Streetcar Tracks Research Articles

Evaluating the Impacts of Modern Streetcar Tracks on Bicycling Through an Intersection

Bicycle traffic flow suffers from the impact of tracks at an intersection in which a modern streetcar route is laid. The primary objective of this study involves discussing the impacts of modern streetcar tracks on bicycling through an intersection and developing a quantitative approach to calculate bicycle delay. Field investigations are conducted at eight sites in Nanjing and Shenyang, China. The sites are related to five intersections. Two of the five intersections are designed with a central modern streetcar style of track. Other two intersections operate on a roadside style of track and the last intersection is without tracks. The impact of the differences in bicycle speed are tested at each site based on the observed data. The results show that modern streetcar tracks exert a significant influence on bicycle speed and bicycling behavior and lead to delay, discomfort and unsafe conditions. Furthermore, a model is proposed to predict bicycle delay caused by modern streetcar tracks. The proposed model achieved a relatively accurate prediction. The findings of this study help in adequately understanding the impacts of modern streetcar tracks on bicycling. The results also suggest that longer crossing times should be used in signal design for bicycling at an intersection in which a modern streetcar route is laid.

Bicycling crash circumstances vary by route type: a cross-sectional analysis.

BackgroundWidely varying crash circumstances have been reported for bicycling injuries, likely because of differing bicycling populations and environments. We used data from the Bicyclists’ Injuries and the Cycling Environment Study in Vancouver and Toronto, Canada, to describe the crash circumstances of people injured while cycling for utilitarian and leisure purposes. We examined the association of crash circumstances with route type.MethodsAdult cyclists injured and treated in a hospital emergency department described their crash circumstances. These were classified into major categories (collision vs. fall, motor vehicle involved vs. not) and subcategories. The distribution of circumstances was tallied for each of 14 route types defined in an earlier analysis. Ratios of observed vs. expected were tallied for each circumstance and route type combination.ResultsOf 690 crashes, 683 could be characterized for this analysis. Most (74%) were collisions. Collisions included those with motor vehicles (34%), streetcar (tram) or train tracks (14%), other surface features (10%), infrastructure (10%), and pedestrians, cyclists, or animals (6%). The remainder of the crashes were falls (26%), many as a result of collision avoidance manoeuvres. Motor vehicles were involved directly or indirectly with 48% of crashes. Crash circumstances were distributed differently by route type, for example, collisions with motor vehicles, including “doorings”, were overrepresented on major streets with parked cars. Collisions involving streetcar tracks were overrepresented on major streets. Collisions involving infrastructure (curbs, posts, bollards, street furniture) were overrepresented on multiuse paths and bike paths.ConclusionsThese data supplement our previous analyses of relative risks by route type by indicating the types of crashes that occur on each route type. This information can guide municipal engineers and planners towards improvements that would make cycling safer.

Injuries to adult cyclists in Toronto and Vancouver: describing the circumstances as a first step towards injury prevention

IntroductionBicycling is a sustainable mode of transportation with health benefits, but the risk of injury deters many people. We studied injured cyclists from two urban areas to characterise injury severity...

Using a Public Education Campaign to Improve Driver Compliance with Streetcar Transit Lanes

On-street operation in mixed traffic is the least desirable right-of-way for light rail and tram systems. Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, operates one of the world's largest streetcar systems. Most of Melbourne's 195 km of streetcar tracks is protected by road rules that require traffic to avoid delays to trams. However, the rate of compliance with and the level of understanding of these rules are poor. This paper reviews the performance of a public education campaign, called Obey the Yellow, aimed at increasing the level of awareness of and the rate of compliance with road rules. It reports the results of community surveys and provides an analysis of the operational performance of the campaign. Community surveys established that the level of awareness of the road rules that apply to tram lanes has improved, with 28% of respondents saying that they changed their behavior after the campaign. Evidence about the tram system's operational performance suggests a small improvement, although this has not conclusively been linked directly to the campaign. Operations staff perceived improved driver compliance, but this impact is thought to have lasted less than 4 months after the campaign. There was no significant change in customer satisfaction with trams during the campaign. These results suggest that the campaign was successful in meeting its objectives of improved community awareness of road rules. However, any improvements with compliance have had only small, if any, impacts on reliability and travel time performance. The paper discusses the lessons learned from this experience and how they might be applied to improve streetcar performance in other contexts.

Portland at a Crossroads: Sustaining the Livable City

Portland at a Crossroads:Sustaining the Livable City Judy Walton I'm honored to be asked to speak in this Presidential Plenary on Portland with such well-known local historians as Carl Abbott and Chet Orloff. When first invited, I wondered how I might contribute as both an urban geographer and a relative newcomer to the city. I figured Chet and Carl would cover the past, so I could talk about the city's present and future (one assumes historians are not likely to go there). Imagine my surprise then, when a couple of weeks ago I discovered an article titled "A Brief History of Our Future: An Historian Imagines Portland in 2033" by Carl Abbott! (2003). Way to go, Carl! Why confine history to the past? In his article, Carl projects a rather rosy future for the Rose City based on the continuation of past traditions and current trends. In this talk, however, I'd like to point to a few challenges in getting to that future. And, playing the devil's advocate, I'd like to ask: Are Portlanders living off their legacy? Are they, as a prominent local planner asserts, living off the principal and not the interest? (Toulan 2003, p. 25). I know this is heretical thinking in certain groups. After all, Portland is a model of planning and livability held up to the rest of the nation: "We planned—it worked" is the famous slogan. So why worry that the future won't bring more of the same? Before I get labeled "the Cassandra of Portland," I'd like to disclose my positionality in this matter. Positionality is a term much in vogue in geography today; it's the notion of revealing where you're coming from with respect to who or what you're studying because, in the final analysis, we've concluded there's really no such thing as "biases aside." So let me come clear with my position on Portland: frankly, I'm passionate about the place. I'm convinced that it's the best place to live in the United States. My husband and I moved here even in spite of having no jobs, and soon found ourselves among legions of others who had done the same! Of course, most are 20-somethings for whom living in poverty is still an adventure. [End Page 128] Nevertheless, as I tell all my friends, I've found "urban nirvana" right here in America's best little European city. Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 1 Portland's downtown skyline from across the Willamette River. (Photograph by author.) Before addressing the challenges ahead, I want to briefly show you what's luring people like me to Portland, job or no job. It's not just the attractive downtown skyline (Figure 1) or the enticing 40 inches of rain each year. But as T. S. Eliot said, "Oh, do not ask 'what is it?'...let us go and make a visit." First, Portland is bike-friendly (and I'm an avid bike commuter). In fact, it's one of the "bike-friendliest" cities in the country, ranked number one by Bicycle Magazine. Portland even closes two freeway bridge decks to cars once a year for the popular Bridge Pedal, which takes cyclists across eight bridges spanning the Willamette. Bike lanes, bike paths, bike routes, bike signs, and bike racks are everywhere. And if you're bike-challenged, Portland is skate-friendly too, with "skate route" signs to help you navigate downtown. Second, Portland is one of the only cities in the West where you can give up your car entirely, as there are so many other ways of getting around. Alternatives to the car are actively promoted, from bikes and buses to streetcars, light rail, and foot. Neon signs on buildings encourage one to "Go by Train" or "Go by Streetcar" (Figure 2). Portland State students using the supposedly touristy streetcar to commute to school have boosted ridership far beyond expectations. The streetcar tracks can present new challenges to bicyclists (tires tend to get stuck in the sunken grooves), but bright yellow signs do give fair warning. Portland also has one of the...

J. W. Bengough and the Millenium in Hogtown : A Study of Motivation in Urban Reform

The ending of Victoria's century saw urban Canada experience a variety of changes. In cities west of the Maritimes, commercial activities made way for industrial concentrations, populations soared, and the compact pedestrian city changed into a socially differentiated order as streetcar tracks imposed their metallic will on the social geography of the city. Agitation for pure milk, public ownership of utilities, housing codes, city planning, playgrounds, and efficient provision of essential services represented a response to this urban revolution. This response, arising from a belief that the process of change could be directed, was, from the perspective of many of those involved, an attempt to make the city into what they felt it should be.

Public Regulation of Motor Bus Service

BUS transportation is intimately related to the street railway problem. Since prices went up as an outgrowth of the war, the street railways of the country have been, broadly speaking, in a parlous state. Having been financed for the most part on the basis of monopoly and public necessity, they were in a very poor condition to meet the economic changes effected by the war. Operating costs multiplied, and at the same time the owners were egged on by the example of men in private business and encouraged by the chaotic state of valuation law as developed by the courts, to claim enormous appreciation in the value of their investments, when in fact they were having a very hard time to earn a return, even on the most conservative estimate of original cost. Street railway material costs have receded considerably from the peak reached during and after the war, but skilled labor still remains at a very high level as compared with pre-war times. Moreover, the cost of construction and reconstruction of street car tracks, as well as the cost of maintenance, is increased by congestion of traffic as the cities grow and motor vehicles multiply. In the field of operation, power costs are high on account of the high price of coal, of which high freight rates are an important factor, and conducting transportation is expensive on account of the high level of trainmen's wages maintained in recent years. Then, too, regardless of the effects of war, the electric railways have been coming into the period of necessary reconstruction and replacement on a large scale, without having made adequate provision for depreciation and renewal reserves in the past.

Proposed Standard Specifications for Concrete Pavement Between Street Car Tracks

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The First Street-Railway Ambulance-Car

To the Editor: —In the Scientific American , April 5, 1913, p. 316, in the description of a street-car ambulance for Bahia, Brazil, the statement is made that until the present time has there been manufactured a conveyance for the transportation of hospital patients over the street-car tracks of any city. That South American may not be given credit which rightly belongs to our own country I wish to point out that in December, 1894, an ambulance-car which I originated while health commissioner of St. Louis went into service. Descriptions of the car appeared in several publications at the time.

Municipal Corporations. City Ordinance. Watering Street Car Tracks. State v. Canal & C. R. R. Co., 24 South. R. 265 (La.)

Municipal Corporations. City Ordinance. Watering Street Car Tracks. State v. Canal & C. R. R. Co., 24 South. R. 265 (La.)