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Old 11-16-2010, 11:44 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Little Mizz Pittsburgh View Post
All I know is that my significant other loves that Pittsburgh to Philly Megabus roundtrip routes. Its leaves on time and arrives on time, unlike when he used to take the Greyhound. Although he hasn't been seeing those $12 one way trips, on the Megabus, like he USED to, when they first started earlier this year, its still cheaper than Greyhound.
That's because service is popular as hell...I use megabus from NYC to Pittsburgh you see they had to add additional runs...but I know far in advance what days I'm coming home so I usually can get the 1$ or 10$ fares
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Old 11-16-2010, 11:47 AM
 
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Originally Posted by greg42 View Post
From where to where does it take under 4 hours? LOL Can get it under 4 1/2 with reasonable speeding, under 4 takes some serious speeding that most people aren't going to do. Using 4:30 as the reference, I didn't think 5:45 was too horrible, given that I wouldn't have to actually drive it.

It's not really Amtrak's fault that the train takes 7 hours; it's the freight rail companies that own the tracks. Only place Amtrak can have consistent times is the NE Corridor where they own the tracks.

And yeah, DC to me is within the "too close to fly" range. Because of the lead time needed when you fly, and the distances the airports are from downtowns, it doesn't save enough time to be worth it for most of us (nor is it that cheap generally).
I've seen people make it in 4, of course that doing a bee-line (NO STOPS) and with no traffic issues, 80mph yep 4hrs is doable.
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Old 11-16-2010, 11:52 AM
 
Location: On the Rails in Northern NJ
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East of Harrisburg Amtrak is fast , smooth and runs on profits , that is that the keystone...
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Old 11-16-2010, 12:01 PM
 
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Here's the PG story....It reiterates alot of what was discussed.

Megabus to add service to D.C.
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Old 11-16-2010, 12:06 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey View Post
East of Harrisburg Amtrak is fast , smooth and runs on profits , that is that the keystone...
you give the same reliable service Keystone West that you have in the East and PA would explode with business....2-3hrs from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia....You'd fianlly have Pittsburgh connected to the East Coast.

Too bad PA politics can't see what a boon for the state this would be...they're too busy catering to Rural PA...While all PA would need is one line just one to connect its 3 economic engines, you have OH which is planning 4-5 different lines to connect the state and they're much futher ahead than PA.
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Old 11-16-2010, 01:05 PM
 
Location: On the Rails in Northern NJ
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212 View Post
you give the same reliable service Keystone West that you have in the East and PA would explode with business....2-3hrs from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia....You'd fianlly have Pittsburgh connected to the East Coast.

Too bad PA politics can't see what a boon for the state this would be...they're too busy catering to Rural PA...While all PA would need is one line just one to connect its 3 economic engines, you have OH which is planning 4-5 different lines to connect the state and they're much futher ahead than PA.
Indeed it would , PA does have a long term statewide rail plan and regional plan for each region. Unfortnatly , west of Harrisburg there are only 2 lines planned , unlike a huge network connecting every city to the east. Some of these lines will be built and operated privately , the Suburbs and cities of PA hold 60% of population so i don't understand why your govt caters to the Rural areas. Which in my opinion are doing fine. There is the enhancement of the Keystone West line and Enhanced and extended Amtrak Empire service form NYC to Buffalo and Erie. East of Harrisburg is mostly restorations and not really expansions.

System sizes by 2040


Northeastern PA

Current system size : 0
added Miles of Diesel / Intercity Rail : 193


Southeastern PA / Lehigh Valley

Current system size : 450
added Miles of Electrified Rail : 335
added Miles of DMU : 92
added Miles of Intercity Rail : 108


Amish Country / Harrisburg

Current system size : 50
added Miles of Electrified Rail : 36
added Miles of Intercity Rail : 108
added Miles of Diesel Rail : 47


Some Neighbors...

Maryland

Current system size : 187 mi
added Miles of Diesel Rail : 111
added miles of Electrified Rail : 32


Southern Tier New York

Current system size : 0
added miles of Diesel : 59
added miles of Intercity Rail : 129
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Old 11-16-2010, 01:17 PM
 
Location: Philly
10,227 posts, read 16,813,981 times
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its not just rural pa its that priorities are all.screwed up. this year the state issued $700 million in capital bonds for golf courses, political libraries, hotels, etc yet they couldnt find any money to apply for hsr which required matching funds.
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Old 11-16-2010, 05:57 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212 View Post
I told you guys this was happening back in Sept....There will be a Chicago Cleveland run added back in to connect the Midwest whether it stop in Toledo is anyone's guess.....

Pittsburgh could also be very successful with a Buffalo Toronto Run as well, also I hope Bolt starts a NYC to Pittsburgh run soon too...

This is what Pittsburgh needs to be better connected with other cities...The reason the East Coast and Cities around Chicago feed off each other so easily is because they're well connected by Transportation, we were just talking about Pittsburgh problem with in-ward migration, I believe its limited connectivity to other cities also hinders it from better inward migration numbers....with the age groups Pittsburgh is trying to attact its all about being connected without the need of a car....
Going west, you need for Pittsburgh to function as a hub in order to make it work. Pittsburgh itself won't generate enough westbound traffic to fill the buses. Cleveland is the only Midwestern city that will generate any significant traffic originating out of Pittsburgh. The problem with the run that failed a few years back, is that it was scheduled entirely based on Pittsburgh to Chicago. Chicago is not really a big deal here. I'd guess the bulk of travel there is business related. Those people are not going to sit on a bus for 10 or 11 hours, when flying to Chicago is fairly cheap. That bus reached Cleveland at 2:30am, making it useless for most people traveling there. If they set it up so that you would reach Cleveland mid morning, the bus would do good business. Other than Cleveland, Midwestern cities will never compete with NYC, Philly, and DC, as a destination for Pittsburghers. Therefore, most of the traffic headed west will need to originate along the coast
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Old 11-16-2010, 08:43 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh area
9,912 posts, read 24,648,632 times
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Yeah by the time you get to the length of Chicago trip, then an airplane makes sense, and Southwest usually makes it pretty cheap if you can book in advance (which the bus also requires to be at its cheapest). The Chicago bus time is going to be like 10 hours I would think, definitely enough to justify the plane. Or maybe the rental car.
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Old 11-17-2010, 08:43 AM
 
5,802 posts, read 9,891,482 times
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Originally Posted by Herodotus View Post
Going west, you need for Pittsburgh to function as a hub in order to make it work. Pittsburgh itself won't generate enough westbound traffic to fill the buses. Cleveland is the only Midwestern city that will generate any significant traffic originating out of Pittsburgh. The problem with the run that failed a few years back, is that it was scheduled entirely based on Pittsburgh to Chicago. Chicago is not really a big deal here. I'd guess the bulk of travel there is business related. Those people are not going to sit on a bus for 10 or 11 hours, when flying to Chicago is fairly cheap. That bus reached Cleveland at 2:30am, making it useless for most people traveling there. If they set it up so that you would reach Cleveland mid morning, the bus would do good business. Other than Cleveland, Midwestern cities will never compete with NYC, Philly, and DC, as a destination for Pittsburghers. Therefore, most of the traffic headed west will need to originate along the coast
Oh yes you can see the night and day difference in the Midwest Megabus that only lasted a few weeks and the East Coast Megabus that is struggling to keep up with demand they had to add more service to the NYC run...Pittsburgh associates with the East Coast not Midwest...We've been saying this for eons.

But more so for Megabus interest than Pittsburgh....You want to be able to connect your 2 Networks and No Location is better than Pittsburgh to do as Pittsburgh is the Direct Middle Point perfect for a Transfer Hub....Trust me Chicago is only coming back into play from Pittsburgh to create the link to bring the networks together...its not because of strong demand to the Midwest from Pittsburgh.

Even though most of us would fly on a trip from NYC to Chicago, there is VERY STRONG DEMAND for Bus travel from NYC to Chicago because of the lower fair and less hassles....and if its Express it will be even more successful....NYC Pittsburgh Cleveland Chicago that's it no other stops.
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