Tag Archives: rapid transit

“Is a subway from Brooklyn to Queens in NYC’s future?”

Triboro RX – http://ourmta.org

Is a subway from Brooklyn to Queens in NYC’s future? | Crain’s New York Business.

Chicago (Metra) is desperately trying to come up with a way to use the EJ&E’s “Outer Belt” route as a commuter line.  Probably not going to happen.  They (CTA) have another plan for a “Circle Line” connecting all the radial lines that will run under the two major train stations.  That probably won’t get built either.  The CTA has a BRT plan to run a line along Ashland Ave that would do the same (without connecting to the train stations).  That one might happen.

This line, the Regional Plan Association’s Regional Express (Triboro RX), is another circumferential line that would connect a lot of radial lines.  Will it get built?  Will any of the MTA’s capital projects get built?  Well, probably, for the second question but I don’t know if this will be one of them.

“The U.S. Set a Mass Transit Ridership Record in 2014 Despite Declines in Bus Ridership”

The U.S. Set a Mass Transit Ridership Record in 2014 Despite Declines in Bus Ridership – CityLab.

APTA figures show 101.1 million new transit trips across the country from 2013 to 2014. We tally 98.2 million new trips from metropolitan New York alone—or 97 percent of the total. 

Yep.  I’ve hit upon this same theme here, here, and here.  When it comes to public transit in the US, using NYC as an example is meaningless.  It’s just too much of an outlier.

Attitude adjustment: İETT – Tünel

Istanbul TunelLogo

İETT – Tünel.

There is a tendency, I think, to assume that anything not in North America, eastern Asia/Australia, or western Europe is “third world”.  That’s probably never been really true and it’s certainly not true today.  Example: I had no idea that Istanbul (not Constantinople) had a subway, much less that it had the 2nd oldest in the world (1871).  And that it was initially cable-hauled.  The Tünel is still in use but not directly connected to the rest of the modern system

Or that Metro Istanbul had 14,000,000 people.

And yes, it’s an intercontinental metro system

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