transit
City’s First Subway Car Found
The second week of June 1901 saw the formal opening of the City’s first subway- what was to become today’s Brown Line- a modest straight line connecting the old Central Depot (across from Old City Hall, now Ludlow Plaza Station) and the Ostahanoc River, taking in the Downtown/Central Corridor areas, as well as the bustling… »
The Brothel Five Levels Below the Street
The old Central Depot, which sat across across Ludlow Plaza from Old City Hall from 1896 until its demolition in 1968, was a wonderful, massive gothic structure, covered in ornament and decoration which one doesn’t find much in today’s construction. It certainly isn’t found in its replacement, the City Centre Square building, a long rectangular… »
Snapshots: Last Days of the Riverfront Transit Center, 1933
April, 1933 – This photo was taken one week before construction was “temporarily” halted on the City Transportation Company’s (Now the City-Suburban Transit Authority) planned transit center on the Ostahanoc Riverfront. To be built in stages, the center would have facilities for regional and local buses, planned subway and elevated train lines and even an… »
Dockside Residents Will Finally Ride Like The Rest of Us
The City-Suburban Transit Authority has agreed to add full-length buses to lines serving the Dockside community, in a reversal of current policy and in response to harsh, ongoing criticism from local activists. For years, the CSTA had maintained that Dockside’s narrow streets made maneuvering full-size buses dangerous and difficult, while residents charged that the Authority… »
South Side Motorists See Red Over Orange Lights
Many of the laws of physics quantified by Isaac Newton in the 17th Century were of great service to inventors in the centuries after his death in 1727. Even so, Sir Isaac probably never imagined that the kinetic energy released by the inherent explosive properties of fossil fuels would lead to a world nearly… »
Don’t be Afraid of the Humpback Buses
You may have noticed the City-Suburban Transit Authority’s fleet of buses are all starting to grow humps on their roofs. It is nothing to be alarmed about, since it is all part of the CSTA’s conversion to compressed natural gas-powered buses, something that sounds like an especially good idea with increased CSTA ridership (due to… »
Code 54 – Possible Body on the Tracks
No light rail or subway dispatcher in this city ever wants to get a Code 54, but that’s just what City-Suburban Transit Authority (CSTA) officials received when the 314 Orange Line local hit, then ran over what appeared to be “skeletal human remains” just past the Vespid Avenue stop Monday afternoon. The driver was virtually… »
Go There: American Insurance Holiday Model Railroad
Go There is a feature in which our writers tell you about tourist attractions and other places of interest around the city.
The annual American Insurance Co. holiday model railroad display at Central Station has delighted kids since 1952. Each year, Warner Mendelsohn hunches over his soldering gun and recreates the city, in ever-increasing scope and… »
Friday Facts: Graffiti, Flying Ravioli, Native Alabamans
:: Adelmorst is the longest city street name with all the letters in alphabetical order.
:: Authorities still do not know who has been heavily tagging numerous Downtown, Central Corridor and Northside buildings with the phrase “Rock-n-Roll” over the last two months.
:: Number of barriers erected in the West Sugar neighborhood to prevent speedy “cut through”… »
Betting on the Number Six Bus
There was a great deal of fanfare Monday, when the City-Suburban Transit Authority (CSTA) unveiled their new real-time transit information system, which will give riders access to bus or subway vehicle locations and schedule changes, via the internet, portable devices and small screens at many of the city’s transit stops. The three-year, $2.7 million project… »
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