Monorail hugger rains on the Streetcar parade
By David Brewster
December 12, 2007
Opening day for the new South Lake Union Streetcar is not a happy moment for Reinhard Krischer, keeper of the old Seattle monorail flame. He's still hoping for an extension of the 1962 Alweg line and still lamenting the failure of the Green Line in 2005.
"All the safe, clever, and progressive advantages of elevated transit in the form of space-saving monorail technology were forgotten," Krischer writes in The Alweg Archives.
Instead, he laments, we have "A Streetcar Named Regression." He thinks that the new SLUT must be a kind of satire on transit. His prime example is the advice given in The Seattle Times for how to cope with the safety issues of a streetcar on the street:
How to drive near the streetcars: Proceed wisely through crowded intersections, so as not to wind up stopped on the tracks. Avoid sudden turns and lane changes in front of the trains. How to park: Maneuver your car close to the curb, making sure wheels and mirrors are inside the solid white safety line, so a streetcar won't sideswipe the driver's side. Also watch for a train before opening doors. How to bike: New rails in the curb lanes of Westlake Avenue create a serious safety hazard because bicycle tires can get caught in track grooves. Always cross train tracks at a perpendicular angle.
Krischer writes from Cologne, Germany, and his essays are fascinating accounts of the monorail religion as it tries to spread across the globe.