A monorail system for Provincetown! Our HOTT Crew had a special invitation to be present June 8th at the sneak preview of Provincetown's most ambitious new development in history... the Provincetown Monorail!
Select town officials and prominent business leaders revealed the details of a 12 mile long monorail system that will whisk thousands of residents and visitors daily around the Greater Provincetown environs. Identical to the Bombardier INNOVIA 300 Monorail being installed in Sao Paulo, Brazil, town official Mary Silva said, "It's appropriate we enter a new age for Provincetown by selecting a rapid transit system with Portuguese connections."
Above: Sao Paulo Monorail Stations and the "dual beamway" supported by single columns.
The Ptown Monorail (affectionately referred to as "The P", and yes we've already reserved our blog address for Hotties on the P!) will realize substantial cost savings by utilizing as many components from the Sao Paulo Monorail as possible. 7 of the 8 monorail stations will use blueprints from Sao Paulo's system, but with reduced length as Provincetown's monorail trains will be 3 cars long compared to Sao Paulo's 7 cars. Our HOTT Crew found the station designs to be architecturally stunning with a sleek, minimalist style that won't intrude on the historic architecture of the town.
Above: Provincetown Monorail Airport Station
Realizing cost savings makes it possible to celebrate New England artistic flair with the stunning design of the Airport Station, by Hacin Associates of Boston. It's ingeniously designed to resemble the style of Provinceland's world famous dune shacks. An innovative feature is that the station platform rests at ground level until a monorail approaches, at which time it raises with it's passengers like an elevator to be level with the train. When the train departs the platform descends back to ground level. Our HOTT Crew thinks this is a clever way to make it easy for people with disabilities or lots of luggage to enter and exit the station! Town officials were so taken with Hacin Associates' design of the elevator platform that they're incorporating it into the Piers Station as well to accommodate arriving ferry passengers!
But wait, there's more!
Above: Bombardier Dash-8 Q200 Quiet Flight 50 passenger plane
Bombardier, the maker of the INNOVIA 300 Monorail, will build, own and operate the monorail system (a royalty from each ticket will be paid to the town of Provincetown). Bombardier also makes the only large passenger plane capable of using Ptown's relatively short 3,500' airport runway. Bombardier will be selling 5 Dash-8 Q200 aircraft to Cape Air at below-market interest rates, enabling Cape Air to commence service to Ptown from cities such as LGA, DCA, Toronto and Montréal. Flight time from Montreal to Ptown will be 1 hour! Our HOTT Crew thinks the fewer people there are crossing the Sagamore and Bourne bridges the better!
PROVINCETOWN MONORAIL FAQS
Q. Why monorail?
A. Town Strategist Joey DeVarra said, "If we don't do something big right now to differentiate Provincetown, in 5 years Commercial Street will be a clone of the Square One Mall in Saugus!"
Q: Can I do a roundtrip on the monorail to tour the area, how long would that take and how much will it cost?
A: A roundtrip is 12 miles (about 40 minutes) and is an excellent way to take in the sights while familiarizing yourself with Provincetown. A single ride will cost $2, but unique "Couples Fares" will be offered for $3 to encourage people to "pair up" and ride the monorail.
Q: How many stations are there and where will they be?
A: There will be 8 stations, 4 of which are "Main Stations" (All stations names are underlined, Main Stations have an asterisk). Starting at the airport the station names are Airport*, Markets (Stop & Shop on Shank Painter Rd), Tips for Tops (where the old Tips for Tops'n Restaurant was on Bradford St), TLC* (Transportation and Laundry Center at Atwood & W Vine), Restaurants (Sal's Place on Commercial St), Piers* (McMillan Pier), Galleries (Provincetown Art Association on Commercial St), and Harbor View* (Harbor Hotel, far East End).
Q. Transportation and Laundry Center? In the West End? Really?
A. Really! While the East End will be re-zoned to facilitate it becoming Provincetown's premier neighborhood, the West End will be re-zoned to permit higher density micro housing for hospitality and service workers. Therefore, due to an increased demand for a laundromat, an eco-friendly laundromat will be built beneath the TLC Station at the corner of W Vine and Atwood. Also, a parking structure will be built under the escarpment at Atwood St so that low-income workers have a place to park their cars.
Q. Won't the monorail make Commercial Street almost impassible for pedestrians and cars?
A. The monorail won't be on Commercial Street! It's unique design has it traveling over the water just off the beach along Commercial Street! Beamways painted in swirling blues and grays will help it blend in with the view of the harbor. At Captain Jack's Pier in the West End the beamway will curve towards shore and travel up West Vine Street to the TLC Station, after which it passes Victors (more stunning views of their famous Happy Hour!) and onto Bradford St. On roads where the monorail does travel the single pylons hardly take up any space.
Q. Why won't the monorail go to Herring Cove Beach?
A. Maria Chung, Director of Fiscal Services, stated that Federal regulations protecting Piping Plovers, Humpback Whales and Red-cockaded Woodpeckers prevent a monorail extension to Herring Cove Beach at this time. Should the Federal Government grant waivers it's possible to consider it based on monorail fare revenues, but as Chung stated, "The monorail goes to Race Point. Race Point is a beach. Herring Cove is a beach. Why do you need to go to two beaches?"
Q. Won't the monorail put people who drive for Uber out of work?
A. The town of Provincetown is very concerned about protecting the jobs of Uber drivers, but is confident there will be plenty of demand for trips to and from Herring Cove Beach (see question immediately above).
Q. What are the benefits of the Provincetown Monorail?
A. Visitors driving to Ptown in their cars will park at the new parking structure at the Harbor View Station (Harbor Hotel) and will travel the rest of the way to their B&B or condo rental via monorail, eliminating large numbers of cars from Ptown streets. This will make it easy to establish a "congestion charge", as in Central London, for cars traveling along Bradford Street and Commercial Street (between Province Lands Rd in the West End and Snail Rd in the East End), bringing in increased revenue to town coffers and helping drive passengers to the monorail (from which Provincetown gets royalties on fares). The Monorail also makes it possible for Cape Air to fly 50-passenger aircraft from new destinations, bringing in large numbers incremental visitors. And the monorail will make it so much easier and faster to go from place to place in Ptown. When Happy Hour ends at Victor's in the West End you can hop on a monorail at TLC and be at The Mew's in 5 minutes!
Q. What do businesses by the proposed stations think of the monorail?
A. Take a look at what Sal's Place is doing since they found out they would be at the Restaurants Station!
And Hotties on the T is all aboard the Provincetown Monorail, too!
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