Transit

Alexandria gets a "trolley"

by David Alpert   •   March 27, 2008 11:54 am

The first time I went to Old Town Alexandria, I thought, "there needs to be a trolley along King Street from the Metro to the waterfront." Well, now there is. Sorta. It's really a bus dressed up as a trolley, which DC Metrocentric sneers at but I think has merit: a dinging trolley probably would be more appealing to visitors who shop at the high-end boutiques and chain stores on King.

Trolley/bus in Chicago. Photo by
Springsun on Flickr.

A real trolley would be even better, but it's a step. More prominent signage (or, rather, any prominent signage at all) would help a lot. This trolley/bus will run every 15 minutes, more than the bus it replaces, but 10 minutes would be better, as would real-time info displays. 15 minutes is a little long to wait standing on the street corner in the cold while deciding whether to walk to the Metro station or regret not just driving instead.

Update: more good discussion on DCist.

David Alpert is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Greater Greater Washington and Greater Greater Education. He worked as a Product Manager for Google for six years and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He loves the area which is, in many ways, greater than those others, and wants to see it become even greater.