Talk:Streetcar suburb
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[edit] Bicycles vs. Streetcar tracks
Turn of the century bicycles had much larger tires than today's do, roughly the size of those on modern mountain bikes (minus the knobs). This was to absorb the bumps of rougher (and in some cases, non-existent) road surfaces. I'd imagine it made trolly tracks less of a hassle, though still probably something to be wary of. --Cosmo the third 15:23, 11 August 2006 (UTC)
Toronto still has streetcars, and the tracks are a well-known hazard to cyclists - from time to time, I've had bruises to prove this. The best way of dealing with them is to cross at as much of a right angle as possible. Streetcars and bikes can co-exist well enough. --Gigantichound 17:37, 11 August 2006 (UTC)
I'm not sure how much bikes were used for transporation during the streetcar suburb era. From my understanding they were mostly recreational - ridden to the emerging parks of the era, which of course didn't have streetcar tracks. --W.marsh 21:58, 11 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Sweeping generalizations
The development of communities like Jamaica Plain, Boston Massachusetts prove the exception to many of the "rules" stated in this article. There is certainly no grid layout to the roads - the community goes back to the 1630s. The article needs some tuning up to account for this classic "streetcar suburb". MarkinBoston 04:23, 28 July 2007 (UTC)
- Electric streetcars were extended into older communities, sure. But when this article describes "streetcar suburbs" it describes suburbs that were built in the era where electric streetcars were a major means of transportation, as in, the roads were mostly laid out then and developers came in and built most of the houses at that time. It did tend to result in a lot of the same sort of developments. To put it another way, I'm sure cars drive into Jamaica Plain now - that doesn't mean what's true of automobile suburb design is going to be true of Jamaica Plain. If you have any sources though, on Jamaica Plain being what's considered a streetcar suburb, and how that clashes with the general definition in this article, that would be interesting. --W.marsh 13:43, 28 July 2007 (UTC)
