Streetcars get better routes

September 10th, 2013
transit
I'm generally sympathetic to the arguments favoring buses over streetcars. When you run light rail down the middle of the street you're stuck in the same traffic as everyone else and buses can be more flexible in their routes. This flexibility can be a problem, however, in that bus routes don't receive the same care and consideration given to streetcars. When you're building out millions of dollars of track and wire you push for the most efficient route you can, but with buses you get routes like:


MBTA Route 95, outbound through Medford Square

No one would lay tracks to send a streetcar so circuitously, but hey, it's just a bus.

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