Comments on: Streetcars for Brooklyn: A New Life?

By: robert

robert — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 18:24:48 +0000

Yes, Brooklyn used to have streetcars. Pedestrians
dodging them gave rise to the name of the National
League baseball team, “The Brooklyn Dodgers”, who later moved to Los Angeles. (No i am not making this up.) More cities are waking up to the advantages of
streetcars and light rail, and Brooklyn could do well by going “retro” on this.

robert sourile
st paul mn

By: downtown brooklynite

downtown brooklynite — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 00:36:20 +0000

> From Allan Rosen: “Streetcars in mixed traffic won’t work these days with the number of cars on the road. You really need a dedicated roadway and it will not be easy getting people to give up a lane of traffic.”

Do all those cars on the road really need to be there? I don’t think so. Putting in a streetcar would reduce the demand for private cars to travel on the road – it might even make car traffic lighter. Brooklyn is choked by cars and anything that can be done to give people alternatives would be welcome.

By: jeremy machado

jeremy machado — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 20:57:00 +0000

Not only there should be a light rail network in Brooklyn but also in Manhattan as well.

By: william

william — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 06:33:45 +0000

I had a dream the other day that there was a street car from the Prospect park B,Q station down Flatbush Ave. to the Loews Kings. Then today they just released news that the Loews Kings would be renovated. Then I coincidentally found your article. Is it all a coincidence? Let’s make it happen. i can see it.

By: Ted King

Ted King — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 06:52:27 +0000

The airport in the three aerial shots (lower right corner) is the inactive Floyd Bennett Field and part of the Gateway Natl. Rec. Area. They might put an extension out to this park as a "Nice To Have" item. Floyd Bennett Field [Wikipedia] Gateway N.R.A. [Natl.Park Svc.]

By: raymon samir

raymon samir — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 17:19:09 +0000

i want to know the tatal brooklyn street length

By: Matt Fisher

Matt Fisher — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 19:45:36 +0000

You forgot about including an image of the Combino Supra “caterpillars” as used in Budapest.

By: Allan Rosen

Allan Rosen — Fri, 15 May 2009 23:43:56 +0000

Streetcars in mixed traffic won’t work these days with the number of cars on the road. You really need a dedicated roadway and it will not be easy getting people to give up a lane of traffic.

However one place I feel streetcars can work is along the Fulton Transitway in Downtown Brooklyn. A new transit Center at Atlantic Center should be built where all but two or three Downtown Brooklyn bus routes could terminate. A free light rail system should run from there up Ashland Place to the Fulton Street Mall to Adams Street, then cut through the pedestrian way (formerly the old Fulton Street where the judges now park) up Cadman Plaza East, across Tillary Street, down Fulton Street or stay on Cadman Plaza East (Washington Street) to Brooklyn Bridge Park. It could be eventually extended down the waterfront to Red Hook. The vehicles could have many doors for quick boarding and discharging of passengers and could run continuously all day every 2 minutes to replace at least 80% of the buses now coming into Downtown Brooklyn including the removal of all the buses from Livingston Street as well. The facility would be indoors and weather protected. I think that would be a great start and may be doable.

By: Vin

Vin — Fri, 15 May 2009 21:01:34 +0000

AlexB: Express buses from the outer reaches of the city (Staten Island and south Brooklyn, mostly) use the Battery Tunnel all the time. I ride one every day. Indeed, many times it seems as though the tunnel is overflowing with buses – perhaps that is why the city has not put a local bus through the tunnel. In any case, the tunnel is perfectly well-equipped for buses, which are allowed to use it and do so frequently.

I do think putting a local bus route through the tunnel to the 4/5 station at Bowling Green is an idea worth exploring, though it may cause extra congestion, especially in the toll plaza. Perhaps one of the tubes could be open to buses only during rush hours.

By: Richard Layman

Richard Layman — Thu, 14 May 2009 12:30:54 +0000

Impressive post. DMIJohn, why can’t transportation expansion meet both equity and development objectives? Cities need development. It generates tax revenues and further economic activity. It is a big part of the financial justification for public investment in transit. Transit in and of itself can’t fix economic circumstances. Cities need a well rounded economic development strategy, based on the competitive advantages that a rich transit infrastructure provides.