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Something is wacky about the ridership numbers for the Silver Star and Silver Meteor. They're basically the same train, running between New York and Miami, just at different times of the day, with the only difference being that each of them might stop at two or three intermediate stations that the other one doesn't. Thus it's not surprising that their numbers for 2018 and 2019 and 2021 are so similar to each other. But in 2022, there's supposedly a huge surge for the Silver Star and a huge drop for the Silver Meteor. I think something's wrong with the numbers.
Interesting I didn’t know that, well I looked into it and looks like the Silver Meteor was canceled between January and October 2022 due to omicron outbreak. However Silver Star kept operating, and they added more cars on the train to pick up the slack. Also Silver Star operates more inland going through Raleigh while Silver Meteor goes along the coast. Plus Silver Star operates during the weekend while Silver Meteor on Weekdays.
Interesting I didn’t know that, well I looked into it and looks like the Silver Meteor was canceled between January and October 2022 due to omicron outbreak. However Silver Star kept operating, and they added more cars on the train to pick up the slack. Also Silver Star operates more inland going through Raleigh while Silver Meteor goes along the coast. Plus Silver Star operates during the weekend while Silver Meteor on Weekdays.
The weekday/weekend thing must have been a COVID issue. They're back to their normal pattern now, wherein both trains operate daily. So I would expect to see the ridership even out between them.
Incidentally, the Silver Meteor is now, and always has been, a faster ride than the Silver Star. This is mainly due to the fact that the Silver Star makes more stops. Just within Florida alone, the Silver Star makes 18 stops, including a time-killing detour from Lakeland to Tampa and then back again. The Silver Meteor makes only 14 stops in the state. Even so, the Silver Meteor takes 8 hours 41 minutes to go from Miami to Jacksonville (as compared with about 6 hours by car). The Silver Star takes 11 hours 4 minutes between those same two cities. I'm not advocating high-speed rail in this corridor, because it would be vastly too expensive given the return on investment. But the service needs to be sped up to make it even somewhat competitive as a transportation alternative.
This is not some zero sum game, nobody is trying to take your car away, if you prefer to drive you will always have that option. And in many scenarios driving is just always going to be more convenient such as a suburbanite visiting another suburbanite in the next state over. And no, this push to reduce car dependence is not just because of climate change. The biggest reason is to cut down on traffic, it’s not realistic to to build 8 lane cross country interstate freeways, they are very expensive to maintain, it’s much cheaper to maintain a double track railroad, plus many of the airports across the country are operating near maximum capacity, rail transit can help relieve some of that congestion as well rather than building a whole new airport. HSR is only competitive against other modes when distances are between 100 miles and 500 miles, meaning a sweet spot at around 300 miles. Most people wouldn’t want to drive those distances if they could avoid it, and with flying it’s expensive and you waste a lot of time just waiting to board and unboarding the plane, at those distances the waiting can be longer than the actual flight.
But as the Northeast regional shows, hsr isn’t everything as it is more popular than the Acela due to it being cheaper. So even having normal trains running frequently and reliably between large congested cities is a big help.
*also people tend to forget that driving cost isn’t just the gas you consume but also the miles you add to your odometer, which means more frequent oil changes and the resale price is diminished.
Why this audition for the gong show with multiple transportation modes rather than simply putting your key into the ignition and being off to your destination? If these wee alternatives were so great why force people into them?
Seems like the best places for rail corridors are routes where driving is the least practical. This obviously includes regions with high traffic volumes like the Northeast Corridor and Northern and Southern California.
I'd think that major college towns are another good niche, because many/most students don't have cars. In Illinois I know we have the Illini and Saluki to connect Chicagoland to UIUC and SIU.
Maybe a good short route would be from Urbana-Champaign to Indianapolis? That'd pick up Charleston (EIU) and Terre Haute (ISU). Maybe swing it south to pick up IU as well. Assuming all these kids from different colleges on one train wouldn't lead to catastrophic fight scenarios...
You're saying cars are expensive, so let's not build more efficient alternatives. The logic isn't logic.
Also, a quick internet search says the average new car is well under that figure, and that's just the average, not what people can buy new more cheaply. And it omits used cars.
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