Why Your City Needs Green Tram Tracks?
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- čas přidán 7. 06. 2024
- In this video, we talk about green tram tracks and the benefits they bring to the city. And it's not just about aesthetics.
#urbanism #cityforall #tram #streetcar #streetdesign #rmtransit #publictransport #greencity #city #ecology #greentracks #spongecity #watermanagement #sustainablecities #sustainabinity #urbanplanning
Timecodes:
00:00 - Intro
00:38 - Pros
03:40 - Cons
06:00 - Conclusion
Brochure used in the video -
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Those flowers and other plants on the tracks are so perfect
There is an andvantage to maintenance not mentioned. While you have more maintenance to keep up the plants, there will be less closures for maintenance. They are right now replacing most of the switches in a town close by. On grass tracks they dig out the switch in advance, usually during the evening hours where there the gaps between trains let's you do more work. Then to actually replace the switch, it's enough to close the line by 8 in the evening and they are usually done by midnight. Then the plants are restored over the next days during normal operation. In contrast, replacing a switch in one of the asphalted sections, they close the tracks for a full day.
That's a good point, thanks!
I wonder if you could make a lawnmower than runs on the tramtracks. Imagine having grassy tracks while also not having to mow them.
Sounds pretty logical, I'm not sure if it already exists but it sounds like it probably does.
Why no rely on the front of the tram to naturally knock the grass over? No mower required
Often it's not actually grass but a succulent mix (similar to greened rooftops). They don't need mowing at all.
@@_SpamMe it can be, but its often grass bc its cheaper
I doubt grass will grow there near the tracks with so many trams passing
Grassy tram-tracks seem to me like a gold standard of urban planning and transit. Being able to fund this type of track means you have to be financially stable enough as a municipality for the extra cost, and have the political fortitude to carry out the project in spite of conservative opposition that tries to limit any expenditure for public transit projects.
It’s good however in countries like Australia where droughts happen alot maintaining the grass could be difficult especially during heavy water restrictions
@@cityplanner3063 That's where desalination comes in and countries should utilize it to get more water.
Especially Australia that is surrounded by it.
Many countries already started doing that, as natural drinking water is a very small percentage of all water on earth and is limited and increasingly becoming polluted.
@@danepher desalination is a process that involves a lot of energy, should we really be doing that for frankly frivolous things like watering ornamental plants? I can get it for drinking and hygiene, to some extent even for growing food, but spewing even more CO2 into the atmosphere, increasing the likelihood of droughts and heatwaves due to climate change, just to water a lawn...
Luckily, there are alternative vegetations possible which don't need nerd nearly as much as water.
@@barvdw Yes and no.
Plants still require water so you will still need to use some anyway, but the water shortage problem still remains and it will only get worse when the population will grow.
And obviously it continues doing so.
Ornamental plants still consume co2, so while they are not a tree by capacity, they are still doing some work.
Should we stop watering them?
There are several studies on how plants and nature, also keep people sane or rather add to the mental well being.
So while for climate change they may be as ornamental as possible, keeping mental health is also important.
Even before switching to less demanding plants, and even before laying the tram tracks, several countries already suffer from water shortages, Australia for example included.
So the problem remains and needs to be tackled anyway.
Remember that the population grows, you will need to tackle this problem eventually and you will need to build new power plants.
Newer desalination technologies and progress of other components like pumps and such, reduces the minimum energy required, so they are not as energy demanding as it was before.
Desalination using osmosis requires around 3kWh per cubic meter of water (1000 Liters). In the newer plants according to several papers.
In my opinion That's not a lot in the grand scheme of things, considering that it is like running 1 kettle for an hour.
Luckily there are also certain technologies which can help with it as well,
There are alternative sources of energy of course, like solar and wind that countries and especially sun rich countries can use.
Even using natural gas is cleaner.
The offset of green house gases and climate change should be coming from other programs and not extreme water conservation.
Of course it still needs to be conserved, but the energy used can be offset in other less important areas.
Of course nothing is 100% accurate several more things come to account when building and calculating what needs to be used for desalinating.
But against the other things that pollute and actually are the cause of it, I highly doubt water and desalination plants are one of them or will ever be.
@@cityplanner3063that's why, instead of grass, you could have plants there that can survive the drought
but…but where will my lifted f-450 fit?
Get an off-roader!
If you need to ask that You cant own an suv
How will my lifted double tire off roader fit 😭
Exactly the same, which is not at all. I doubt you can handle a basic pick up truck if you actually have a license.
Did that convince you to change your behavior? No, because it was an insult like your post. If you really want less of the big SUVs on the road, you could try to stop scoring snark points and start trying to be constructive and on topic.
@@nunyabidness3075 woosh
In France they're basically the norm everywhere it's possible, and we're building a lot of new trams (apparently... not fast enough for me though) and yeah, it's pretty cool. Every single tram line I've seen in France has at least one green track somewhere. There's even some stops that use the grass/pavement mixture for the tracks instead of asphalt (I think it's a requirement/impossible to put green tracks at tram stops in France).
France trams are great, there is a separate video about them on this channel
Makes sense at stops, if nothing else a lot of wheelchairs don't really like grass
You stole it from the Dutch. French are cheaters and have always been.
Except in Toulouse, where every tram projects has been suspended to make the third subway line. Instead we have mass transit buses ("BHNS" in French), which are ofc inefficient and polluting.
I love the look of the mossy tram tracks! I also wondered if mosses and similar durable plants would be a solution for combined lanes since especially mosses can deal with dryness way better
grassy tram tracks! my favourite!
In my city Halle (Saale) they are also common across the city. Every modernization project turns old tracks into these ones. I love them.
In Leipzig the public transport company started last year to change their tram/bus stop huts - the new ones have either a green roof (moss or small plants) or solar panels on top... They're doing some changes for a better environment.
I am a tramdriver in Düsseldorf and we do have many green tracks. :D
Sometimes, you cant even see the tracks in areas where they dont mow it as often.
I was very surprised to see my city of origin, Dnipro as a good example in urbanist's video ;)
Trams and Trolleybuses for all!
That place looks really nice and cozy, may not so polished but still good example!
Funny, listopad in croatian means october, is it the same in ukrainian perhaps? Most nations use the standard month nsmes derrived mostly from latin..
@@dannyboy-vtc5741lystopad means November in Ukrainian, not exactly the same month but it's pretty close
@@heavenheathern that's cool, november here is studeni, anyways i think i knew already that ukraine also uses the old slavic names for months of the year, but i don't know any other nation that does it, certainly none of the ex yu besides us, czechs and poles also don't nor do the russians, so it's pretty neat that somebody does in the end, cheers mate!
@@dannyboy-vtc5741In Polish listopad is november too
good that you also mention leipzig in that picture. In fact we have quite a lot of those grassy tram tracks. Good for a lot of reasons, also they provide a very very smooth ride when inside the tram.
Even as a car-centric contrarian, I agree with this video on the desirability of these green tramways. Not just for the reasons stated within, but because it creates a clearer separation between public transit and private vehicle space. If cities are going to renovate stroads to install transit, they should go all the way and not half-ass it. Many urbanists pine for the chaotic and deadly streetscapes (of pedestrians, cyclists, cars, horses, streetcars, buses, etc. sharing the roadway) of the 1910s and 20s, but I prefer things more black-and-white -- give me red lights and green lights, appropriate gates/barriers, private vehicles here, cyclists/pedestrians there, dedicated transit over there, and clear definitions of who can be in or crossing the space at a given time. Safer, more predictable, and more efficient for all concerned.
Thank you very much for this comment. I remembered this point at the end of the edit, but decided to leave it open for you to write about in the comments.
I don't know any urbanists that wants bikes and cars to share the same road, and as someone more hardcore I want cars completely banned from cities, as it should have been from the beginning (we never should have invented cars in the first place). Cities are our most valuable land and using any for car infrastructure is extremely inefficient use of land.
@@skyisreallyhigh3333 you’re insane
@@gytan2221 Why am I insane?
Because I recognize that cars do far more damage to cities than benefits?
Because I understand our most valuable land is in cities and that cars are an extremely inefficient way to move people?
Please, tell me why I am insane for wanting cities to be quieter and more pleasant to live?
@@skyisreallyhigh3333 based
In our city, wildflowers are planted between the tracks 🐝
I love tram tracks with grass 😍 To be honest it's not the best option in some streets because of emergency vehicles. In my country it's common for emergency vehicles to use tram tracks with concrete surface because of traffic jam.
thank you for such a video!
This channel finally got the attention it needed i was here from the start congrats on 1k likes and lastly great educational video
Thanks :)
Love your channel! Keep em coming
I'm glad to hear that! Already working on the next video :)
I love learning this kind of stuff and i hope this info will get applied to some of the cities around the world
Дуже сподобалось відео, та і тема ця для мене цікава! дякую
saw one getting finished the other day and i thought they would just throw grass seeds on the ground or something and they'd grow over time instead they pulled out some kind of fucking grass carpet and rolled it out on the rails then cut it to fit
It's called sod.
yooo Osaka gaming
Personally I like grass tracks and they should be used where ever possible, but when those tracks are parallel to a street with alot of car traffic they should use the perforated concret tiles so that emergency vehicles can use them.
One of the reasons (as mentioned in the video) Prague doesn't have more grass tram tracks is specifically that the emergency services are against it. The firefighters stated that their response time can even triple in the case of grass tracks during heavy traffic. So most green tracks are on 6-lane roads (4 driving lanes, 2 tram lanes). It's a shame Prague is such a car-infested city, otherwise, a lot more tracks could be green.
A brilliant idea. Might have limited application where I live in Melbourne Australia, but where the trams are sited within a reserved plantation that divides the road, this idea could work.
Thankfully Zurich, Vienna and Milan are working on this too.
I really liked this video, i will watch your career with great interest
Thanks! Happy to hear that!
There, have my sub and like. Keep growing!
Much appreciated!
Green tracks are really a good thing. In the city I live we have them in some streets and they are great.
In my hometown they have done a tryout with the succulents ( Reseda ) for five years and came to the conclusion -> back to Grass !
Good to know about this, luckily my city's tram do have Green Tram Tracks, Kaohsiung Taiwan.
Parts of Melbourne's tram systems simply uses sleepers & standard gravel ballast, with the side verges planted with grass. A compromise between installation & maintenence cost and greenery.
There is a very short section of the green line in Dublin done like this, just south of Patrick Doyle road between Miltown and Windy Arbor
i think grassy tram tracks are great, but i think the downside that vehicles with rubber tires can't really drive on them is a tough one. i find that paved tram tracks are more suitable for vienna for example, which often has tracks completely seperate from the road which makes it highly practical for emergency vehicles to pass through. and also, as you mentioned, busses can't run on them, which i think makes green tracks way less versatile. despite that, i think you made a very informative video right here!
We have in Vienna also a few green tracks, but it is expansiv for the "Wiener Linien" so the only check for new tracks but don't touch the old.
Gravel although not as nice looking on street level tram tracks, is much cheeper to instal than grass and much more deterrent against road traffic and trespassers incursions where it is not safe to walk on tracks. Thank you for sharing the informative video.
Way forward!
in where i live (Poznan, Poland) this type of tram tracks is very common, especialy, when its a new tram line (old ones arent grassy)
The Manchester Metrolink in the UK has a little bit of green rails at Deansgate Castlefield.
1:58 It's the little things that make contemporary Yuotobe so fantatsioc.
finally someone who makes city improvement videos without shaming anyone, keep up the good work buddy :)
Thanks :)
Any suggestions for topics?
they need to be shamed
Thanks for using an image from Dnipro, Ukraine :)
everything sounds very good but where do the ambulances go in case of very heavy traffic? In my city, Florence, it is not possible to put grass for this very reason.
Are you sure about the 1980s? I think The Hague started moving to green tramways (with grass) as standard on most tracks back in the early 70s already.
Not 100% sure but it's the data I've found in the internet.
@@cityforall Have even called my parents for this!
There was the so-called 'Blauwe tram' that rode more outside Den Haag & that one more often than not had separate tram tracks often on grass. The 'Gele tram' inside the city was more on the street, but the line to Scheveningen,(the beach) had it's own grassy tram tracks. Probably since its start in 1880/1905/whatever. The grass was probably just cheaper than paving over the whole road, also it looked nicer for the posh people living in that area.
Yes, nowadays the grassy tracks are more of an environmental concern & that is the consideration with newly laid or renewed track, but Den Haag has some weird old stuff as well.
My father has a book & several magazines about this, so i will read about it & be able to back this up with documentation & not just memories from 50s, 60s, 70s & 80s.
I think the data point 1980s is simply the English translation from the German language article on the Berlin trams, not for *all* European trams.
I see grassy tram... I click.
In my city (Mannheim) this is the standart type of track for tram lines
If we had this in America we’d have “influencers” taking pictures getting run over by trains
BTW, in 4:12, the picture is not Warsaw, but Poznan (certainly with this Modertrans green-yellow tram coloring)
I couldn't agree more. Its like me talking :D
What's the difference between a grassy tram track and a suburban lawn?
5:00 no, emergency vehicles will not drive there; And that's one of the major issues I see with green tram tracks: when the road next to the tracks has at least 2 lanes (either 1+1 lane or 2+2 lanes) it's okay, but with only 1 lane on either side of the tracks (like at 6:16 in the video) emergency vehicles will have absolutely no chance to pass traffic when they can't drive on the tram tracks
I live in Karlsruhe and in front of my room theres a Tram every 2 minutes in peak hours. Nontheless the Tram is actually more quiet then cars driving by due to the gras :)
That's great! And how is your tram tunnel doing?
@@cityforall very well, the main Shopping street is now way more comfortable to walk on and the whole system is more reliable.
I feel like a future tram could be equipped with small maintenance systems for the grass must it ever be a big part of the network
What about wood chips?
Are those viable?
So glad much of the tram line in my US city is green tracks
YES
4:12 thats actually Poznań with it's green trams😄
Where is that last shot done? With the red bike roads, it looks like the Netherlands, but somehow the buildings feel a little off, as does the symbol on the bike roads.
At what timecode?
@@cityforall the drone shot just before the outro, 6:17
What if instead of putting perforated concrete tiles over the whole tram track width. What if those where put only in narrow lines (possibly with lightweight reinforcement) next to and around the rails where the wheels of emergency vehicles, service vehicles and buses would otherwise damage the grass anyway? Thereby combining the advantages of both concrete and green tram tracks.
My city has it!
Good for you :)
@@cityforall Although today I witnessed tram workers not being able to move a broken tram (a wheel have broken, I guess, they put a cart under it) to a depo for hours while causing chaos for other trams and road users. I think they decided to wait and try again after the midnight when the roads and tracks are empty.
We use these for drainage in Western Oregon ... my God, it rains every day all day long ... that water has to go someplace and in a hurry ...
In Poland i've seen a lot of green tram tracks and the look pretty cool (i live in Poland)
We were talking about the benefits of lawn trams 45 years ago.
That's great!
Not too sure what sort of short native plant you could use in Australia
VTA had green between the tracks, now its brown. After the rains this past winter, the weeds took off!
Could also plant short growing native wildflowers
Or just plant a mix of native wildflowers regardless of how tall they grow and let natural selection weed out the ones that grow too tall.
Though, either way there is a risk to pollenators.
Great video! However, the music was a little bit loud in my opinion and it was hard to understand you. Luckily, the automated generated subtitles were pretty reliable.
Oh, sorry about that! I'm always balancing on this edge and seems that this time I've lost this battle :)
Not going to mention the New Orleans Neutral ground?
Never heard about this, sorry. What is that?
I had it in my city but the road and the tram tracks were renovated so it was removed. I wish they would bring the grass back.
hele juist !!!!!
My city doesn’t maintain any grounds other than a few key spots so the city is basically all natural. Cleveland Ohio is great
Maintaining shit doesn't make Ponzi happy, building new shit on the outskirts using loans does!
“In the 1980s, the idea was revived”
*laughs in New Orleans*
Laughs are good anyway :D
Love your film, but you had mistake. Green tram which was signed as Warsaw, Poland was actually in Poznań Poland.
Anyway great and informative.
Oh, thanks for the correction :)
@@cityforall in my hometown Poznań almost all tram tracks are upgraded during rebuild as green ones. What was shown in your film was part of newest track to Naramowice district which whole is done with greenery in tracks.
Tram is original development from my hometown Moderus Gamma
Just came this channel. I hear a familiar voice. Aren't you from Lviv?)
I think Melbourne is trialling this and it is not going down well with local residents as they are getting weedy.
But in general, to call a spade a spade, weed is the most hardy plant that does not require any care.
I wish they properly implemented this in the right locations in Melbourne instead of the half hearted trial they’ve done so far!
This needs to be introduced much more widely in Melbourne, but starting with tram reserves that also have some other plants in them. Our climate is not great for green track, but Sydney did a lot of work to find a good solution and I think we should use some of that knowledge!! From what I remember, green track was installed in South Melbourne, but they only cut out a small portion of concrete and there were no other plants near the green track so it was really exposed. I’d like to see green track on all the wide boulevards where track is surrounded by other plants, such as Fitzroy St in St Kilda, sections of the 59, Victoria Parade, and maybe the 96 light rail section (although I wouldn’t do this right now because it would make it harder to switch back to a train line). I’d also like to see it in parks, particularly the 58 through Royal Park, but you’d have to explore types that still discourage wildlife from being near the tracks. It could also be implemented on any small sections which currently run through areas surrounded by plants, such as roundabouts, and any new sections of track we install.
A lot of our current boulevards (St Kilda Rd, Royal Parade, Flemington Rd, etc.) have a lane of car traffic between the tram line and green reservation. We could move the tram lines over (which also makes it safer for pedestrians to access, and easier to build level boarding stops using existing infrastructure, but it also means shifting cars into the centre and separating the tram lines to likely run from separate poles instead of fully suspended wires. This would be a fair bit of work to upgrade, but it’d also be an opportunity to increase the electrical capability so we can run bigger trams, and to make it a lot greener as you can simply extend the green reservation to include the tram line. It should be introduced when we upgrade level access stops but means doing whole road sections together.
@@Sagealeena surely they could find some natives that don't grow high and require minimal maintenance? e.g blue star creeper or Green Carpet Rupturewort?
@@cityforall to make it even funnier the news report I saw had the dandelion weeds in full pretty bloom with a resident complaining. I think it a good idea but hardier low lying plant selection may be needed.
What about train tracks? Why aren't there any of those?
Based and subbed
Thanks!
Step one: have a tram
What if you don't have trams but railways?
This sure leaves Australia way behind.the only green tram tracks I know of are in Adelaide.
I mean i guess the argument with the heat is sound, but I honestly much prefer trams that are running along with cars mostly.
I live in Basel, Switzerland, and we have a very extensive tram network throughout our metro area and in the city they all run on the street. I just think its a great image how trams and cars share the city space together.
There's nothing great in trams stuck in a traffic jam together with cars :)
@@cityforall the dont though, they move traffic along with their "always green" button.
like you can stand in traffic for 7mins, but then you know a tram will come and push all of it along.
@@cityforall I mean, the argument can be said for buses as well i.e. why do they mix in traffic when they could run on their own lanes instead? I myself even like to see more trams in mixed traffic, albeit by trading the carriageway space for pedestrians and especially cyclists and naturally shouldn't be done for main trunks (which incidentally also have multiple lanes, lanes which can be taken away from cars to the trams).
2:37 another hidden bonus: preventing a modern outbreak of cholera
It's ironic that you are using Barcelona as an example of _green_ tram tracks.
Since we have been experiencing severe drought for the last 12+ months, the Barcelona council stopped watering the grass a long time ago, and now it has turned yellow/brown from the dead vegetation. These water demanding lawns were definitely not the best choice for a Mediterranean city.
It's a sad thing to see and a proof that _green_ tracks should not be adopted in climates where they don't fit.
That why I've said in the video that plants should be suitable for the local climate.
Are there natural succulents that would be better?
@@pbilk Texas has a native wildflower project which is very similar in concept, where they scatter native wildflowers suited to hot, dry climates along the sides of highways. Texas can get 41+ day temperatures, and yet even those days there will always be flowers blooming; the cited reason for this project is to reduce the maintenance cost while still maintaining the benefits of soil retention, noise reduction, pollution reduction, and beautification... at least, as much as is possible for a highway. We haven't figured out trains yet.
Some of the common flowers are succulent or semi-succulent, such as the yucca and relatives or false dayflower. I don't know Barcelona's flora very well, but it should still be possible to find succulent or semi-succulent native ground-cover plants.
@@snowinjuly4872 that's wonderful to hear! My city in Ontario, Canada is doing that too with native flowers. Thankfully, the twin city population of 400k has figured out trams and two train providers. One offers day trips and the other one does commuter rail service and the some.
@@pbilkyou can take a look at the study done for Parramatta Light Rail in Sydney! Obviously the climate isn’t the exact same, but Sydney gets quite hot. I wish we had more green track in Melbourne, but the tiny test section was badly implemented. But Sydney only has a couple km of newly built light rail, Melbourne has 250km of tram track from the 1800s and 1900s!
If it gets too hot and the grass becomes dry. One spark from the rails touching the wheel could become a fire
God I wish we had trams.
My country sorely needed green Tram, but there's no hope. Every planned Metro Lines in most cities in my country are all Monorail. What a missed opportunity. Why they did this you may ask? Because the people have concern, that if a Tram were to use the same road as most motorists, it'll make traffic even worse, so the Government choose the Monorail 🤦♂️
They could've gone with Lightrail instead, but no. It has to be the MonoFail 🤬
Seems you forgot about new orleans?
1:05 SORRY WHAT
NJT has a light rail?!?!?
I don’t really understand why you’d ever plant grass there instead of something like clover or other another ground cover like thyme
Clover is also good.
my city needs trams or even good public transport in the first place
Why not equip buses with retractable tram buggies?
That's a good question. Actually there is a bus-train like this Japan. I guess it depends of the purposes. For some it could be to expansive I guess.
Maybe for some rural areas it could be a good option
It looks good
yes it also helps create oxygen, drainage and non heat trapping durface, but going by US standarts, if it looks good the public will like it better or smth, i dont get burgerland, cuz here in germany we are them but better
4:15 is Poznań not Warsaw
But what if you're in a desert?
If some idiots build a city in a desert, they deserve every inconvenience they get.
Most cities aren't in deserts. But, its not like deserts don't have their own plant life. Small ground cover succulents for example are pretty common. It would need to be something local for best results.
@@russianbear0027 ok so Make the Cactus angery .. Uhh noooo
Where .. If like The African or midd east then.. Welll yahh sand sand and mo sand...
4:12 Poznan not Warsaw
we have national rail that runs over overgrown grass
Where?
We already have that green track in the Philippines😂😂😂
TRAMS ON GRASS!
2:46 jesus christ that is a bike lane in London??
4:13
Its not Warsaw, but Poznań
"Your city NEED"? Without the 's'? 🤔