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Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
8,128 posts, read 7,565,972 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Maintainschaos
Anyone who has ridden commuter rail in Boston, Chicago, and DC-Baltimore know that MBTA commuter rail and Metra are in different leagues than MARC or VRE (just look at the vastly different ridership stats and area coverage). The reason why the DC-Baltimore area can pull it off? All of the suburban commuter traffic on Metro. People in the DC area use Metro for commuter rail service all the time, and it's disingenuous to suggest otherwise. Why do they use it for commuter rail service? Because MARC and VRE have poor coverage and aren't effectively integrated with each other or with Metro.
We're not talking about their "leagues". I'm talking about the FACT that MARC and VRE serve as the region's long distance commuter rail service. There is also Amtrak service between DC and Baltimore which is more ridership. If you want to get into ridership stats on commuter rail then another thread should be started on that. The point being made here is that Metro isn't a commuter rail train line, it's a rapid transit heavy rail line. This thread isn't comparing commuter rail service.
We're not talking about their "leagues". I'm talking about the FACT that MARC and VRE serve as the region's long distance commuter rail service. There is also Amtrak service between DC and Baltimore which is more ridership. If you want to get into ridership stats on commuter rail then another thread should be started on that. The point being made here is that Metro isn't a commuter rail train line, it's a rapid transit heavy rail line. This thread isn't comparing commuter rail service.
I think you missed the point: your comparison between MARC/VRE to commuter rail in Boston and Chicago was inaccurate, and *yes* people in suburban DC absolutely use Metro as commuter rail. Just because it doesn’t resemble the look or all the headways of traditional/older commuter rail doesn’t mean tons of people don’t use it that way...I personally know several who do.
We're not talking about their "leagues". I'm talking about the FACT that MARC and VRE serve as the region's long distance commuter rail service. There is also Amtrak service between DC and Baltimore which is more ridership. If you want to get into ridership stats on commuter rail then another thread should be started on that. The point being made here is that Metro isn't a commuter rail train line, it's a rapid transit heavy rail line. This thread isn't comparing commuter rail service.
44 DC Metro stations have parking lots. Subway stations don’t have that.
44 DC Metro stations have parking lots. Subway stations don’t have that.
Actually, I'm going to toss a wrench into this statement too.
When the City of Philadelphia added a subway station next to the Broad Street Subway's storage yard and maintenance shop in Fern Rock in 1956 - a half-measure after fierce opposition kept the city from building the Northeast Spur up Roosevelt Boulevard - it built a park-and-ride lot next to the station.
Another one was built around the same time by the Philadelphia Transportation Company at its 69th Street Terminal in Upper Darby.
I will grant that these are rarities among legacy subway facilities. But they do show the change in the way subways were expected to perform by the 1950s. IIRC, Cleveland's Red Line, which opened in 1955, also has a park-and-ride facility at its eastern end at Windermere.
44 DC Metro stations have parking lots. Subway stations don’t have that.
Right, and if housing prices get dramatic enough and the system expands, those park and rides are probably going to become mixed-use neighborhoods. NYC once built subways or elevated trains into the boonies in anticipation of eventual infill. The greater defining aspect was whether those headways were rapid enough to be considered rapid transit. DC even at its lowest frequencies are pretty frequent and unlike that of pretty much any commuter rail system in the US. You might argue it's too frequent for some of its outer stops during some periods, but it's doing its thing.
Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
8,128 posts, read 7,565,972 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gladhands
44 DC Metro stations have parking lots. Subway stations don’t have that.
Over 60 percent of DC Metro stations are underground with 0 parking. There are no commuter rail systems that do that in the country. The above ground stations many just have kiss and ride, except some ends of lines with large garages. Again you continue to drag out a topic on a premise of a non factual statement of the metro being commuter rail. Let's clean up your errors first.
There are 4 stations in Tysons Corner suburbia, and 0 with parking. Anacostia for example has limited kiss and ride drop off/bus stops directly over top the underground subway station. Still not catching your drift. You sound like you should brush up on it by riding the system rather then a Google search of what you can cherry pick to justify a falsified claim.
Over 60 percent of DC Metro stations are underground with 0 parking. There are no commuter rail systems that do that in the country.
There is one.
Granted, it applies to only two of its stations, both of them in the city center. But those two stations form the core of the only commuter rail system in the U.S. to operate trains through rather than to and from the city center:
Philadelphia's.
The stations are Suburban Station and Jefferson (nee Market East) Station.
Two of the other five central stations also have no parking: University City and Temple University. There is parking at 30th Street, but that's also the main intercity railroad station.
Most of the stations on the Chestnut Hill West branch, one of two located entirely within the Philadelphia city limits, also lack parking, as do 49th Street and Angora in West Philadelphia.
Again, the Washington Metro is a hybrid, like its West Coast contemporary, Bay Area Rapid Transit; the difference is that the Washington system also really does provide the urban-circulator function the legacy systems provide, something BART doesn't do as well.
Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
8,128 posts, read 7,565,972 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MarketStEl
There is one.
Granted, it applies to only two of its stations, both of them in the city center. But those two stations form the core of the only commuter rail system in the U.S. to operate trains through rather than to and from the city center:
Philadelphia's.
The stations are Suburban Station and Jefferson (nee Market East) Station.
Two of the other five central stations also have no parking: University City and Temple University. There is parking at 30th Street, but that's also the main intercity railroad station.
Most of the stations on the Chestnut Hill West branch, one of two located entirely within the Philadelphia city limits, also lack parking, as do 49th Street and Angora in West Philadelphia.
Again, the Washington Metro is a hybrid, like its West Coast contemporary, Bay Area Rapid Transit; the difference is that the Washington system also really does provide the urban-circulator function the legacy systems provide, something BART doesn't do as well.
Yea 30th street is an intra-city transit hub, that's like saying Union Station in DC has parking, well duh it's the primary rail/bus transit hub for the city. The other two stations in Philadelphia I am less familiar with, if you have a link etc it would help.
Over 60 percent of DC Metro stations are underground with 0 parking. There are no commuter rail systems that do that in the country. The above ground stations many just have kiss and ride, except some ends of lines with large garages. Again you continue to drag out a topic on a premise of a non factual statement of the metro being commuter rail. Let's clean up your errors first.
There are 4 stations in Tysons Corner suburbia, and 0 with parking. Anacostia for example has limited kiss and ride drop off/bus stops directly over top the underground subway station. Still not catching your drift. You sound like you should brush up on it by riding the system rather then a Google search of what you can cherry pick to justify a falsified claim.
yes, the point everyone is making is that DC metro has elements of subway and commuter rail. A hybrid; and mostly does what older systems used two forms for. In most ways that is a benefit, especially headways but all the points are that much of the further flung Metro station in function are more like commuter rail.
DC developed later than many of the older cities and has done a better job one attracting jobs and two leveraging more TOD around stations
I lived in DC, parents lived in VA (worked in Tyson pre expansion) etc.
nothing anyone is saying is bad or negative, the DC system is a hybrid, a very good one at that
Last edited by kidphilly; 02-12-2019 at 07:01 AM..
Suburban station (all underground and concourse connected to three subway lines and multiple underground light rail lines) is a 6 track underground through running commuter rail station. Its the busiest commuter rail station in the city under the main CBD of West market.
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