So I decided to ride the light rail today and I noticed something. Along the windows of the cars, there's a yellow strip that can be pressed to request a stop, similar to what is found on the buses. I noticed that riders were frequently pressing this strip, as the "Stop Requested" notice was lighting up. However, I was wondering if the operators even paid attention to these notices anymore. Has anyone ever witnessed a light rail operator not stopping at a station because there's no one waiting there and no one on board presses the 'request stop' strip? I was always under the impression that the light rail is operated to mimic heavy rail, and therefore stopped at every station no matter what. Just curious to see if anyone else has noticed this.

I believe that the yellow strips were standard equipment with the rail cars. The trains stop at all stops, however. If they blew past stops, they would get off schedule so they stop even if nobody is waiting and nobody wants to get off. Newbies often get stressed if they don't hear the bell ring, but you're right that it doesn't make any difference. Newbies are also the people that try to get off the front door of the lead car without a handicap. It pisses me off that some drivers don't have the common courtesy to tell the person that they need to use the other doors. I have seen people miss stops when the driver knew they were standing there. It's left to the passengers to inform them.

I noticed that too. During my ride, at least two people tried to exit through the front door. It'd be nice if they could redesign the entire system so that the floors of the cars were level with the boarding platforms, like how it is on the subway. But I don't even want to think about how much that would cost (redesigning each station, new fleet of cars, etc.)

In the past, I've also seen some people waiting to board the train, but not knowing that you sometimes have to press those green buttons to make the doors open. Once or twice, the train just left the station without them.

Those yellow strips are like fisher price toys. "I'm stopping the train"

I havent ridden it regularly since 99, but in the evening/late night service, it would definitely bypass stops if no one was at the station and no one pressed the stop request button. I missed my stop a couple times cause of this.

But this was back when there werent double tracks the entire length, so the Light Rail was usually late by a minute or two all day long because of having to wait for trains to pass by on single tracks.

Im not sure how effective it is with staying on time even with the double tracks because it still has to deal with traffic lights from downtown to midtown (which is why it will never be like a heavy rail system without a right of way light system) though Im sure it is at least much better off than before.

So my guess.. if its ontime, its going to stop at every stop.. if its runnin late for whatever reason.. its going to be bypassing unnecessary stops to get back on schedule.

FORGET THE STUPID LIGHTRAIL...WE NEED A METRO SYSTEM LIKE NEW YORK CITIES!WE NEED UNDERGROUND AND AERIAL SUBWAY TRAINS TO GET PERFECT VIEWS OF THE CITY LIKE NEW YORK!

FORGET THE STUPID LIGHTRAIL...WE NEED A METRO SYSTEM LIKE NEW YORK CITIES!WE NEED UNDERGROUND AND AERIAL SUBWAY TRAINS TO GET PERFECT VIEWS OF THE CITY LIKE NEW YORK!

I agree but I'll take bets...it will never happen. The money and belief just ain't there. As for "AERIAL SUBWAY", isn't that on oxymoron?

As for "AERIAL SUBWAY", isn't that on oxymoron?

witchcraft