Trolley System

* See also Transportation_Systems
* See also Trolley_System#Caricature
* See also Real_Trolleys_and_Subs_and_Trains
* See also Tunnels and Viaducts
The MMORPG, to have a comprehensive Transit System, requires the Trolley Tracks to reach most locations ( Bathyspheres themselves being too limited by themselves ). That would require minimum modification Construction changes to the City layout to be made when the METRO superseded the Atlantic Express as was detailed in the BS2 story. That implies most of the Track paths already being part of the initial (or early modification to) the City design. Note - The AE itself was insufficient to be the only early transit in the city.
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Pix from Trolley in Red Dead Redemption 2
A Streetcar Named 'Somethingorother' A play NOT written by Tennessee Williams :
Advantage of a Trolley/Tram system - Lots of stops are possible along the routes, not the just some (necessitated) heavy-weight extensive/complex Stations required for the 'Bathyspheres', ( similarly big/costly for the AE Train system - required for their In-Sea operations ). Trolley Stops can be anywhere along the tracks ( because they run inside - pressure protected ), and each Stop takes very little operational time. People get off and on, and then the vehicle is on its way again. With those other systems (Bathyspheres/Atlantic Express), you have to wait for the big Airlocks to cycle - Both coming and going - a significant delay.
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Rapture Metro - Transit for the Common Man :
The Metro System must have been considered early in Rapture's construction for the interconnecting 'Streets' to be designed with Trolley tracks included ( and possibly as several separate 'local' Trolley companies ). Some Trolley tracks may have been able to be retrofitted into some 'streets' and some new construction to expand/consolidate the system. The Atlantic Express simply was not flexible/extensive/convenience enough to serve most of the city's transportation needs. After Kincaide bought out the smaller lines, a comprehensive integrated Citywide system was able to serve the city efficiently and to drive the AE out of most of its city passenger business. The Bathyspheres were largely inconsequential due to their limited capacity and premium expense.
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MMORPG Corrected Trolley System Details :
* Double track system trolley tracks ( one each direction ) are part of the Street Grid and are the primary Mass Transit system to optimize traffic flow during peak periods (Rush Hour).
* The grid has numerous lines running parallel and perpendicular to each other across the city ( intersecting at the 'hubs' )
* Those Game-seen Trolleys could carry only about 12 people, more realistic larger cars could harry at least double that . ( Multiple cars 'trains' can be run during high traffic periods. )
* Trolley Car size was kept small to negotiate tight corners and to minimize chance/results of getting stuck in Street Pressure Safety Doors. Less caricature-like trolleys would be created for the MMORPG.
* Trolley Freight units can move larger machinery and bulk material ( scheduled at night to avoid day traffic )
* Trolley system had many 'siding' tracks into buildings/factories for those with frequent freight deliveries.
* Trolley barns/repair facilities are in various locations (decentralized)
* Trolleys might eventually have no operators, and could be largely an automatic system. Currently (MMORPG) they have motormen operators because much of the automatic system is still damaged.
* Automation/automatic in the New Rapture 'Core Loop' has been restored ( with hopes of expanding the restoration further ).
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Reasons Why the Trolley System Would Be The Main Transit System In Rapture :
Flexibility - AE Trains - 90 ton behemoths ( built with thick metal to withstand the water pressure ) when the Trolleys don't go into the water, and don't need to seal up like a submarine ( or worse -- to seal up constantly within seconds, and safely, over and over ). Power probably is not a limitation, but less machinery is required to drive something that weighs a fraction of the 'swimming-safes' the Bathyspheres, Trains, Submarines HAVE to be to be utterly safe.
Trolley Inexpensive and Less overhead :
* AE Trains and Bathyspheres have complex Station facilities ( and need fueling/charging mechanisms )
* Trolley costs less per customer carried. 'Inside-Rapture' Car mechanisms are simpler and less expensive to buy and maintain/operate.
* Are easier to repair with less potential of fatalities if something goes wrong.
* Bathyspheres have too much operational overhead. They are NOT like cars/autos, as they require extensive facilities/infrastructure to operate them. 
Trolleys can move/accelerate faster (no water resistance), having Less delays - With Quicker more frequent stops ( AE trains are like a Subway, Trolleys are like Buses. ) The Trolley has no Airlocks to wait to go in and out of the water (cycling delays), and can have Station stops at any point along its length.
All of the above - less expensive overhead to operate ( even as a city service (Metro), lower costs means more/larger system for Citizens to use -- more utility )
Trains are too heavyweight and run infrequently which is more suited to longer distance travel like the AE lines that connect to the communities outside Rapture.
A visible Example is : the Multiplayer Apartment's Bathysphere systemry ( only a fraction of which you actually see ), which is much larger than the apartment, and that one 'hole' is supposed to serve a group of apartments. There is no obvious place to park/garage multiple Subs ( and unless they all operate as Taxis, there HAS to be places to park individually owned ones -- at both ends of every trip - you cannot leave that dock/hole blocked to other traffic ).
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Metro Trolley System : 
Anton Kinkaide consolidated Raptures various Trolley system into one. Many small local Trolley routes had been built, but some were ineffectively run. So, as often happens, smaller struggling companies are bought out by a large one, building a larger better connected system, and redundancies are eliminated, equipment is standardized, and economy of scale increases efficiency. A system was built up that did a better job moving passengers around Rapture, so that it 'outcompeted' the Atlantic Express, which was not as flexible or cost effective. The Bathyspehere system, though integrated into the 'Metro Transit', was too 'high end' for the majority of the daily passengers who routinely criss-crossed Rapture, going to work or shopping or to school ( or making deliveries ).
In Rapture, there were no real roads (or hardly any such significant system) for automobiles - which were the primary surface world transport element, which along with buses, which drove many of the Real World Trolley systems out of business.
Those Toonerville Trolleyhttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027123/ caricature cars ( we saw in BioShock 1 ) could be some of the equipment from the earlier independent routes, and had been retained/kept operating for heavy Rush hour traffic and special extra traffic events ( like Football games at the Stadium, or various Fair events ). We see these old Trolley cars in BS1 having been put back into service after newer Metro equipment had been damaged or destroyed by the 'civil war' fighting/terrorism.
Note : as mentioned before, the Trolleys shown in BS1 were a laughable misrepresentation caricature of what the system would HAVE TO BE in Rapture. I've presented elsewhere what they would really be more like for the MMORPG.
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Consolidated Trolley System With CableCars
Some of the short routes were Cablecar systems (simplest when its a single car (or pair) shuttling back and forth between 2 sites AND an exposed cable doesn't require the VERY EXPENSIVE things Open-Air Cable Cars in the Real World required). Particularly useful if there was a steep grade involved which standard trolleys have problems climbing. 
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Consolidation of the Trolley System (Metro) :
Slowdown of city construction caused excess capacity and lowered expenses, which was an opportunity to obtain 'distressed businesses cheap and to also do new construction cheap.
The Trolleys only move through Rapture's Sea-level atmosphere interiors ('RSP' - Rapture Standard Pressure), so Tunnels/Viaducts had to be constructed to allow that travel method to operate. They did not require the huge AE/Bathysphere stations and all their complicated/expensive equipment/machinery/facilities/installations. The Trolleys/Trams, because they did not have to go out into the water, used much simpler mechanisms, and eliminated the delays of waiting for airlocks to cycle ( done twice each stop ). Small local preexisting Trolley businesses were consolidated, offering better and more regular connectivity to the customers. New city expansions (ie - suburbs) were added as Rapture's population slowly increased. They would have the new efficient system built-in. Additional 'Streets' sections of Rapture were expanded along the Trolley extensions. Expanded freight shipping via Trolley added to the businesses income.
Given a little more time, the public Bathyspheres component of the Metro (Rapture Transit) itself would be phased out, as ridership fell because of its high expense ( overhead of all those complex systems and limited capacity ) and inflexibility.
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Other track. Near Olympus Heights end of Apollo Square Trolley tracks - looks like a blocked continuation beyond (better than those ridiculous (caricature) 300 - 400 ft of tracks depicted in BS1).
Other tracks have bumpers at their ends. That hole in the building structure ( covered/blocked by corrugated metal ) is large enough to let the Trolley cars through.
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The Power Pickup -Trolley Poles or Slot in the Street ?? :
Real Trolleys run off Suspended Wire OR on power Rails in Slots below the track. Electricity IS dangerous, but solutions were found Real World to operate in all kinds of weather.
Certainly NO to exposed "Third Rail" ( extreme electrical hazard ). Those in Real World were only used where there was no chance of pedestrian contact to the high voltage. Rapture Streets would have trolley tracks in their centers - so that would have a pedestrian hazard if Third Rail.
NYC had lots of outdoors Trolleys with Slots in the 1930s - So such 'Slots' could handled rain and snow and miscellaneous other 'street' refuse issues ( had to warn people to keep them from Sticking their Umbrellas down into the Slot and getting Electrocuted ). They apparently had the water problem solved, and you aren't going to be running them with the place covered in water anyway.
A 'Slot' requires less overall trackway height ( poles have to extend ABOVE the cars ) for all the 'tunnels' ( Shorter = less massive/less to build, expense ), and the Portal openings ( particularly to cut down the size of all the already massive Emergency Bulkheads and Airlocks ) and floors within buildings at Stations.
Slots have some advantages but to work safely stick far below the track and complicate the track structure (and have to have many access hatches for maintenance ( which requires larger portal/tunnel sizing ). So NOT Overhead Wire. AND Pantograph Wire pickups are for more heavyweight type electric Trolley/Trains ( and use even more substantial wire rigging ).
The Logical Alternative would be a suspended 'rail' ( Electrical 'pickup' Rail immediately above ) - Safely out of reach of 'ground pounders' also utilizing the track space as well as semi-wet environments. That fits the more 'closed in' nature of the Trolley within the 'building' of the Rapture interior spaces ( where there are walls/posts/pillars to support the 'rail' ). Suspension of these rails in the 'Streets' profile would be well away from overhead balconies/pedestrian walkways.
There would be Safety Fenders on Trolleys to scoop up pedestrians stupid enough to fall in front of them ( existing on Trolleys for many decades before Rapture --- like by more than half a century ).
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MMORPG Map of Rapture and its transport systems
On my Rapture map the Solid Black lines are 'Streets' - somewhat like the viaduct ( seen in the pictures further above), except that several-story buildings line one or both side of a track/pair of Trolley tracks down the center. You can see that the trolley system links most of the city ( which it would have to do to be effective ). The AE system ( Black dotted lines ) is less effective in going everywhere ( and required other connections for citizens to get around ). The Bathysphere Network ( Yellow lines ) connect many places, but at a premium price - above what the majority of Raptures citizens could pay for commuting.
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Some of the Tram (Rapture Metro Trolley) stations in Rapture might have looked like this. The advantage of an all inside system was NOT having to go through 2 airlocks every stop (a real time waster). The consolidated Trolley System would have been more influential in 'bankrupting' the AE Passenger service than the game-mentioned expensive/inconvenient Bathysphere system, or some alleged increase in use of similarly very-expensive 'Private' Submarines. ( Artists create Fantasy -- When Rapture DID NOT run on Fantasy ).
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Old Style :
New (corrected) Style :
This should probably have 'sideboards' down to near track level to prevent accidents with pedestrians getting under the wheels.
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==Technology :==
Electric trams that don't have to go through water ( overhead wires had only been used for 50 years in the real world so had been pretty much perfected ).
No need for battery ( AE Trains probably needed those )
The 'street' level they run along can be 'flush' and double used for other transportation ( bicycles, walking path )
Automatic systems could be done later ( McClendon electronics ). Originally the trams would have an operator.
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One Advantage the Metro Trolley System Had : 
Trolleys usually run directly on electricity on their track ( whereas the AE had to use self-contained power units, which had to operate under water - probably batteries ). The Trolleys also did not require any sophisticated air systems ( nor maintain "hull integrity" ) as they never were 'outside' Rapture's pressurized interior spaces.
So the Trolleys would be simpler vehicles to maintain and operate ( beside their allowing easier/faster passenger stops ). That's a significant factor in a City where the transportation being 'subsidized' would NOT happen ( with tax-payer money - as just about EVERY public transport in the World is ).
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The Rack (mechanism) :
With depth differences between parts of Rapture, connecting some parts of the Trolley system might incorporate a 'Rack' (drive gear & toothed rail) system ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rack_railway ) to allow navigating some very steep track sections, where wheel adhesion is insufficient to propel the Trolley cars. This would be cheaper than having additional/longer ( and more expensive ) lengths of Track/ Tunnels/Viaducts, which would otherwise be required to operate with a milder/flatter (adhesion-only) grade.
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== Commentary ==
This is where that strange/pitiful in-game Tram design came from - recycling some concept art.
Note - that 4-wheel cars like these here tend to dodge side-to-side ( it is Physics and no magic will fix it ) giving a fairly rough ride. 
There is really Not Much to a typical Trolley Station. Track flush with a pavement surface ( allowing other traffic on the street ). Minimal stopping time is REQUIRED for frequent 'stops' ( actually can stop anywhere on its path ). The AE (in comparison) was more like a Subway System.
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Automatic Running Of Trolleys :
Added in Early 1950s by McClendon Robotics ( Part of the Rapture Transit Consolidation ) 
* Earlier Trolley versions had a human operator ( as seen in the design of the older abandoned ones in Apollo Square area ) - these would have a "Deadman's Switch" safety device. Labor is a major expense in operating the Trolleys.
* Trolleys equipped with radio for Train Orders
* Fare Collection ( Nothing is 'Free' in Rapture ) - with Access to Station as seen for 'Metro' in BS1
* Signal Controller ( Track Occupation Detection systems already well developed in Real World ) - Signal Light indicators for 'blocks' (later including repeater in cab)
* Central Traffic Control (CTC) controlling system-wise routings ( remote controls of switches )
* Automatic Stop, early with shoe trips, but later with radio transmitters/receivers to communicate to the Trolley.
* Track Scanner for obstruction Auto-Braking ( same Sonic echo & Proximity Radar system later used on Flybots )
* CTCCTC - Centralized Train Control - on Real Railroads this was a centrally coordinated system giving trains orders to move, instead of actually directly controlling them - Done with one or more operators - NOT automatic. upgraded with computer routing system ( early Realtime use for computers )
* The Old Safety Device that scoops a pedestrian from going under the wheels
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Similar systems on Bathyspheres (On Cables) and Mk2 Atlantic Express
Sorry no fully Automatic running of : Bathyspheres, or Trolleys, or Atlantic Express Trains BY The Thinker (or anything else). Communications links are too problematic for the required SAFETY, or for some 'magical 'Auto-piloting' -- no matter how smart the central computer is. Even the Flybots in Rapture were largely operator controlled/directed ( and they did not carry passengers to endanger ). 
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That Brass Decorative Portal on the Trolleys(Trams) ? :
Trolleys in BS1 look like they were decorated to look similar to the Bathyspheres ( brass trim, lights, that odd circular porthole doorway ). The 'Metro' style was an attempt by Anton Kinkaide to unify the transit system in people's minds, versus the disorganized set of local systems which existed previously, before the city-wide consolidation (1952 - 1953). Equipment was standardized ( including automation ), routes were better organized and cross-linked and expanded, long distance connections created to improve utility to Rapture's Citizens ( and the systems paying customers ). The Bathyspheres have the prestige, but it is the Trolleys that carry the vast majority of the transit customers to where they need to go.
As mentioned before, Rapture's Trolley system would have been hundreds of times more extensive than that feeble view we had of the few blocks-long non-connecting routes around Olympus Heights. In the time of BS:Infinite (real-world 1893 - 1912), every little town in America had its new shiny Trolley system -- which was several times larger than the caricature Prop things we saw in our trip through Rapture.
"This city is not built with concrete and steel ... it is built with ideas !" - Anton Kinkaide, Founder, Rapture Metro
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 "Private Trolleycar Craze" :
Some rich/influential people might as well have private Trolley cars. The tracks criss-cross Rapture and go to most important places. They would be far cheaper than private 'Bathyspheres' ( that huge cost of the 'dock' facilities those required ), and there's yet more room and comfort possible inside of a Trolley car, and THEY ARE not any slower to get around Rapture.
Suchong would have his own Trolleycar : "Suchong Rather Serve Kimchi to Ravenously Polar Bear Than Go In Ocean In Round Metal Coffin ..." ( See Suchong's Residence in Mercury Suites. )
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Modern Trolleys for Rapture :
Look at the pictures of the "Pacific Electric" Trolley cars from "LA Noire" ( a game circa 1947, though the PCC design is actually from the mid 1930s ) to see what a proper Trolley car should look like in Rapture. 
The pre-consolidation 'old' cars ( Seen in BS1 near Apollo_Square/Olympus_Heights ) reflect a design more representative of 1900. Thepost-consolidation version of my correction reflects the later 1930s improved designs, with larger Passenger Capacity for a City-sized transit system ( 28 new, vs ~18 old ), with minimized fancy details, and maximizes interior capacity, done without changing external size profiles ( done to fit the existing company's track curves and Tunnel passages ). Two units would be joined back to back to double capacity, and be able to reverse direction without turning loops, when required.
The Trolley system in the Rapture:Reborn MMORPG would be far more than a few incidental game 'Props' - Rather a working system the Players would use to move about Rapture.
NOTE - my newer (*design) Trolleys actually have a convenient item called "Seats" ...
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"To The Tram" ( Seen in 'Burial At Sea' Preview )
1958 - this would not have been the Atlantic Express "To the Trains" we saw in BS2, but most likely the Metro Trolley system, which as I've mentioned before should have been an extensive system ( versus having taxi-like Bathyspheres ), and NOT that pathetic/illogical 'trolley' representation/caricature they showed in BS1 around Olympus Heights and Apollo Square ((( See my amended/extensions of those game 'level' maps ))).
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==Caricature==
Rapture Metro Trolley back Before ...
Rapture Metro Trolley looking better (retouched pix) before that 'civil war'. Perhaps this odd thing might be justified as a Freight Unit -- used when newer units had been all wrecked. It would be older pre-consolidation model, which had been relegated to delivering freight around the city. It is type of wasteful styling was actually 'out' by the turn of the century (1900), when maximizing interior space/capacity was more important ( I think it really should have had an Art Deco Streamlined look for Rapture ... )
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Those Weird Looking Metro Trolleys in BS1 :
They looked just wrong to me from the start. Too small, too narrow, no seats, those weird porthole doors ( if that's what they were, as they open onto the platforms ) that must've had people tripping on them daily. It was really just a static prop - a secondary detail made by the level designer.
A Justification Idea occurred to me : The Trolley Cars we see may have been old freight units pressed into service AFTER various damage done to the system by Atlas and the fighting. No seats inside - space is for freight, and the big opening out the back for loading longer freight items - being used often as the main loading door ( those porthole shaped things would make it rather clumsy ).
See the of what the real cars should have looked more like (below).
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Those Weird Trams in Rapture ( Designed Only to be Wreckage Props ) :
Wasteful design ( looks like its attempting to look like a bathysphere ) limits capacity ( can barely hold any passengers - that inside doesn't even have seats because they would show how ridiculously small that interior is. ) Crowds of passengers would want a ride in Rush Hour, and any 'artsy' look would be wasted when they are tired of waiting and have to wait for yet another one because these things don't fit even a modest number of people. The door arrangement is particularly bizarre ( great for breaking ankles ). Any common boxy semi-streamlined tram shape from the 3 decades before 1950 would have been adequate and superior to this.
Almost enough effort seems to have been expended on making this Game Asset ( seats and control stand, and actual doors ). It just needed a proper design ( and looking at the internet should have easily solved that ). All seems fairly clueless.
By 1960 in Rapture anything like this (if ever built) would have been discarded or rebuilt into what was needed, instead of whatever this poor thing is. Maybe if use of the Tram had been part of the games 'path' ( actually was shown going somewhere ) it might not have been made looking so strange and mis-designed.
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Trolley (Apollo Square) ( A Streetcar Named "Despair" ??? )
Those Wheels are far too large ( the game Developers look to have copied some modern freight trucks - with roller bearings and huge springs ). The wheels/trucks should be much smaller. The weight they support isn't that great, and it would allow the car to be closer to the ground (easier to get aboard). Lowered, it would be more stable ( the trolley car should be wider anyway to increase its inside volume ). Real World cars of that short a length often only had 2 axles - 4 wheels (no trucks) which allowed much simpler construction.
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Why Do Those 'Trolley' Things (BS1) Look Like Something From The 1880s ? :
Those brass handrails wrapped around the carbody held no function other than decorative ( and don't seem to be stylized to be like Bathyspheres -- like some of the other decorative/shape features were ). Those brass things went away in modern Trolleys 30 years previous to Rapture (in the 1920s). Later trolleys had their interior spaces maximized instead. MY new designs offer much more spacious seating, and can hold far more passengers to minimize 'strap-hanging' and passengers having to wait for the next non-full Trolley. 
The story would be : Anton Kinkaide consolidated various local Trolley companies and standardized their equipment ( we may have seen old equipment in the Olympus Heights/Apollo Square levels which had to be brought out when more modern units were damaged/destroyed by the 'civil war' fighting/terrorism ( these certainly were located close enough to the initial center of Atlas's destructive operations ... )
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Those Pathetic Trolley Trams Should Have Had a Control Stand :
Those weird old Trolley's ( seen usually wrecked/on fire ) decoration was an attempt to make them resemble the Bathyspheres. So it would have been a no-brainer to have the same or similar Control Stand there in the front as the Bathyspheres had. Consider : with Chaos happening in the City, any 'automatic' control would be the first thing to start failing ... Thus requiring reverting to manual control by an operator. We already had the Bathysphere control stand model, SO just stick it there in the front ... 
No seating in any of those weird old trolley cars ???? They were so ridiculously tiny inside, so you wouldn't have room to stand in the game if there were ( Again, a it is a secondary prop - Looking like it was quickly thrown together and with little investigation of what a real/proper Trolley Car should look like ).
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City scene (LA) showing how Trolleys (tracks) in a decent-sized system can be laid out.
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BioShock 1 view of wrecked/abandoned Trolley Cars ( compare this to Trolley_System#Caricature cleaned up version ). Amazing, the lights are still on ...
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Pictured : Los Angeles 1929 street running trolleys were integral to the city's transportation. Rapture had no equivalent to automobiles, so thus why I would have Rapture designed with an EXTENSIVE Trolley system. Raptures 'Streets' of course are more compact/narrow ( and probably would have mostly single track to save space ).
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More Recent Games Quality :
These being circa 1900 in "Red Dead Redemption 2" (2019) - Making the BS1 Trolleys seem absurd, as well as highlighting the lack of any logical system in Infinite BS.
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diagram
Trolley Poles or Slot in the Street (Power Pickup) ?? :
New York City had lots of Trolleys with slots in the 1930s - So that could handled rain and snow and misc other outdoor 'Street' issues/conditions ( They had to warn people from sticking their umbrellas down into the slot and getting electrocuted ). They apparently had the water problem solved, and in Rapture you aren't going to be running them with the place covered in water anyway.
A Slot requires less overall height ( poles being extend ABOVE the cars ) for all the 'Tunnels' ( shorter = less massive/less to build, less expense ), and the Portal openings ( particularly to cut down the size of the already massive Emergency Bulkheads ), and of floors within buildings at Stations.
So Slots would have advantages and should be the common solution for the Trolley Lines running in the 'Streets' of Rapture.
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