Re: Brisbane Light Rail,Briztram - questions

[Chris Brownbill <cbrnbill@enternet.com.au>]

qldspeed wrote:
> 
> On Sun, 07 Mar 1999 00:28:17 +1100, Chris Brownbill
> <cbrnbill@enternet.com.au> wrote:
> 
> >Ah Monorails; - the very very best of 1960's technology and aesthetics.
> 
> Ah tramways (now renamed as light rail so it doesn't sound old hat)
> the very best of 1830's technology, (New York steam tram 1837) and
> 1881 (Berlin - first electric tram) and adapted from a technique used
> in ancient Greece and Rome....
> 
> Which one looks more modern to you now?
> 
> I don't really give a toss if it's one rail of two!
> 
> I just don't think we can afford to sacrifice the roadways to an
> inflexible traffic stopper. If they can build it without resuming
> roadways or parking space then I'm all for it.
> 
> How about an ELEVATED RAIL SYSTEM. They have them too you know.
> (around 1890 as I understand it - hell that's almost 20th century!)
> 
> qldspeed

You have COMPLETELY missed the point!  Anything not at street level is a
social disaster - which is what 1960's society could never understand. 
They thought then (as you seem still to do even now) that you should get
public transport out of the goddam way - either underground or up in the
air.  The problem is that unless people really have no choice they wont
leave ground level - its not user friendly.  (In really large places
like NY etc a subway is the only choice), but in somewhere like Brisbane
ground level is the place to be.  The irony is that by removing public
transport from the streets it makes the city far less livable.

Monorails have the dual problem that not only is it an unnecessary
diversion into the third dimension to get up to and down from stations,
they shadow the streets below and make the place much less attractive
for pedestrians.  Have a look at all the efforts to pull down overhead
structures in cities around the world - Cahill Expressway in Sydney,
King Street flyover in Melbourne, Embarcadero freeway in San Francisco,
all correcting the disastrous 'overhead' mentality of the 1950s and
1960s.

Hey - even the Sydney monorail is under a cloud, that was 1980's
thinking closely emulating 1960's thinking.