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The comparison of the Dollywood Express ridership to statewide railways is pretty unfair. The Dollywood Express is not really transportation, it's an amusement
by lisper 1y ago
The comparison of the Dollywood Express ridership to statewide railways is pretty unfair. The Dollywood Express is not really transportation, it's an amusement park ride, more comparable to the Disney Railway than Amtrack, and I'm pretty sure more people ride the Disney Railway than the Dollywood Express. The economics of amusement park rides and actual transportation systems are radically different. (Actually, the Disney Monorail(s) would be a more apt comparison because it actually serves as transportation!)
- eesmith 1y agoThe author both points that out, and links to his essay "How Disney Became One of the Largest Transit Agencies in North America' (What Does a Theme Park Operating the 10th Largest Transit Agency in the U.S. Say About Us?)" at https://thetransitguy.substack.com/p/how-disney-became-one-of-the-largest https://thetransitguy.substack.com/p/how-disney-became-one-o...
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- larusso 1y agoI think it doesn’t matter. The point is that more people drive daily with these trains than most people in other states their respected train lines. It’s just shows that the US has nearly no train infrastructure when a theme park train has more ridership than most states. Granted this is by design because the US over prioritized the highway system over a train transit system. There is a new video from Daniel Steiner who usually explains the origin of cities via maps did a take on the US highway system https://youtu.be/Sr2F4OZSETE?si=fh628Gb3RzhpLpYo https://youtu.be/Sr2F4OZSETE?si=fh628Gb3RzhpLpYo