If the sight of streetcars bothers you that much, then maybe you shouldn’t go downtown?
To allow that turnaround, and to let the north-south trains pass by, the VTA wants to create a bypass, or spur. The planners estimate the Campbell trains might wait only six minutes on the regular track to let other trains pass, but with four trains arriving per hour at peak times, the big light rail vehicles would be parked at St. James Park for a good piece of the day.
So what’s the problem? As former San Jose Councilwoman Judy Stabile points out, the historic district includes both the parks and the buildings that surround it, like Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, the Post Office, the old Courthouse.
To leave the light rail cars parked at the station blocks the view and insults the historic fabric. It’s like your neighbor asking to park his RV in front of your house.
Yep. Next thing you know, St. James park will look like this hellhole:
Non-polluting electric vehicles, each with capacity equivalent to 30+ cars carrying two riders each (cars clearly not on the street), awaiting departure from an apparently well-maintained public park (the winos and drug dealers must be hiding) in an neighborhood of well-maintained classic architecture (like the First Church of Christ, Scientist on St. James Square?). Hell indeed.
Sorry; forgot to thank you for the nice photograph, an ideal argument to misplaced opposition to LRT capacity and performance improvement in San Jose:
“Charles Square (Czech: Karlovo náměstí) is a city square in the New Town of Prague, Czech Republic. It is one of the largest squares in the world and very likely the largest medieval square in Europe. Founded in 1348 as the main square of the New Town by Charles IV, it was known as Dobytčí trh (Cattle market) from the 15th century and finally named after its founder in 1848. The central portion of the square was turned into a park in the 1860s.”
“The square is now one of the main transport hubs of the city centre with Karlovo náměstí metro station and numerous tram lines and busy roads crossing it in all directions.”