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Dan at HugeAssCity hopes for better urban design for the Viaduct replacement. I hope for a rapid streetcar instead of just the waterfront trolley.
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I don't see why they can't charge for parking at Metro Stations during inauguration. Perhaps that would pay for the extra rush hour service that's going all day.
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Good thing the opposition in Salt Lake didn't get UTA rolled into UDOT. From Transit in Utah:
UDOT puts $3.9B in projects on hold. While I have mentioned this over and over again, I must hammer this home. If a certain group of puppets from a certain so called riders union would have gotten their way and transferred UTA over to UDOT, transit funding would now moved over to highways and that is the goal of the people who run that organization.~~~
There are seven Tram companies in Poland. Seven. Some of the models look pretty sweet.
As many as seven companies are active in the tram building market in Poland, suggesting that competition may develop in the coming years. In many ways the market is quite open, as conditions are similar in the various cities.
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With so many companies in Poland, it's interesting, that only Skoda bid on the TTC contract for 204 new streetcars.
Washington would be insane to do anything other than surface/transit for the Viaduct - which is what Seattle voters preferred in a 2007 vote. Especially with a $5 billion deficit facing state government - I don't see how Gregoire can justify $3 billion on a new viaduct or a tunnel.
The outcome here will be exactly what I have been predicting for three years - they will move the money allocated to a new viaduct over to pay for the new 520 bridge and do a surface/transit solution for the Alaskan Way corridor. It's the obvious solution.
I don't expect this view to be popular on this site, but Metro should not charge for parking on inauguration day.
Parking for the DC Metro is tied into SmarTrip cards, Metro's RFID farecards, and users pay when exiting. There is no other way to pay for parking at Metro stations. Normally this is fine, as the number of tourists is small compared to the number of commuters. Metro staff at stations with parking are generally able to ensure that tourists figure out how to use the system--the tourists generally stick out. However, I still see tourists try to exit Metro parking lots without SmarTrip cards. They then have to turn around and go back into the station. This happens infrequently enough that it isn't a problem. However, if Metro charged for parking on inauguration day, this would cause major problems.
If Metro accepted cash for parking, or charged for parking on entry, I would have no problem with charging for parking on inauguration day. However, the benefits of not charging are outweighed by the costs.
One of the seven streetcar/tram manufacturers based in Poland is Konstal, but it's now owned by Alstom. They manufacture the Konstal 105Na (and I apologize for the lack of an article on the English Wikipedia). This model is actually influenced by the PCC, as are the Tatra trams commonly found in Eastern Europe. The Konstal 105Na is used in practically every city in Poland that currently operates trams, except for one (to my knowledge).
One model Konstal manufactures, the 116Nd, is used in Katowice (their operation is an areawide network of interurbans, and appears to be a lot like the Citadis. It's possible it may even be an apparant variation on it.
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