5 ms·

Better commuter rail/light rail is desirable. On the other hand, a commute is still a commute. I'm actually quite convenient to a commuter rail station that tie

by kiba 3y ago

Better commuter rail/light rail is desirable. On the other hand, a commute is still a commute. I'm actually quite convenient to a commuter rail station that ties into the city's subway quite well. But I pretty much hate commuting into the city on the few days I have to do it because it still takes a big chunk out of my day. If the speed isn't actually fast, then transportation needs to be improved.

ghaff 3y ago
I'm about 45 miles outside of the city. Once you have 15 stops or so I'm not sure how much you can improve things?
- kiba 3y ago
  I'm about 45 miles outside of the city. Once you have 15 stops or so I'm not sure how much you can improve things? Express train line, which means fewer stops or no stops at all between destination. There's probably various inefficiencies such as infrequent service and slowdown of the train due to track issue. For me, it's the issue of the train not being local to where I live, and infrequency of service, which means I could be waiting up to 20 minutes for the train to arrive in some cases. Stops are not as unbearable for me which felt like a minute or shorter for each stop.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    My train line eliminated semi-express service during the pandemic and it's still very clearly much below pre-pandemic ridership. The transit service did make improvements a number of years back but it's still clearly operating well below economic breakeven. (Which may be OK.) The station is fairly convenient to me to go in for morning rush hour. It's unusable for an evening event. The train is basically empty if I even take it at the tail-end of rush hour. And trains are understandably infrequenty scheduled outside of rush.
    - presentation 3y ago
      Transit demand has a chicken and egg problem, in that demand will increase if the service quality is high but in a place like yours the service quality is low so demand remains low. I don’t think this improvement can happen without a clear vision and integrated plan for achieving it, initial low metrics be damned.
      - ghaff 3y ago
        It's hard to make commuter rail work outside of commuting hours beyond a few locations like Manhattan that are so painful and expensive to drive in and park. I'd have trouble justifying subsidizing every off-hour rider with a $100 bill given there are trains; it just will probably take you 2 or 3x the time relative to driving if you want to head home after a play or a dinner.
        presentation 3y ago
        Tell that to every small city in the world not in the USA that has a commuter rail system, there are too many to count but Americans think it’s an impossibility anyway.
- shiroiushi 3y ago
  An easy way to improve things is to simply move closer. 72km is a really long way to commute; you need long-distance train service for that, and that's always going to be expensive, or slow, take your pick.
  - marcosdumay 3y ago
    That's technically true. But it denies the entire point of the discussion up to here. The GP isn't replying to people interested in making his particular commute better.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    Why should I? No desire to drive into the city all the time. Most of the time I haven't been working in the city. Happy to be living on 5 acres or so. These days, only go into the city about once a month. When I did commute semi-regularly there were regulars going into the city though I only did so a couple days a week; wouldn't have been sustainable.
    - shiroiushi 3y ago
      Then why are you complaining about the commute time?
      - ghaff 3y ago
        I didn't think I was complaining. Just, like lots of people, it takes a while to get in by whatever transportation mode so I don't do it often. The greater metro area around where I live has far more jobs in many areas than the city itself does. I'm not sure there were any sizable tech-industry companies in the city proper for a long time although there are more now. I was mostly responding to a comment way upthread somewhere that, even with a fairly good public transit system, going into a city can take a fair bit of time if you have to use multiple modes of transportation. So the answers are pretty suck it up, move closer, or don't go into the city much.
        shiroiushi 3y ago

by kiba 3y ago

ghaff 3y ago

I'm about 45 miles outside of the city. Once you have 15 stops or so I'm not sure how much you can improve things?

kiba 3y ago
I'm about 45 miles outside of the city. Once you have 15 stops or so I'm not sure how much you can improve things? Express train line, which means fewer stops or no stops at all between destination. There's probably various inefficiencies such as infrequent service and slowdown of the train due to track issue. For me, it's the issue of the train not being local to where I live, and infrequency of service, which means I could be waiting up to 20 minutes for the train to arrive in some cases. Stops are not as unbearable for me which felt like a minute or shorter for each stop.
- ghaff 3y ago
  My train line eliminated semi-express service during the pandemic and it's still very clearly much below pre-pandemic ridership. The transit service did make improvements a number of years back but it's still clearly operating well below economic breakeven. (Which may be OK.) The station is fairly convenient to me to go in for morning rush hour. It's unusable for an evening event. The train is basically empty if I even take it at the tail-end of rush hour. And trains are understandably infrequenty scheduled outside of rush.
  - presentation 3y ago
    Transit demand has a chicken and egg problem, in that demand will increase if the service quality is high but in a place like yours the service quality is low so demand remains low. I don’t think this improvement can happen without a clear vision and integrated plan for achieving it, initial low metrics be damned.
    - ghaff 3y ago
      It's hard to make commuter rail work outside of commuting hours beyond a few locations like Manhattan that are so painful and expensive to drive in and park. I'd have trouble justifying subsidizing every off-hour rider with a $100 bill given there are trains; it just will probably take you 2 or 3x the time relative to driving if you want to head home after a play or a dinner.
      - presentation 3y ago
        Tell that to every small city in the world not in the USA that has a commuter rail system, there are too many to count but Americans think it’s an impossibility anyway.
shiroiushi 3y ago
An easy way to improve things is to simply move closer. 72km is a really long way to commute; you need long-distance train service for that, and that's always going to be expensive, or slow, take your pick.
- marcosdumay 3y ago
  That's technically true. But it denies the entire point of the discussion up to here. The GP isn't replying to people interested in making his particular commute better.
- ghaff 3y ago
  Why should I? No desire to drive into the city all the time. Most of the time I haven't been working in the city. Happy to be living on 5 acres or so. These days, only go into the city about once a month. When I did commute semi-regularly there were regulars going into the city though I only did so a couple days a week; wouldn't have been sustainable.
  - shiroiushi 3y ago
    Then why are you complaining about the commute time?
    - ghaff 3y ago
      I didn't think I was complaining. Just, like lots of people, it takes a while to get in by whatever transportation mode so I don't do it often. The greater metro area around where I live has far more jobs in many areas than the city itself does. I'm not sure there were any sizable tech-industry companies in the city proper for a long time although there are more now. I was mostly responding to a comment way upthread somewhere that, even with a fairly good public transit system, going into a city can take a fair bit of time if you have to use multiple modes of transportation. So the answers are pretty suck it up, move closer, or don't go into the city much.
      - shiroiushi 3y ago