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Re: Comics | Feed»Tacomic - STREETCAR: If Now Now When? If Not Us Who?

tacoma1 — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 10:27:54 -0800

Well, ST is our regional transit provider that runs the regional sounder commuter rail and a bazillion 59X buses. Both of which are extremely popular. More »

Re: Comics | Feed»Tacomic - STREETCAR: If Now Now When? If Not Us Who?

Jesse — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 10:00:46 -0800

What if Tacoma came up with more than just matching funds? Could they eliminate ST and just have streetcar LID's run by the city? More »

Re: Comics | Feed»Tacomic - STREETCAR: If Now Now When? If Not Us Who?

tacoma1 — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 09:52:14 -0800

Jesse Expanding T-Link has always been subject to Tacoma coming up with matching funds. Tacoma hasn't done that yet. More »

Re: Comics | Feed»Tacomic - STREETCAR: If Now Now When? If Not Us Who?

Jesse — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 09:32:44 -0800

I would vote for an increase in county taxes to see more streetcar as long as we're getting a good value out of the dollars spent -- a similar cost as other municipalities are paying. That is; eliminating Sound Transit from the mix, eliminating the streetcar board full of know nothing non-profit executives with agendas, eliminating extravagant stops and coupled street LID's, and having professional traffic engineers determine the routes. More »

Re: Comics | Feed»Tacomic - STREETCAR: If Now Now When? If Not Us Who?

Jesse — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 09:22:56 -0800

I am usually the first one on here to defend decisions a municipality is making. I am not a fan of Sound Transit though. More »

Re: Comics | Feed»Tacomic - STREETCAR: If Now Now When? If Not Us Who?

fredo — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 09:05:07 -0800

Right on Jesse. I doubt if a firm estimate could even be provided. More »

Re: Comics | Feed»Tacomic - STREETCAR: If Now Now When? If Not Us Who?

Jesse — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 08:53:13 -0800

Since Sound Transit has to be involved in the expansion of the LINK in Tacoma, I bet it will cost at least three times that of a Portland system. That is: at least $50m a mile. More »

Re: Comics | Feed»Tacomic - STREETCAR: If Now Now When? If Not Us Who?

fredo — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 08:50:12 -0800

The public subsidy portion is already too high so I say no to your suggestion. The riders are saving thousands of dollars every year by not owning cars so they can well afford to pay a little bit more. More »

Re: Comics | Feed»Tacomic - STREETCAR: If Now Now When? If Not Us Who?

tacoma1 — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 08:43:33 -0800

A yes vote for PT next election would do better More »

Re: Comics | Feed»Tacomic - STREETCAR: If Now Now When? If Not Us Who?

fredo — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 08:30:19 -0800

Raising fares would improve PT funding. More »

Re: Comics | Feed»Tacomic - STREETCAR: If Now Now When? If Not Us Who?

tacoma1 — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 07:51:49 -0800

I dunnuh. I think to improve transit in Tacoma, the next best step is to get PT properly funded and then to extend T-link. More »

Re: Comics | Feed»Tacomic - STREETCAR: If Now Now When? If Not Us Who?

fredo — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 07:51:25 -0800

The perfect power source for all public transit is Feedtacoma (TM) Brand All-Purpose Utopian Pixie Dust. I recommend no other. More »

Re: Comics | Feed»Tacomic - STREETCAR: If Now Now When? If Not Us Who?

JesseHillFan — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 06:45:42 -0800

If elevated wouldn't it be better to electrify the tracks rather than have overhead cables? Also wouldn't it be another idea to have a pedestrian walkway/bike path alongside the elevated tracks.In this aspect if the cable car becomes disabled say the electric motor fails the riders could get off of it and use the pedestrian walkway.I would assume that there would have to be a maintenance vehicle able to tow or push the cable car along the track dispatched from a central tracked location when needed. More »

Re: Comics | Feed»Tacomic - STREETCAR: If Now Now When? If Not Us Who?

tacoma1 — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 20:11:51 -0800

Trains not hitting cars was actually my main point (death and service interuptions and all that). And if ST lays tracks down on the ground, they have to buy the ground and all the buildings on the ground that are in the way first. More »

Re: Comics | Feed»Tacomic - STREETCAR: If Now Now When? If Not Us Who?

Jesse — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 19:28:52 -0800

I doubt elevating a track eliminates the need to buy the land to put the pilings on. Elevated track is WAY more expensive than at grade. More »

Re: Comics | Feed»Tacomic - STREETCAR: If Now Now When? If Not Us Who?

tacoma1 — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:31:41 -0800

Jesse@ I'm pretty sure that the individual cities, i.e. Seattle, Tukwila, Bellevue, are the ones that insist on fancy large light rail stations, not ST. More »

Re: Comics | Feed»Tacomic - STREETCAR: If Now Now When? If Not Us Who?

fredo — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 12:33:26 -0800

I'm not in favor of "slave labor" as you put it. As far as I know, and I could be wrong, the low paid Chinese factory workers come to those low paid jobs from the farming areas where pay is even lower or perhaps non existant. More »

Re: Comics | Feed»Tacomic - STREETCAR: If Now Now When? If Not Us Who?

Jesse — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 10:06:40 -0800

Doesn't China use basically slave labor though? I'm not ok with that, but I am ok with market rate labor instead of prevailing wage. More »

Re: Comics | Feed»Tacomic - STREETCAR: If Now Now When? If Not Us Who?

fredo — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 09:48:32 -0800

Jesse, I'm inclined to agree with most everything you wrote. But in the 1990's Pierce County voters decided they would join with 2 other counties to fund this transportation arrangement. More »

Re: Comics | Feed»Tacomic - STREETCAR: If Now Now When? If Not Us Who?

Jesse — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 09:34:10 -0800

Why don't they run the streetcar construction like in the old days but with a private-public spin. The routes were all usually built by real estate developers to get people to live in their projects. More »