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Why would a ferry be counted towards the numbers when its not commuter rail ?
because its used by the same sort of people (workers who live 10-25 miles by road) from the city. Its a commuter service not a intra-city transit option.
and in any case if you add NJ transit to Phillys numbers, the difference is about 2,000 out of 5,000,000 people so its really quite negligible.
probably, but i remember reading about one instance where a tourist fell inside the tracks of the redline while holding her baby and people had to pull her up.
fair though that is just SEPTA and doesnt include any NJT rail into Philly either, though daily ridership is rather paltry on that line with 3K per day
rather than getting cought up in 1K her or 1K there both are pretty widely used and both could be better.
It seems Boston i looking at the through routing which would be a big boost. Philly has this now but will say I believe is sadly under-used bsed on the coverage. The current form could easily handle a 50% increase in riders with no additional infrastructure. Philly does not have the same core demand in terms of number of jobs when compared to Boston. Not sure how close to cpacity Boston RR is as really have no experience with it like I have had with the Green lines and subway there. It seems pretty similar and based on the ridership its very close either way
Yea, making that tunnel with the new Central Station (and link to the Blue Line) in Boston while electrifying a couple/few of the more heavily trafficked commuter rail lines would probably do wonders for Boston's mass transit especially if some of the combined through-running lines allowed for new commuting patterns and ran with such increased frequency that it can be an effective S-Bahn.
I think one of the issues with RR in Philadelphia becoming a S-Bahn is that the lines themselves kind of run in odd loops coming in and out of Center City (where the lines come in from either the west or the north) rather than fairly straightforward lines whereas Boston's commuter rail would benefit from much more effective potential service patterns if it were to establish a S-Bahn kind of service.
Muni is like a bad joke and in some cases down right dangerous.
You will see the second coming of Jesus himself before Muni runs on schedule.
I remember asking a driver which bus I needed to transfer to, to get to GGPark.
I kid you not, I got a full on reply in Mandarin. I thought how can a transit system function well if the drivers can't speak much if any English? Than I realized, oh it doesn't function well. People just seem to deal with it. And if you complain, well than you're a transplant who should go back where they came from, according to some "natives".
Bart is even worse, if you can believe it. The computer system makes trains slow down at random points and the authorities, programmers and what have yous have no idea why. There is no service out of SF late at night. Some of the cars do not have working Air Conditioning. SF to Richmond and SF to Fremont lines stop running in the evening.
They don't have enough cars for passengers during commute hours on lines like the Dublin/Pleasanton, to the point that you feel like you are getting crammed into a cattle car. They have distance based fares, which of course makes for an insanely expensive ride. Half the stations don't have enough parking spaces, and they usually charge money to use them before 4pm.
And worst of all it is absolutely filthy. I broke the story on city data a while back in this thread
San Francisco's climate is a big help. It's walkable and bikeable year-round without much trouble. And while some options may not be great, people make them work. My ex lived near Geary/Masonic and had to use the 38 daily. It wasn't awful, but it was far from ideal. Still, it got the job done.
I did think they were looking into at LEAST designated BRT right of ways along Geary (with the potential for upgrades to light rail later on)? Is that still happening?
Being the worst of this list of the best in the U.S. isn't what I would call a dark spot. I'd still say SF is one of the easiest cities to get around without a car in the country.
I'm not an expert on the topic, but I'd imagine Geography might play a big role. No matter which way BART was routed (either west through the city and and under the Golden Gate, or from Richmond across the San Rafael Bay), I'd imagine that it would be an incredibly costly undertaking. I don't doubt that there would be a lot of NIMBYism in parts of the county, but I think cost is probably the biggest concern. It would be much cheaper to increase the speed and frequency of ferry service.
Sorry, but it is a dark spot for SF not to have a diverse mass transit rail system within its City Limit & the entire Bay Area. Geary (East to West) & Van Ness (North to South) ought to have MUNI underground light rail lines. Especially BART should have its rail lines from SF & Oakland to SJ. This is how a World Class City must be defined. Yes, a person can get around by walking or bicycling North of Market St. & East of Van Ness Ave.
Marin County voted not to have BART go through its county; however, San Joaquin wanted to have BART there which it is North of Marin County.
Sorry, but it is a dark spot for SF not to have a diverse mass transit rail system within its City Limit & the entire Bay Area. Geary (East to West) & Van Ness (North to South) ought to have MUNI underground light rail lines. Especially BART should have its rail lines from SF & Oakland to SJ. This is how a World Class City must be defined. Yes, a person can get around by walking or bicycling North of Market St. & East of Van Ness Ave.
Marin County voted not to have BART go through its county; however, San Joaquin wanted to have BART there which it is North of Marin County.
They are currently building a BART extension to San Jose.
Also San Joaquin County is nowhere near Marin and is east of the Bay Area, way too far and expensive to extend heavy rail (BART) out to.
Plus you excluded PATCO (another subway line in Philly into Jersey more like Bart actually) which brings HR/Subway to about 380K.
But also the regional rail coverage is much more extensive. BART is a more modern hybrid (part subway part RR) and a lot of riders are commuters like commuter rail, its form is a little of both. Add Philly RR and LRT (Muni, Caltrain, Septa NJT etc. (you cant forget NJT which also services Philadelphia and the Jersey burbs etc.) and ridership is much more even or so. Buses probably put Philly over
for me it comes down to coverage and utility. SF has a good system to funnel people in for work if you live along a BART line; Philly has a better system within the city based on my experience.
I think those people haven't ridden MUNI. If you live along the BART spine in SF, I agree. The small distances between destinations actually make the experience more frustrating. There shouldn't be any reason why it should take more than 30 minutes to get from one side of the penninsula to the other. The N Judah takes 50 minutes. There's some obstacles you can't control with such as traffic and the terrain, but the speed of the vehicles, spacing of bus stops and convoluted routes make it a bit ridiculous. Then there's no fare integration between BART and MUNI which makes it more frustrating, not to mention the other agencies.
Exactly,
BART ought to monopolize the whole SF Bay Area's mass transit systems into one.
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