Green Line Type 9 Thread
jamesinclair wrote:
A final example comes from other american subway systems. How did Washington DC metro work to attract car dependent commuters when they opened in the 1970s? IMAGE. Carpets. Cushioned seats. Forward facing seats.
I'm not sure what you mean about forward facing seats. Half the transverse seats on a WMATA subway car face forward, the other half face backward, just like any other double ended cars I've seen with transverse seats.
Are you comparing it with Boston's subways which, if I remember correctly, have longitudinal seats, so they face into the car's center aisle? But the green line has mostly transverse seats, so it's got the same 'forward' seating arrangement as WMATA.
jamesinclair wrote:The little interior things is what the MBTA sucks at providing, and hopefully, the type 9s have more thought put into them.
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-Demand doors
What are 'demand doors'? Do you mean doors that the operator unlocks remotely and the passenger opens? I've noticed a trend, new LRV's and buses seem to have the operator open the doors, even if the line used to have a passenger control. For example NJT Riverline has a 'press green button to open door', but the doors seem to open regardless of if you press the button or not.
On the other hand SEPTA's Kawasaki cars not only have passenger controlled center doors, again as long as the car operator has unlocked them, but a foot treadle opens them. I can't figure why pressing a button to open a door is better than just standing on the center door steps, especially if I'm holding packages. However I do see how that can be a pain if somebody's standing on the center door treadle who's not planning on getting off, which does happen once in a while in Philly, and I imagine happened often on all the old fashioned equipment that emphasized enter front, exit center doors.
You Boston folks might not know about that phenomenon. Even in PCC days I think you only used the center doors in the subway stations where the cashiers had already collected fares. Isn't that the arrangement today, despite having 3 doors per side doesn't Boston's green line use only the front door at street surface stops?
jamesinclair wrote:
-Buttons for stops instead of tape
What's the advantage of buttons instead of tape? I think tape gives a lot more places where a passenger can engage the stop request signal than a button. Tape seems to be an improvement over the old pull cords, at least I can remember a lot of broken cords, or the mechanism that the cords pulled, in my childhood.