Is it time to bring back the electric trolley, like they had in San Francisco?

Question

I think we're running out of options.

Answer 1

Cable Cars in San Francisco are not electric trolleys.  A cable runs continually under the street.  The conductor lowers a gripper that grabs the cable, and the car moves at the speed of the cable.

Toronto has electric trolleys.  But there's no free lunch. Electricity production has a carbon footprint just like any other type of power.  That footprint is less if the electricity is produced in a nuclear plant, or in a wind farm, and more if it is produced by coal.

Answer 2

That would  be cool to go to work on that!

Answer 3

The best deal right now is trackless trolleys--rubber-tired buses that get their power off two overhead wires and run over conventional streets.  They cost 1/10 of a light-rail system to build, require no special training for drivers, and are very cheap to maintain.  They make no noise or pollution, and they can run independently for several hours on batteries or a built-in diesel generator to get around traffic tie-ups or power failures.  

The technology is not new: they have these in Dayton, Ohio, Seattle, Boston, San Francisco, and all over Europe.  We could in a matter of months string wires over the right-hand lanes of our interstate highways and have an electric transit system that stretched from one city to the next, and along major ring routes around cities.  

For freight, railroads are still the best deal, but electric buses can tow trailers full of freight.  They do it in Canada.  

The power requirements are well within the capacity of our present power grid.

Answer 4

I must live in a much smaller place than Jazzfan as our buses our filled to the brim with people on every route. In fact you sometimes have to wait for two or three buses to pass you by before you can get a bus and these are double decker buses.

There is also very little crime on our buses so I guess we are lucky. I think we should stop selling large vehicles like trucks and suvs etc. The average person does not need a huge truck or suv when they live in the city. We should go back to electric trolleys and I would love to buy an electric car!

Answer 5

A disadvantage of street cars and trolley buses is their routes are fixed.  Engine-driven buses can go anywhere, so the routes can easily be adjusted to meet demands.  Rails have the added disadvantage of disrupting motor vehicle traffic flow and they're somewhat of a hazard, especially to bicycles.  Ultimately the best solution for local mass transit will be computer-dispatched low- or zero-emission buses that can be summoned by cell phone to any of a large number of stops.

Answer 6

Well I was just reading an article that relates to that and the concept is dualmode cars that would operate on a guideway. The guideway would travel at 60mph and you would keep going until you get off your exit which would be programmed before you start. The funding would start with bonds then moved to fees for the road. It's an interesting article, hope you like it:

http://faculty.washington.edu/jbs/itrans...

Answer 7

We have some...but we call 'em Streetcars

Answer 8

Yes we need light rail bad.

Answer 9

Until automakers convinced local governments to replace them with buses, many US cities had trolley/streetcar systems. They do follow a limited route but if that cuts your walking distance by 90% that's not really a limiting factor. You could make the same argument against light rail but many people will walk a couple of blocks to their destination if it means they don't need to drive, pay for gas and find a parking space.

I once read a study that showed that most mass transit systems could be eliminated and replaced with taxi service for all uses and it would be less expensive (sorry, I can't find the source but most mass transit runs at low occupancy most of the time). Geezer's idea has merit, provided the vehicle was electric or zero emission. There's no need for a full-sized city bus, it's much more sensible to replace most of them with smaller vehicles with direct-to-the-door service. Many people refrain from bus and other mass transit because it is crowded and dangerous, with personal service like this that concern would be eliminated.

Answer 10

SF gets free electric power for the trolly system from deals made a 100 years ago. If you have free electricity or very low cost its a good system. There are a lot of electric power rail systems that are costly to ride all over the globe.