So far, I have been riding the Olympic Line transportation option for fourteen hours a day (because it is more comfortable and better air-conditioned than my $300/month “Special Freelance Media Accommodation” in the old port) and, along with the entire Best Place on Planet Globe region, which I represent in spiritu, have been really impressed with the entire Olympic Line initiative.
The line is “state-of-the-art” because, unlike earlier “demonstration” trams models imported from former Soviet Union republics, these Bombardier Flexcity models have fully functioning brake technologies that permit “safe and controlled stops in any conditions”.
The line, surprisingly, is also quite accessible. There are presently two (2) stations–one (1) each precisely at the location where the tracks ends and a steep precipice begins–but, as the promotional brochure states, “passengers are [quite] welcome to wade through the mud-filled moats on either side of the 1.8 km line and ‘Jump on anywhere, anytime TM’”, which is quite revolutionary—indeed a first for a world-class transit system.
The line is also sustainable in that it will run for only two months out of the entire century (January 21 and March 21, 2010), meaning the international media will have plenty of time to not get tired of its regularly-scheduled press releases and City unionized tram drivers will still be able to access their sick, vacation and strike leave entitlements without restrictions.
As far as success goes, over 6,000 people rode the streetcar on opening day and over 9,000 people per day (p.p.d.) rode the streetcar on the opening weekend. (No tallies of weekday ridership were conducted since working class commuters that “could have been aware of and/or should have used other forms of non-demonstration paid public transport” are not eligible for official press release tallies.)
As far as costs, the numbers are equally impressive. The line, according to official press releases, covers “approx. 1.8km of track”, depending on the nature and severity of the derailment, and cost exactly $8.5 million to upgrade-build (from the existing amusement-park-ride Downtown Historic Railway infrastructure).
In terms of price-to-benefit ratio, these costs are simply staggering. Just check out these calculations (passing grade from a regionally-certified grade twelve mathematics course is required):
$8,500,000 / 16 (weekend) days of operation = $531,250 per (weekend) day
$531,250 per (weekend) day / 9,000 riders per (weekend) day = $59.03 per rider per day
$59.03 per rider per day / 1,800 meters of track = $0.033 per meter per rider per day
So, as you see, the cost-benefit ratio of electrified public transport is staggering.
Compared to the original sustainable transportation plan, which was affectionately dubbed as the “Brown Plan” and consisted of leasing used Californian donkey and apportioning one donkey per ten riders per hour, the current option cost only 3.3 cents per meter per rider per day to operate and it thus future-feasible.
The Portfolio Minister of Interior Ass-Mule Transportation Options for the Best Place on Planet Globe will surely be impressed with these modern transportation options.