Tag Archives: Amtrak

Huh?: “The Many Flavors of Transit”

Article: The Many Flavors of Transit | Transportationist.

So the comments are off on the article and clicking the reblog button did … something (though I know not what) …  The Press This button at the bottom of the article failed too, but the one on my browser did not.

I get the point of the article – transit-oriented doesn’t just mean they have a good subway or a good bus system.  But the list I don’t get.  There are not 33 individual categories on the list!  Click above to the read the article and see the original list.

In fact, you could argue that there are only two categories of transit on the list here:  Scheduled and on-demand.  The first list below shows scheduled services and the second on-demand.  The third list is … I don’t know.  My guess is that some are scheduled and some are on-demand.

Without getting into the mode silos or trivia, there is little difference between PATH subways and MTA subways other than destination.  Likewise for the 3.5 commuter rail lines listed (and Amtrak) or the bus services.  Or the jitneys or the car services …

Two categories.  Not 33.

Scheduled

  • MTA subways
  • PATH subways
  • MTA buses
  • New Jersey Transit buses
  • Metro-North Rail Road
  • Long Island Rail Road
  • New Jersey Transit trains
  • Staten Island Ferry
  • Staten Island Rail Road
  • Commuter ferries (Five licensed operators)
  • Chinatown buses (intercity)
  • Low cost intercity buses (Bolt Bus, Mega Bus)
  • Conventional intercity buses (Greyhound, Peter Pan)
  • Company/corporate shuttles
  • University shuttles (Columbia University, New York University)
  • Roosevelt Island Tram (Gondola)
  • Roosevelt Island Red Bus (Publicly owned development corporation)
  • Amtrak

On-demand

  • Water taxis
  • Access-a-Ride (MTA and other transit provider contracts)
  • Yellow taxicabs (Medallion cabs)
  • Green taxicabs (Boro cabs)
  • Liveries for Hire (Uber, Lyft, Carmel, etc.)
  • Executive Limousines
  • Liveries (informal)
  • CitiBike bike share (public access for a fee)
  • University bike share programs (free access for a designated group)

Could be either – no idea

  • Apartment shuttles (CoSo, etc.)
  • Commuter vans (licensed and pre-arranged fares; e.g. Mario’s Transportation)
  • Dollar vans and local jitneys (informal immigrant services)
  • New Jersey commuter jitneys
  • Long Island commuter jitneys
  • Executive helicopters

$300M for a couple stairways into an old Post Office: “Once more unto the Moynihan Station morass”

Article: Once more unto the Moynihan Station morass :: Second Ave. Sagas.

I’ve said it before, at least once, and I’ll surely say it again:  It’s incredibly expensive to do anything in NYC, and especially, it seems, if it’s transportation related.

Here, The Powers That Be plan to spend $1,000,000,000 turning the old main post office (adjacent to NYC’s Pennsylvania Station for what should be obvious reasons) into what Mr Kabak (author of the story above) calls a new waiting room for Amtrak.  Like the PATH station at the World Trade Center, this project adds no new capacity to the transportation system.  None.

Goodbye La Junta, hello Amarillo: “Amtrak’s Boardman makes whistle stops in Southwest Chief cities”

Article:  Rail News – Amtrak’s Boardman makes whistle stops in Southwest Chief cities. For Railroad Career Professionals.

As much as I’d like to see the train stay on its present route between Newton, Kans, and Albuequerque, NM, I don’t see how this will work.

BNSF is already to the point where they run so little traffic over it that they are content to let the line slowly degrade.  In a way, this is sad because most of this line was once 90-mph territory thanks to the Automatic Train Stop system installed decades ago.  But the 90-mph speed limit is long gone the ATS having been turned off a few years back.  Almost all of BNSF’s traffic now moves through Woodward, Okla, Amarillo, and on to New Mexico via their “Transcon” that runs from Chicago and Los Angeles.

The cities and counties along the route certainly aren’t in a position to upgrade and maintain the line which means the states would have to kick in.  Colorado is willing, but they want the train to detour from its present route to serve Pueblo and that would add a lot of time to an already long end-to-end trip.

“Amtrak disrupted from Fort Worth to San Antonio”

Article: Amtrak disrupted from Fort Worth to San Antonio | Your Commute | News from Fort Worth, D….

 

Thinking of taking the train to San Antonio this summer?  Wait until after September 4 or you’ll be riding a bus.   The Tower 55 project has been a long-time coming so this isn’t a surprise.

I am a little confused as to why Amtrak is suspending service south of Fort Worth, though.  The tower is basically right at the stations used by Amtrak and Trinity Railway Express but surely there is a way to bypass that area and maintain rail service all the way to San Antonio with a bus connection from Dallas to Fort Worth.  I’ll see what I can find out.