> especially over trains running at street level (since these can't go much faster than traffic)
Why would trains at street level be limited in speed by traffic? Trains in the UK run at street level and regularly go over a hundred miles an hour.
Why would trains at street level be limited in speed by traffic? Trains in the UK run at street level and regularly go over a hundred miles an hour.
There are also "bus only" lanes, except the buses can go around blockages sometimes.
If you check out YouTube you can find some freight trains that have to do that from time-to-time.
About a hundred years ago, when Toronto’s streetcar was implemented, they made their gauge slightly narrower than train gauge to prevent “trains” from running along streetcar tracks.
They pay for it to this day as it means new streetcars need to be designed for a gauge that nobody else uses.
Turning radii is also an issue. Possibly by design or not...
The streetcars are not discussed much in the article, but they may be a large part of both Toronto's moderate transit success and its slowness to adopt real light rail transit.
Streetcars are seen as similar to buses but a bit faster, more comfortable and more reliable. Which suits them well for the busy downtown routes. But plans for suburban LRT routes have been dismissed as "glorified streetcars", even though they would be much faster due to less frequent stops and more signal priority. Since relatively slow downtown streetcars are the only surface rail people know about, they don't get excited about LRT.