Bombardier’s Gambit, a Streetcar is not light rail: and only in Vancouver.
Interesting, that Bombardier Inc. is stumping in Surrey and Vancouver to drum up interest in their Toronto streetcar, which in reality is a reworked Flexity tram, so it can operate on Toronto’s heritage streetcar lines. After listening to a Bombardier Rep. claim that SkyTrain was cheap to operate because it has no drivers (he didn’t mention the over 250 full time attendants that work on SkyTrain) it is becoming clear of Bombardier’s game; Don’t call trams light rail, but streetcars, because streetcars are a poorman’s SkyTrain.
Bombardier is in a pickle, for over 15 years claims have been made in great quantity that SkyTrain is better than light rail, but now, with Surrey wanting LRT and even Vancouver planning a streetcar, in very short order all those claims about LRT will be seen asAi??a lot of “porkies“, bringing disgrace upon those who repeated them Joesph Goebbels style. Golly gee whiz Bombardier, how are you going to explain that Siemens or Alstom’s trams are LRT but Bombardier’s product is a streetcar.
Bombardier Inc. isAi??desperate to sell light rail vehicles in North America, but all a Siemens or Alstom rep. has to say is that their light rail product is as good as or even better than a Bombardier SkyTrain and the Bombardier rep. will have absolutely no comeback because his product is a mere streetcar, which Bombardier claims is inferior to SkyTrain.
Oh what tangled webs we weave, when we first practice to deceive.
The Flexity modular tram, is it a tram, LRV or a streetcar?
An updated Rail for the ValleyAi??post from 2008.
With the ongoing transit debate, there is some confusion between streetcars and LRT, so whatai??i??s the difference?
Streetcars are just that, a rail guided transit mode that has the legal right to operate on the public highway. Streetcars in Europe are known collectively as trams, a term dating back over two hundred years, where ai???tramsai??i?? mostly coal carrying rail cars, traveled on a ai???tramwayai??i?? on the public highway. Back then, the public highway was merely a muddy track.
The term streetcar is strictly North American and with a few exceptions (Diesel LRT), describes a steel wheel on steel rail, electrically powered passenger vehicle, that operates strictly on public streets.
During the heyday of streetcars, many operators ran on routes that had few stops between urban centres and operated on an exclusive rights-of-ways, giving a much faster service. This was known as the ai???interurbanai??i?? or a streetcar that ran between urban centres. The interurban could operate on streetcar tracks in city centres and then network on to its own rights-of-ways, giving much faster journey times to its various destinations.
In the 1930ai???s several transit operators in Europe and the USA took the interurban concept and applied it to cities by givingAi?? streetcar lines exclusive or ai???reservedai??i?? rights-of-ways in city centres, giving much higher commercial speeds and faster journey times for customers. The depression, World War 2, and the auto revolution, started a chain of wholesale streetcar abandonments in many cities in North America and Europe and the lessons of the ai???reservedai??i?? rights-of-ways were lost.
By the late 1960ai???s, streetcars had all but disappeared in North America and in Europe abandonments increased, with the old tramwayai??i??s being replaced by metro systems. A few cities in Europe upgraded their tramway systems to smaller pre-metros with large sections of grade-separated rights-of-ways, operating articulated cars. This was very expensive and the results were not all that encouraging. Overall transit ridership in cities with new metro or subway systems declined as the customer perceived that metro and buses (which replaced trams to take the customer the metro station) were not user friendly and it was just easier to take the car instead. As auto congestion increased in urban centres, more subways and metro were planned, with the thought at the time thatAi?? the transit customer wanted fast subways. The customer, as it turned out wanted his or her the tram back.
A crisis of transit philosophy evolved, the transit customer wanted faster trams, but did not want subways (nor did the taxpayer) and one universal and unpleasant fact emerged, the customer did not want to take a bus! In the early 1970ai???s, the idea of the reserved rights-of-way reemerged and the results were encouraging. By giving a tram line even sort sections of reserved rights-of-ways (RRoW), greatly increased commercial speed, which both increased ridership and increased productivity. The success of the reserved rights-of-way was instant and combined with the articulated rail car, the concept of priority signaling, and operating on a reserved rights-of-way gave the tram or streetcar almost the same commercial speeds of a metro at a fraction of the cost. A new name was coined to market the old tram/streetcar/interurban ai??i?? Light Rail Transit or LRT.
Today a tram or streetcar system which operated at least 30% of its route on reserved rights-of-ways is considered LRT. In the USA and Canada, transit planners have tried to reinvent light rail as a light-metro(Vancouver & Seattle) and the streetcar as small trams, operating on marginal routes. It should be noted that Hong Kongai??i??s 1067 mm, gauge tramway, operating small double-deck tram cars, carry over 80 million passengers a year and in France, Strasbourgai??i??s tramwayai??i??s largest cars, called Jumboai??i??s, have a capacity of 350 persons. Any streetcar or LRT system can carry over 20,000 persons per hour per direction, the only difference being, LRT is able to obtain much higher commercial speeds on a RRoW.
A streetcar is considered a rail operated transit vehicle, operating on-street, in mixed traffic, with little or no signal priority at intersections, while Light Rail or LRT is a streetcar that operates on a reserved rights-of-way, which can be as simple as a High Occupancy Vehicle Lane (HOV lane) or on a park like boulevard like the Arbutus Corridor, with priority signaling at intersections, giving it commercial speeds equal to that of a metro.
LRT operating on segregated rights-of-ways such as in a subway or on viaduct is considered a light-metro.
It is not the vehicle that dictates whether a transit line is a streetcar or tram, rather it is the quality of rights-of-way the tram or streetcar operates on.
Siemen’s Avenio Flex tram; is it a streetcar or LRV?
Thanks for the excellent article explaining trams, streetcars and LRT. Unless we move towards user friendly, accessible, extensive and affordable at grade tram or LRT lines seamlessly transporting individuals from suburban homes to cities (doing away with diesel buses carrying people to subway or elevated train stations spaced too far apart in distance) – transportation in Vancouver is doomed.
Transit has to become part of the community with closely spaced LRT and tram stops to reduce vehicle use. Large subway and elevated transit stations are intimidating and transform the community. While few living in Point Grey want an elevated line to ruin the UBC area, many are receptive to a tram or LRT line blending in with the community.
Perhaps certain students who have no vested interest in Point Grey support elevated transit. Does it really matter what a few misguided students brainwashed by TransLink think when transit for them is nothing more than a welfare program?
Since TransLink started practically giving away bus passes to thousands of college and university students, per capita transit use has risen from 10% to a mere 11% (weekend and weekday annual average). At the same time, since TransLink was formed in 1999, vehicle registrations have increased by 340,000. Even if there are more transit trips taking place, there are more cars on the “existing roads” and traffic is worse than ever.
Elevated transit by TransLink has increased vehicle use – big deal, “apparent” modal transit use has increased, also. TransLink is offering frequent transit mostly moving students who can’t drive and who are ironically increasing pollution and transit costs with their after school “3:36 am diesel bus” joy rides from the party clubs in downtown Vancouver.
Metro Vancouver cannot continue down its current elevated transit path and I have little patience for transit by TransLink proponents who are too stupid to know how truly ignorant they are.
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gI am going to use that definition in my consulting work from now on it is simple and straight to the point. I do not know how many times I have had to define to people what is Light Rail? What is a streetcar line? What is the difference between the two? Yours is so much simpler, way to go.
I still would not get too upset about Bombardier having to juggle between hocking Light Metros and Light Rail Transit somtimes in the same area, this happens quite often. Siemens has to do the same thing when it tries to sell the Val rubber tired Light Metro system which it owns the rights to as well as several light rail designs. In North America it is primarily the S-70 type low floor Light Rail Vehicle as well as SD-160 high floor design LRV. I asked someone from Siemens how you personally reconsile this issue inside your own head. She told me that it is about truly understanding a customers needs and wants then building a good relationship with them so trust is established at the begining. It is less about the technology but knowing what your customer really does need. Selling the customer somthing they do not need generally does not work because, politicians and the transit operator generally get feedback very early and very negatively if their product is not well suited. Although it is easy to get overly enamoured with a product or technology especially if it is new to the customer.
The real danger for me would be is getting a unique technology like Sky Train ( Scarborough RT) and then Bombardier pulling the plug because it just did not get enough sales. Companies like Siemens have had to restructure because their product lines became too numerous and did too many things. All of a sudden Siemens was selling off or shutting down entire product divisions, some they had been operating for over a century! GE, GM, Toyota, 3M,Sony, Sanyo, IBM and Mitsubishi have all had to reconsile what they needed to be doing and what they did not need to be doing. Eventually, the people in the Vancouver Region will have to decide, whatever their transit agency is called at that future point, do we continue with this overly specialized transit technology even though are main supplier just stopped supporting it. I laugh at the claims of the of your Sky Train supporters about the high passenger capacity of their system when I read reports that 14000-16000 pphpd is forcing them to upgrade signalling and station platforms on the older sections of the Sky Train system so that the full capacity of the Evergreen line can be used. Ottawa’s new LRT line will be using right from the begining 4 car trains, 30 metres per car, with the potential of going to 5 or 6 car trains in the future. The car maker has yet to be chosen but, Siemens and Bombardier are rumored to be the front runners. 4 car trains
Sorry, a overly demanding 5 year old who wanted daddy to check for under bed monsters prematurely ended my comment.
I was going to say that 4 car trains at a max frequency of 3 minutes and 15 seconds and given the length of the platforms as well as other important data points would give Ottawa a LRT line with a potential capacity of over 20000+ pphpd comfortably with a practicle limit range of 25000 to 27000 and a theoretical limit of up to a range of 29000-31000 pphpd. This is based on a average of using 3 different transportation models the Loggit 16, a version of the Toronto model ( yes a actual transportation modeling system named after Toronto) and a another one called Procal.
With the advent of TramTrain, the definition of LRT has become complicated. The genesis of the definitions comes from an article from the LRTA, from the 1990’s and it makes the most sense. With the advent of the modular LRV and TramTrain, it is the quality of rights-of-way which defines the difference between LRT and a tram/streetcar. In Europe, the tram/streetcar and light rail are considered one and the same.
, I don’t have any hard data supporting this, only paeronsl.Prior to living in Toronto (moved here in 2000), I lived 15 years in Ottawa. I found the bus system worked extremely well. Granted, Ottawa is smaller than Toronto and there are probably more bus dedicated lanes in Ottawa than in Toronto.That being said, when a streetcar is unable to continue due to unforseen circumstances (streetcar breaking down, traffic accident, etc.), the whole line is paralyzed. Every streetcar coming after is also unable to continue the journey. Buses on the other hand can move to the side of the road or detour around any accident.When a streetcar stops to embark or disembark passengers, traffic stops completely in the direction of traffic (i.e. cars cannot pass and must wait). With passengers are picked up from the curb lane and cars can still move in the other lane. Would this not help alleviate traffic congestion downtown (granted more people should commute to work but unfortunately, this will never be done). Do you know have any information regarding the advantages and disadvantages of buses and streetcars or is this similar to comparing apples and oranges.I moved downtown over three years ago because I was tired of wasting hours commuting to work. Having lived in High Park (using the subway) and at Lake Shore and Browns Line (using both streetcars and GO), I tired of the daily frustrations of commuting. I now cycle/walk and when need be take the King streetcar to work. I want to learn/do more instead of complaining about the system. Thank you.StephanePS. Having just stumbled across your website, I look forward to reading the information contained within.Steve: Two points here. First, the LRT network proposed by Transit City runs on its own dedicated lanes and has loading islands for passengers. They get on and off without blocking passing traffic. Second, the problem of vehicles being unable to pass never seems to bother subway advocates. Yes, it’s a problem, but it is a double-standard to complain about streetcars blocking each other when the usual alternative scheme on the table is another few billion dollars worth of subways, not buses.