[PRCo] Re: New Systems

[Fred Schneider]

Yes, damn it all.   Everything is going to open after I pass through  
this year.   I'll have to content myself with scenery and  
construction photographs.   I've been told that the hysterical  
society in Lethbridge, Alberta has a former Lethbridge trolley in  
front of their building.   And its only a 30+ mile detour going up  
from the east side of Glacier National Park to Calgary.

So the issue is how to afford in 2007:

China

Austria

And everything you named.



On Mar 20, 2006, at 9:24 AM, John Swindler wrote:

>
>
> Speaking of new systems, Fred:
>
> What do you think of light rail in Phoenix???
>
> By the way, first rail was laid earlier this month.
>
> And did you note that LA-MTA awarded a $420 million design-build  
> contract to
> Parsons earlier this month for the Exposition LRT line?  Will  
> extend 8.5
> miles to Culver City.  Isn't this the former Santa Monica Air  
> Liine???  This
> is in addition to East LA light rail line currently under  
> construction.
>
> Denver's Southeast line should open later this year, and approvals and
> funding being lined up for  West Line to Golden.
>
> Seattle LRT line has been under construction for over a year.
>
> Sacramento has first section of LRT line to west under construction.
>
> St. Louis Cross County line has been under construction for couple  
> years.
>
> San Francisco Third St. line has been under construction for couple  
> years.
>
> Hudson Bergan has a couple extensions under construction - one of  
> them is
> for Newark City Subway using a tunnel that the Mayor of Newark  
> didn't know
> existed.
>
> That should keep you occupied traveling for next few years.  (:>)
>
> John
>
>
>> From: Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net>
>> Reply-To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>> Subject: [PRCo] Re: New Systems
>> Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2006 11:30:57 -0500
>>
>> The difference is that 98% of the public use private transit for
>> every trip they take and only 1% to 2% use mass transit for to work
>> trips or any trips during the week or month.   Therefore any highway
>> is perceived as good by a majority.    Even if it means my house will
>> be demolished in the process, most people will think its a good idea
>> that I be evicted or at least they will be blase to the whole process
>> of my eviction.     But I might just be able to muster support to
>> kill a railway if they try to build it through an expensive
>> neighborhood.
>>
>> If I live in Coudersport or Warren or Altoona or Lewistown or Butler
>> and my taxes are used for a railway project in Philly, I might  
>> complain.
>>
>> But if I live there and my taxes are used for highways, I won't
>> complain because someday I want the people in Pittsburgh and
>> Philadelphia to pay to improve my roads.
>>
>> Therefore highways are good, railways are bad.
>>
>> Are we playing good cop, bad cop John?
>>
>>
>> On Mar 17, 2006, at 8:43 AM, John Swindler wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> And how is this "filling a need" different then a lot of highway
>>> projects??
>>>
>>> John
>>>
>>>
>>>> From: Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net>
>>>> Reply-To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>>>> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>>>> Subject: [PRCo] New Systems
>>>> Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 17:10:46 -0500
>>>>
>>>> I think there may have been some new systems that were honestly
>>>> created to fill a transit need and others that were built simply
>>>> because cities A, B and C were getting money and therefore, we too
>>>> must get some of that green folding stuff.   Of course the planning
>>>> documents filed with UMTA for the FTA will never honestly disclose
>>>> the motives.   Therefore we can only go back and look with 20-20
>>>> hindsight at whether or not the project made any sense at all.
>>>>
>>>> PATCO's Lindenwold line made a lot of sense in 1968 and it  
>>>> recovered
>>>> initially about 95% of its operating costs.  It worked because  
>>>> there
>>>> was only one congested bridge into downtown Philadelphia.   Its
>>>> utility has declined because of politically inspired fare increases
>>>> to support non-transit issues in Philadelphia and because of
>>>> declining employment in the city over the last 40 years.    
>>>> Ridership
>>>> peaked at 40,000 and has declined to 32,600 causing PATCO to use
>>>> start up riders of 20,000 to make themselves look good today!
>>>>
>>>> San Diego's initial line was an excellent choice.   The same  
>>>> goes for
>>>> the first Houston line.   I would have trouble panning Calgary when
>>>> you see the share of the riders in the city that use the rail
>>>> system.   One would have a hard time proving that DC's Metro  
>>>> isn't a
>>>> success when you find that they are moving nearly a million  
>>>> riders on
>>>> a typical weekday and are number two in the U. S. to New York City.
>>>> Why are they successful?  Simply because government tends to locate
>>>> all its offices near each other where they can have meetings.  And
>>>> Lobbyists need to be there to tell government types how they  
>>>> want you
>>>> and I to be governed.  They make downtown work.    Outside of New
>>>> York and San Francisco, it is probably the only real downtown in  
>>>> the
>>>> United States.   Maybe we can include Chicago...   Maybe...
>>>>
>>>> For those of you who have no idea how bad DC has gotten:   my  
>>>> friend
>>>> Dick Kotulak (and I think he is on this list) told me two weeks ago
>>>> that his wife will not come home from Norfolk on weekends any  
>>>> longer
>>>> to suburban Virginia.   She waits for a lull in traffic in the  
>>>> midday
>>>> on Monday.   My wife scheduled a Daughters of the American  
>>>> Revolution
>>>> tour from Lancaster, PA to Williamsburg VA and the bus company  
>>>> routed
>>>> it northwest to Harrisburg, then southwest on US 15 through
>>>> Gettysburg to Interstate 64 and then east through Richmond to
>>>> Williamsburg in order to avoid traffic in Washington.   And I'm
>>>> seriously considering the next time I have to go to western North
>>>> Carolina, using the Pennsylvania Turnpike and I-70 to Washington PA
>>>> then I-79 to I-81 to avoid the traffic that backwashes over onto  
>>>> I-81
>>>> north of Roanoke.    Why, because metropolitan Washington's
>>>> population grew by as much as dumping a city of Pittsburgh on it
>>>> since Metro opened.   (You knew I'd get on topic, didn't you.)    
>>>> And
>>>> they're all people dedicated to telling us how to live our lives.
>>>>
>>>> On the other hand, if you asked me to justify Edmonton, Tacoma, San
>>>> Jose, or Los Angeles' Green Line without access to an airport, or
>>>> Buffalo with passenger counts that don't match what I see with  
>>>> my own
>>>> eyes, or Miami with 40,000 people on a double ended line in a Metro
>>>> area the size of Toronto ....   I don't think I really need to
>>>> elaborate, do I.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
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