Rail and trail

Ira Davis’ letter of April 10, 2018, gave us the best explanation so far why a train is the worst possible choice for public transit on the Union Pacific corridor. The key word is STATIONS! Trains need stations which in turn need space between them, space to get up to speed, then space to stop, lots of it. Take a ride on Cal Train and you will get the idea. This space requirement means that in the part of the county where the ridership potential will be the greatest, there is only enough space for two or three stations at the most. Stations also need loading platforms and parking lots, big bucks up front. Okay. Now compare all that to a self-propelled electric trolley car. No stations required; can take on and drop off passengers anywhere along the route; can make many more such stops to increase ridership exponentially; with small e-powered shuttle buses plying the side streets that intersect the tracks making public transit easily accessible to far more Santa Cruz County residents; with safety (unlike the train or bus, safety is not a problem with trolley cars). And, because trolleys weigh so much less than locomotives pulling passenger cars, the road bed, bridges, and trestles will need less maintenance. The SCCRTC should announce officially that a train will not be used for public transit. This will generate considerable relief among many people. Trolleys on the tracks with passenger-gathering shuttles on the side streets will make modern public mass transit available to far more people than the train ever could, and we can have it more readily using off-the-shelf rolling stock, on a lease basis to avoid heavy capital outlay. Rail and trail can coexist happily and safely on the same pathway. All we need is for some community leader to take the reins and make it happen.
Howard F. Sosbee 1400 Weston Ridge Road Scotts Valley CA, 95066 831, 335, 8401 hfs@sosbee.com <mailto:hfs@sosbee.com>