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ChineseStreetcar a la Angelenic
[tags]los angeles, downtown los angeles, streetcar, angelenic[/tags]
A proposed streetcar route, in cyan, approaches many important destinations in downtown Los Angeles.
Angelenic has been busy creating a streetcar proposal in downtown Los Angeles … in three parts. In Part I, the author establishes the background and need for such a system. Part II is where things really get interesting. Five concepts are offered. Clicking on a map brings it up in Flash. The opus reaches a crescendo in Part III, which features the figure-8 route above. It also pops up in Flash.
Stop by and give Angelenic’s plans a looksie. Comments are also taken on each post.
Discussion
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Please keep discussions civil: exercise Troll Controll.
A downtown streetcar circulator line makes very good sense for Los Angeles with all of the new residents and businesses coming to and about too downtown. However with the map shown which is hard to reed as to which streets the proposed streetcar will run on.
It appears to miss China Town, the Broadway corridor, the USC Expedition Park area, the new Grand Ave development and just touches but does not serve the Convention and Staples center as well as missing Union Station.
Also turns and especially left turns in any kind of a transit system slows service and impedes traffic. Lets sincerely and seriously look at a Downtown Streetcar circulator but this plan does not seen to fit the bill
Alan Fishel
below the flash map she writes out the exact steets the trolley would use (tho i’m not sure she intends for it to be bi-directional which i find absurd) which i don’t think is all bad. it even reaches the staples center/la live area or close enough where the trolley doesn’t have to cross the blue line, an idea which does make sense for i can see the accidents now! angelenic also makes a good point that you can’t serve everyone without making the line more a pain in the ass than convenience. see the “pink line” debate.
but i agree with u alan that even tho angelenic points out broadway as having a crapload of buses i still think the trolley should use the multi direction broadway rather than a one way main and then continue on to chinatown.
i think the most important thing to accept is the simple idea that a trolley should get people within a couple blocks, not at every single persons front door. walking doesn’t hurt all that bad. so even tho i don’t think angelenic’s proposal is perfect its most def better than the ones the officials have created.
Thanks for the link, MetroRider.
And thanks for the constructive criticism, Alan and tyke.
As far as why the line doesn’t hit Chinatown or Union Station, that’s because the future Gold Line stop at Little Tokyo will connect the streetcar (First/Alameda) to Union Station and Chinatown via the already-existing Gold Line. I didn’t think duplicating service was the best idea, especially through the Civic Center.
As I detailed in my blog, the choice between whether the line should go up Broadway, Spring, or Main was the toughest. I don’t expect this proposal to get built; I just want it to spark conversation. I chose Main Street because Broadway is already served by the subway (a very short block away from Pershing Square station), and a streetcar line on Broadway would preclude the tie-in to the Fashion District as well as those who reside east of Broadway.
Yes, Broadway is a short walk away, but people live on Los Angeles and San Pedro streets (among others) and they should have service too. Plus it’s a really short walk to Broadway from Main, which can help spread the load of pedestrian traffic.
I don’t think any of the “real” proposals include bidirectional service, most likely due to the impacts on traffic flow. Whether that’s the wrong way to think about a streetcar or not, I just followed the one-way outline.
Rico (per Ed, yes, Angelenic is a he)