Passengers escape Madison Ave. trolley fire – Action News 5 – Memphis, Tennessee | Car Free Memphis

These old trolleys should have never come online. One can hardly board them if they are elderly and/or disabled, or if they have bags of groceries in their hands. These trolleys are extremely noisy, almost deafening. They hardly serve any practical purpose at all. Memphis nor the Downtown Area is hardly car-free friendly. There are far too many obstacles to dodge downtown, along with those trolley rails people have to cross over. A bike rider almost has to slow it down to the same speed of a walker these days, even get off the bike and push it due to all the bumps, one must endure. I remember when we all bicycled right down the center of Main Street; it was as smooth as silk without these trolley rails in the way. Today, only extreme caution allows one to cross over these rails or they will flip their bike over — I strongly suggest, then, that no one, and I mean no one, attempt to navigate any Memphis City street, main street or the Madison Trolley line with thin race bike tires. Only use a mountain bike with mountain bike tires and super heavy-duty rims. You may give up speed, but you will gain stability and can carry a lot of extra weight with much fatter or wider bike tires and the shocks will keep you from enduring every bump that you are bound to hit here in Memphis, Tennessee. Oh, and don’t put your new expensive bike on the front rack of a MATA bus; it will likely bounce off and get crushed by the bus. These buses, some of them, are as ragged as old slave ships; riding on one may make you seasick, especially if the air conditioning is not on and with windows bolted shut.







Passengers escape Madison Ave. trolley fire – Action News 5 – Memphis, Tennessee | Car Free Memphis