61–70 of 258 posts
It's interesting seeing the ways people work around this, even for people who don't have hard start/end times (e.g. tech employees). I have one friend who uses Citi Bike to get to important meetings I think people who don't live in the city don't realize how (relatively) stressful it can be when the trains are late. Riding the train during peak hours is already a pretty stressful experience: The sardine analogy is ve…
I'm confused as to why the US seems to fail or fall so far behind in infrastructure compared to other developed nations. It seems that we throw money at our problems but seemingly get nowhere. It's sad because there's many amazing things about this country, but we cannot do basic things like make trains run on time.
I'm throwing darts at the wall here, but I think part of the problem is our sprawl and geographic size/car culture. In the typical US city you have the wealthier suburbanites living in separate towns/counties than the city they work in. This segregates the local funding because no one wants to pay for someone else's projects. And state funding doesn't benefit you as directly (e.g. state highway projects) and probably…
Maybe they should have scheduled maintenance closures that reoccur over the same parts of the day every day. Say, 1-5am?. So, it would be a 20hr/day instead of 24hr/day subway, but would be dependable during those 20 hrs.
Maybe they should have scheduled maintenance closures that reoccur over the same parts of the day every day. Say, 1-5am?. So, it would be a 20hr/day instead of 24hr/day subway, but would be dependable during those 20 hrs.
Then how do people get home from the bars? That's my major complaint about BART, that it stops running too early. If I'm out late enough in the city, I can't return to the East Bay easily, so I either end up stressing to get the last train, or end up having to use my car, which has its own stress involved.
I'm confused as to why the US seems to fail or fall so far behind in infrastructure compared to other developed nations. It seems that we throw money at our problems but seemingly get nowhere. It's sad because there's many amazing things about this country, but we cannot do basic things like make trains run on time.
Most transit projects are funded at a state level, but the townies outside of cities vote down every initiative because they "don't want to pay fer those gal-dern city slickers and their fancy jerbs." They're blissfully unaware that the city folk subsidize their entire existence through taxes. At least, that's how it works here in Washington State.
The trains should only run on tracks that are completely enclosed (More control on the environment will realize better reliability, and as an aside nicer living space. Raised tracks are ugly.), Also they should run on rubber wheels like the Montreal metro has since 1966. Both metros should have barrier between platforms and tracks since they know where the doors will open. It's sad but a non-negligible cause of delay…
This only works for environments with one type of rolling stock only. It's not uncommon that you take a ride in a decades-old train (e.g. the oldest trains in the Munich subway hail from 1971, they are expected to run for essentially over 50 years!), switch lines at a station and end up in a train that rolled off the factory line 2 years ago. Each new train generation has, for example, different door widths, door positions, even the number of doors per wagon can change.
It's interesting seeing the ways people work around this, even for people who don't have hard start/end times (e.g. tech employees). I have one friend who uses Citi Bike to get to important meetings I think people who don't live in the city don't realize how (relatively) stressful it can be when the trains are late. Riding the train during peak hours is already a pretty stressful experience: The sardine analogy is ve…
Was also one of the few in the office who lived in Manhattan. Everyone else was either Long Island or Jersey. So when bad weather hit, I had no excuse.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> This matters if you can't afford to live in Manhattan It also matters if you’re catching a regional rail train ( e.g. on the Metro-North or LIRR), which tend to run on time to the minute.
I've just begun commuting into NYC on Amtrak, and it leaves on time to the [i]second[/i]. After years of my commute impacted by subway delays, NJ Transit delays, and an independent ferry service that had its share of problems, Amtrak is really quite refreshing. I had forgotten that things were supposed to be on a schedule! I lived in NYC for 5 years, and had no idea that the subways were on a fixed schedule. I though…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I just work from home most days now because of how bad it has gotten. I had to move back to Queens a few months ago near where I grew up and the trip to SoHo that used to take at most 45 minutes is now 60-90 min. A few times I was stuck on the E for around 2.5 hours. Living in the outer boroughs has become a huge disadvantage.
lol, I can drive from bear mountain to downtown manhattan in 60-90 minutes. Usually that involves finding a carefully chosen parking garage and walking fast, but still quick and painless
They also make for a great homeless shelter because they are one of the longer routes and never go above ground. I've had mornings where the first 4-5 cars where full of sleeping homeless people. It's almost as bad as every other street in SF.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most transit projects are funded at a state level, but the townies outside of cities vote down every initiative because they "don't want to pay fer those gal-dern city slickers and their fancy jerbs." They're blissfully unaware that the city folk subsidize their entire existence through taxes. At least, that's how it works here in Washington State.
People don't talk like that and you're misrepresenting their viewpoints.