Cars shouldn't be allowed to block trams. If someone does, fine them heavily. I live in Zurich, which has an awesome tram system, and I never get stuck in traffic on a tram.

Overall I like trams much better than subways. There are tram stops every 200 meters, you can hop on and off, you get to see the city instead of a concrete tunnel, and you don't need to drag your kid stroller up and down the fucking stairs.

Cars, on the other hand, suck. It's one thing to have a city with a million people, but it's quite another thing to have a city with a million cars. Suddenly the whole place is paved over, the air is disgusting, and you can't walk anywhere anymore. Sense of freedom, my ass. It's great that Switzerland makes owning and parking a car so expensive.

> Cars shouldn't be allowed to block trams. If someone does, fine them heavily. I live in Zurich, which has an awesome tram system, and I never get stuck in traffic on a tram.

Doesn't work. In Graz Austria one of the lines goes where most traffic is. They cannot change that because it's the only road and people need it. There is not enough space to move the tram away. End result: at 5 when everybody leaves work, the tram takes 30 minutes for something that would otherwise take 5. It's also overcrowded with students at that time because there are not enough trams going as there is not enough space.

They either need to remove the cars or build a subway, there is not much alternative.

An underground railway has a much higher capacity. The Victoria Line in London runs a train every 105 seconds at peak time in each direction, with a design capacity of 864 people per train. (I think that's the most frequent line.)

A long tram, such as Edinburgh's, can carry about 250, and will be slower due to street traffic, junctions, and more frequent stops.

I wonder why not use both underground and trams. A system designed like that could work like a skip list - you take "the tube" to quickly cover big distances, and use trams to cover the last mile or two.

London used to have that, here's a map of the trams pre 1952: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trams_in_London#/media/File:Tra...

But most tube stations are only around 10 minutes walk apart, so it's not often necessary to use both in most of the busier areas.

It used to be that way in many cities. NYC, for example, used to have a surface rail system and streetcars in addition to the awesome subway.

That's interesting. What if they did the same thing for buses?

I love light rail, but it takes much more of an investment. If people would be fined for blocking buses, it might make it a better alternative.

EDIT: The other comment here is right, a bus line won't compete with trains for capacity.

Actually they're doing just that. In essence using high capacity buses on designated tracks, which are physically separated from the road. As a user it feels like a mixture between metro and bus, while being much, much cheaper to implement than a designated metro, or light rail system.

I used it in Lima and was pretty impressed about its efficiency.

More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Metropolitano

In Philadelphia, we have "subway-surface trolleys" which go underground for a portion of their journey. I've never seen this in any other major city.

The Green line(s) in Boston are like that, underground in a large portion of downtown, up on the street the rest of the way. Some share the way with cars, some use a separate right-of-way: a noticeable difference in travel time and convenience, or at least the perception thereof.

Shared right of way is pretty clearly "deprecated" in Boston these days (considered unpractical, they'll never build another one and they'd be glad to get rid of the one they have).

The two tram routes which have been cut in the last 50 years were both shared-right-of-way and there's only one short piece left.

There's a streetcar line in Toronto that does that, and a light rail system that's currently under construction that will be underground for a portion of the line.

MUNI in San Francisco is also like this. Very useful.

Frankfurt has it. It's still called subway, but everything apart from the city center is overground.

I think that's mainly for the river as the MFL does the same thing.

The Eglinton-Crosstown LRT in Toronto will do this when it opens.

In Kraków, Poland, we have a single tram line like that.

Boston does that.

I live in Amsterdam and I agree that a subway system is probably faster and more efficient. However I find the street cars' ride more enjoyable. I don't like the idea of getting into the ground, with nothing to see from your window different than concrete. With the tram, you might take longer, but you can appreciate the beautiful city around you.

Also, stations for a subway systems requires more space, they're much harder to build and they're really expensive.

So I disagree with the idea that subways are superior in every way. Street cars have some advantages as well.

Underground stations are also less accessible as you have to go down several flights of stairs.

Most countries have safe and effective elevators. :)

What? Lived in Amsterdam my whole life, only time I get stuck in a tram is when there's an accident (usually a taxi or something) on the track. Cars aren't allowed on tram tracks in 95% of streets where they're on a separate lane. But even then, traffic in the city where trams are is sort of rare, most congestion is on highways where trams obviously aren't a problem.

The trams are certainly not perfect and I like the metro system and look forward to the long overdue noord-zuid, but trams are an important part of the traffic mix, especially in a city in which a new metro line is very difficult.

There are certainly a few notorious streets where the car lane is 80% as wide as it should be, and so cars go on the tram tracks, which can suck during peak hours. But I find that most tracks run on separate heightened tracks completely. If you happen to live in one of these streets and happen to want to take the tram everyday during peak hours I can imagine the frustration. But by and large they're really nice.

You mentioned New York and London, I have to say I get around easier in Amsterdam than I did while I was in these other two cities. That's not to say Trams are amazing, but again, the traffic mix is really nice here in my opinion and trams are a part of that story. And compared to London its pretty affordable, too.

The situation is fairly interesting: In the old eastern part streetcars still exist, while they were dismantled in the old western parts. I notice that the streetcar fills an important role in the transport network: It's faster, more reliable and higher capacity than buses but still cheaper and with a more dense network than subway or light rail. It efficiently bridges the gap and provides access to to areas that are less well connected by the large lines. Reaching those areas in East Berlin is a breeze, reaching them in West Berlin a pain. Street cars usually don't share the roads though.

It is rare for trams in Belgian cities to still drive on the road. Most have gotten a separate bedding.

https://www.google.be/maps/@50.829617,4.434058,3a,75y,12.81h...

https://www.google.be/maps/@50.826726,4.39792,3a,75y,247.36h...

In some german citys, streetcar tracks are separated from the carways, at least in the city centers - separated in a way that a car gets damaged if they try to violate the separation.

Taking into account that a subway is so much more expensive to build than streetcar tracks, that driving in bright light outside is more enjoyable than driving underground and probably, that we want cars to stay out of the cities as much as possible, streetcars are great, imho. More comfortable than busses for sure.

The caveat with trams is that you need to plan for them. Slapping tram in the middle of the road to share it with cars won't do you that much good.

Streetcars work fine enough in Rotterdam. Is your experience limited to Amsterdam city centre? The metro live you speak of had been heavily delayed and way over budget. I prefer metro lines, but that's because I can more readily figure out where it's going and how.