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I had a co-worker who lived near Atlantic City and came into Philly by rail. I used to have a girlfriend with a beach condo in Brigantine just north of Atlantic City. I rode that train a few times when I was in Philly on business and didn't have a rental car. Is PATCO considered to be commuter rail? I have one of their cards kicking around somewhere.
PATCO is a heavy-rail transit line, akin to the Broad Street Line or Market-Frankford Line. Commuter rail would be like the Regional Rail System.
PATCO is a heavy-rail transit line, akin to the Broad Street Line or Market-Frankford Line. Commuter rail would be like the Regional Rail System.
If he was riding in from Brigantine on a train, he was taking New Jersey Transit's Atlantic City Line, NJT's one commuter rail line in South Jersey.
He could have changed trains at Lindenwold, though, and taken PATCO into the city from there. But staying on the train from AC all the way to 30th Street Station would have been just as convenient.
It takes a lot of commuters to justify the government subsidy.
Every couple of years I see a news article about how much my state pays to subsidize the passenger train from Boston to Portland. Ticket sales accounts for around a quarter of the operating expense.
A few thousand people like to ride the rail between Portland and Boston, and the entire state pays taxes to fund it.
If he was riding in from Brigantine on a train, he was taking New Jersey Transit's Atlantic City Line, NJT's one commuter rail line in South Jersey.
He could have changed trains at Lindenwold, though, and taken PATCO into the city from there. But staying on the train from AC all the way to 30th Street Station would have been just as convenient.
It would also be a bit more expensive, and also PATCO & ACL serve slightly different portions of Philadelphia, with PATCO serving the heart of Center City, while ACL serves 30th Street station across the river.
Philadelphia has the 3rd largest commuter rail network in the USA (all in Pennsylvania not New Jersey).
In a few very densely populated cities and ring suburbs, commuter rail makes sense. For the other 95% of this nation, it is an inefficient method of transportation. That is why it never spread.
Because the American car experience is any better? Tolls, 3 hour long rush-hour traffic back ups, drunk drivers, accidents, weather inhibitors, endless construction, road rage, bad maintenance, bridge/tunnel closures, excessive police monitoring... I could go on and on and on
UK rail is still light years more efficient, and less taxing than your average American auto experience. I'm not even going to go into the upper tier countries like Germany, France, China or Japan who are pathologically hell bent on running the best rail networks on the planet. Even Japan which is the measure stick for how well your transit is laid it's first Japanese Shinkansen line in 1964.... and look how well thats worked out for them.
Rail is still and has always been the most efficient way of ground transportation, and people can and do change (i.e the current wave of people wanting city life)
Why are there so many cars in Europe if their rail is so good? In America, the existing mass transit cannot fund itself without stealing 20% of federal automotive gas tax money.
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