to drive by watching Mad Max movies anyway. It's complete and utter chaos.
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