05-18-2017, 10:15 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-18-2017, 10:16 PM by danbrotherston.)
(05-18-2017, 10:09 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: Ok, thanks, that makes sense. But I don’t think our line would stop being LRT if we added turn signals and mirrors (both at both ends, I suppose) and had some non-dedicated-lane street running. In reality there is no bright line between streetcar and LRT, or for that matter between LRT and regular passenger rail. There is even no bright line between real trains and model trains. But that’s another story…
I do agree, legally there is a distinction, but, same as BRT in reality they form a spectrum.
But for one, it's been hard to fight the argument that "its just a streetcar" which is clearly untrue, given people's experience with slow congested streetcars in Toronto, this is an important perception to fight (some Toronto Streetcar lines are more LRTs now anyway). As you've seen this is a common and unfortunately effective argument in our region.
For another, this is one of the big reasons I prefer LRT is *because* there is a legal distinction, it makes it much harder to compromise an LRT project by making it run mixed traffic, when the going gets tough (and when segregation is most important), than it is a BRT system where buses can already operate in traffic without modification.
I am willing to bet that if we had a BRT system, we'd have the route travel straight down King and into mixed traffic in uptown and downtown (which has some advantages, in not having a split route), but it would be stuck in traffic every time.