If You Happen to See a Streetcar Downtown Today, No, You're Not Hallucinating

• One reason is that with a bus, you have to research the route schedules to see where they're going--it's much easier to recognize a streetcar route by seeing the tracks in the road.

• what the hell is that?? When I 1st heard of this street car thing I immediately thought of San Francisco trolleys and the wonderful McKinney Ave trolley.....Not some big ugly smurf version of the Dart train....come one Dallas....for 35 million can we get something a lil more fun...

• I was kinda hoping for more old-school trolleys like we have on McKinney. Oh wait, For a moment I totally forgot Dallas' habit of throwing history under the bus...

• Part of the advantage of streetcars is that they DON'T have flexible routes. A fixed path encourages investment, since a business owner doesn't have to worry about the route being changed. Also, a streetcar will last a hell of a lot longer than a bus.

• I know of the sentiment, but logically it makes no sense. Why does a train have more appeal than a bus for mass transit? The bus is definitely easier to implement an more flexible as far as adjusting routes.

• Everyone hates buses.

• It's smaller because it is meant to share the street with other vehicles, not its own ROW like DART rail.

• Haretip, tell them how Houston got in trouble for not adhering to "buy American" requirements for their latest rail project and ended up wasting millions of $$.

• Because people don't like buses. MATA tried that with Chance "trolley buses" when they opened the M-Line- a downtown circulator along Main Street that connected with the streetcars at St. Paul and Ross. The ridership was dismal. Worse than that, cornering like a bus meant passengers being slung all around, and the drivers were rude and non-responsive to tourists queries.

• Please explain what the Bombardier heritage tram is, and why we should ask Houston about "content requirement".

• ???

• Cause nobody rode the hop-a-bus then and nobody will ride it now.

• Well, the distinction lies in how they operate, not so much how they're built. They're kind of the same in that manner. But light rail (in America) has fewer stops, is much faster, holds more passengers, almost always has a dedicated corridor, and normally needs a dedicated station for boarding/alighting. A streetcar almost always runs in mixed traffic (I.e. On the street with car traffic, like the M-Line), it's slower, it has many more stops and generally can be boarded anywhere - even in the middle of the road. DART in the downtown transit mall blurs the line between streetcar/light rail.

• Hmmm, it just drove by... alot smaller than I expected.

• As someone suggested How about bringing back the old HOP-A-BUS ? http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2009/06/remember-the-ho.html One heck of a lot cheaper than what is being show now. Flexible routes . Corners like a bus. And can complete the Maiden trip to Bishop Arts and beyond in weeks not years. BTW the Stopping Street Car at Lake Cliff &Colorado might be a sign that the main growth will be in another direction. The lack of ridership over the bridge will cause a loss of that section. Going on to the Hospital will bring riders !

• Haretip.... please talk slower.

• And it has low floors, so doesn't need an elevated platform. That's a main difference too, right?

• I don't know if this vehicle would be usable on the existing McKinney Avenue Transit line as their turning radius is pretty tight in places. Need to find me some vehicle specs. The only modern production car capable of running on MATA is the Bombardier heritage tram being built for Toronto, but they didn't seem to have any interest in producing more and there is the US content requirement (ask Houston about that).

• Hopefully this is a sign of some solid progress on the streetcar front. Also makes me wonder if they are planning on replacing the old McKinney Avenue trolleys since it will someday connect to the Arts District loop.

• That thing looks Japanese with big anime eye headlights. Kinkisharyo ameriTRAM. Is that anything like the Kananyonya yankeeWOK?

• Because it wouldn't go on the light rail tracks. It would be more to connect downtown to uptown and deep ellum, etc. etc. It would be true street cars to get around town.

• Ah... well they should have said that in the store... I say you apply for a job Haretip, as a write for Unfair Park!

• My thoughts exactly... tell us why this is "sooooo cool"...

• Li-ion battery for when you can't or don't want overhead wires. Pantograph for recharging when you are under the wire. It's a streetcar, not Light Rail. Made for slower runs, shorter distances, can turn tighter curves. Not the same as the big bertha light rail cars.

• Shhhhhhh Its like No one is bright enough to know Superman and Clark Kent are the same person... And I don't know if I should be telling anyone

• I feel like I'm missing something here. How is this any different than the current light-rail trains?

• Coolness, I thought all street cars were electric, why does it say Hybrid on the side, does it run on weed?

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