4 ms·

Having four different transit systems come into the city is what causes this problem. I think it should work like an airport: your major transit sits outside th

Having four different transit systems come into the city is what causes this problem. I think it should work like an airport: your major transit sits outside the airport, and the airport has a dedicated people mover to bring people into the airport. Keep Amtrak, LIRR, etc outside the city and make them transfer. It will be less efficient but more manageable.

grogenaut 3y ago
the 5 miles (200km) walk from airplane to mass transit is absurd... why is mass transit the furthest thing away from the planes instead of the closest thing? I walked around 3 construction zones at O'hare last year to get to the train.
ahstilde 3y ago
> It will be less efficient but more manageable. so...it'll be worse
nluken 3y ago
Airports work this way because they’re obscenely large. Train stations don't have this issue, especially in NYC where the rail yard is underground. Why would we move the primary intercity train station outside the city when its main advantage over flying is its proximity to the actual city itself? edit: misread the comment at first but edited since the core argument still stands.
- lmm 3y ago
  > Airports work this way because they’re obscenely large. No, US airports work that way because of bizarre bureaucratic funding rules. Sensible airports like Frankfurt or Amsterdam (or even Heathrow) connect directly to the city's ordinary transit network.
  - PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
    And not just the city's ordinary transit network. In Frankfurt (unlike stupid Heathrow) you can get on an intercity train to go a long way from Frankfurt without going into Frankfurt itself and changing at the Hauptbahnhof. It's so fucking sensible it makes me want to cry. Same at CDG and several other European airports (not all though).
    - lmm 3y ago
      Well, it depends. Realistically the vast majority of people arriving at Heathrow are headed for London; if you want to go to Birmingham or Manchester or Paris you fly directly there (and, given how capacity constrained Heathrow already is, planners want to encourage that). Whereas it's quite normal to fly to Frankfurt when you're actually going to Nuremburg or Stuttgart, and so the train connections are set up to support that.
      - ghaff 3y ago
        I suppose if I'm going somewhere smaller like Cambridge--or probably more to the point somewhere to the west like Bath--it's a bit inconvenient to go into probably Paddington. But, really, in a lot of cities you're transiting to different train stations in any case.
        PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
        Bath is my destination 95% of the times I fly into Heathrow (my family lives there). The choices are: 1. underground to London Paddington 2. Heathrow Express to London Paddington 3. bus to Reading to get on intercity train to Bath 4. bus/coach from Terminal 3/4 station to Bath The train to Bristol & Cardiff passes Heathrow just a few miles away, but there is no direct rail connection at all. It's almost as bad as here in New Mexico, where our only state-level railway, connecting Santa Fe and Belen via Albuquerque, fails to go to the Albuquerque airport, which is the destination/origin for so many Santa Fe travellers.
        lmm 3y ago
  - ghaff 3y ago
    Many US airports are at least on newer light rail systems. NYC is probably not uniquely bad but it is worse than a lot of cities in terms of transit accesas from the airports to Manhattan.
jcranmer 3y ago
Three of those transit systems are the people movers into the city.
jonstewart 3y ago
Have you ever taken a train into Penn Station? There are many, many, many awful things about Penn Station, but the utility of taking a northeast corridor AmTrak train into the heart of Manhattan outweighs them all by a factor of 10.
nimbleplum40 3y ago
That would be awful… why have everyone get off of trains outside the city then get on different trains for the final crossing into the city?
midoridensha 3y ago
Here in Tokyo, we have dozens of different transit system operators, and everything works like clockwork without all the problems you have over there. Many stations have multiple operators' train lines at the same station, even. Even better, you use the same stored-value fare card for all of them.

grogenaut 3y ago

the 5 miles (200km) walk from airplane to mass transit is absurd... why is mass transit the furthest thing away from the planes instead of the closest thing? I walked around 3 construction zones at O'hare last year to get to the train.

ahstilde 3y ago

> It will be less efficient but more manageable. so...it'll be worse

nluken 3y ago

Airports work this way because they’re obscenely large. Train stations don't have this issue, especially in NYC where the rail yard is underground. Why would we move the primary intercity train station outside the city when its main advantage over flying is its proximity to the actual city itself? edit: misread the comment at first but edited since the core argument still stands.

lmm 3y ago
> Airports work this way because they’re obscenely large. No, US airports work that way because of bizarre bureaucratic funding rules. Sensible airports like Frankfurt or Amsterdam (or even Heathrow) connect directly to the city's ordinary transit network.
- PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
  And not just the city's ordinary transit network. In Frankfurt (unlike stupid Heathrow) you can get on an intercity train to go a long way from Frankfurt without going into Frankfurt itself and changing at the Hauptbahnhof. It's so fucking sensible it makes me want to cry. Same at CDG and several other European airports (not all though).
  - lmm 3y ago
    Well, it depends. Realistically the vast majority of people arriving at Heathrow are headed for London; if you want to go to Birmingham or Manchester or Paris you fly directly there (and, given how capacity constrained Heathrow already is, planners want to encourage that). Whereas it's quite normal to fly to Frankfurt when you're actually going to Nuremburg or Stuttgart, and so the train connections are set up to support that.
    - ghaff 3y ago
      I suppose if I'm going somewhere smaller like Cambridge--or probably more to the point somewhere to the west like Bath--it's a bit inconvenient to go into probably Paddington. But, really, in a lot of cities you're transiting to different train stations in any case.
      - PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
        Bath is my destination 95% of the times I fly into Heathrow (my family lives there). The choices are: 1. underground to London Paddington 2. Heathrow Express to London Paddington 3. bus to Reading to get on intercity train to Bath 4. bus/coach from Terminal 3/4 station to Bath The train to Bristol & Cardiff passes Heathrow just a few miles away, but there is no direct rail connection at all. It's almost as bad as here in New Mexico, where our only state-level railway, connecting Santa Fe and Belen via Albuquerque, fails to go to the Albuquerque airport, which is the destination/origin for so many Santa Fe travellers.
        lmm 3y ago
- ghaff 3y ago
  Many US airports are at least on newer light rail systems. NYC is probably not uniquely bad but it is worse than a lot of cities in terms of transit accesas from the airports to Manhattan.

jcranmer 3y ago

Three of those transit systems are the people movers into the city.

jonstewart 3y ago

Have you ever taken a train into Penn Station? There are many, many, many awful things about Penn Station, but the utility of taking a northeast corridor AmTrak train into the heart of Manhattan outweighs them all by a factor of 10.

nimbleplum40 3y ago

That would be awful… why have everyone get off of trains outside the city then get on different trains for the final crossing into the city?

midoridensha 3y ago

Here in Tokyo, we have dozens of different transit system operators, and everything works like clockwork without all the problems you have over there. Many stations have multiple operators' train lines at the same station, even. Even better, you use the same stored-value fare card for all of them.