To the editor,
I dislike commenting negatively on the ideas of Patrick Klassen, a
graduate student at Dalhousie’s School of Planning, but if he really
believes his vision of a new streetcar/tram system is what is needed
for Halifax, as he stated in Chris Benjamin’s “Streetcar desires”
(March 19, Upfront), then I suggest he needs to engross himself more
deeply in his field of study.
As I remember, more than 50 years ago we added much more mobility
for traffic on our main streets when our tram system was replaced
with the then-modern electric trolley coach powered by the
dual-overhead supply system. While the new coaches were quiet and
smooth and, being electric, without fumes, they also lacked the
capacity to pass each other unless their poles were lowered. This
feature itself imposed some traffic limitations
on the trolley coach system.
Streetcars and tracks impose even more stringent impediments than
the trolley coaches to the smooth and uninterrupted flow of
other street traffic, and it would seem that in any review of what is
best for Halifax, pending the availability of the
non-fossil-fuel-powered bus, our transportation vehicle options are
very much limited to what is currently available.
—Bill Phillips, Halifax
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This article appears in Apr 2-8, 2009.