OMG LV Choo Choos Here We Go Again

I'm both hesitant and frustrated to post yet again after hearing this utterly stupid idea once again rearing it's ugly head. It's like a zombie that can't be killed no matter how many times one tries to drive a stake into it's heart through the use of well known facts and logic. GIVE IT UP ALREADY!

lehighvalley.com; Lehigh Valley mayors restarting push to get regional train service-- "Rail service would require significant federal funding but U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Lehigh Valley, said he believes an even greater obstacle would be getting New Jersey's support."



I've posted time and again why this is a stupid idea. Here are a few highlights from my previous posts..The Relentless Pursuit For LV Rail Passenger Service. In that post I mentioned Bieber Bus has free parking for it's 24 daily runs into NYC. No way in hell trains will make 24 runs. I mentioned people would have to board 3 separate trains from unheated outdoor platforms. I also mentioned Bieber pays taxes rather then using millions in taxpayer's money to do so.

In this post I provided an old LVRR schedule which indicated it took over 2 1/2 hours to make the trip w/o even changing trains (9). This compared to buses which can make the trip in one hour less time.

In this post I pointed out, "(1) If New York's MTA can't operate at a profit with over 10 million riders a week traveling uptown and downtown in a single city, why would anybody in their right mind consider 1,400 riders traveling 87 miles from Allentown to New York across three states a good idea?

(2) Not only does the Bieber Bus make it to NYC from Wescosville in as little as 1 hour 15 minutes, it does so at a profit and takes you right into 42nd street. It has 13 different departure times in the morning and another 6 more in the afternoon. Bieber's Charcoal Dtive-in location has parking for nearly 200 cars. Allentown's proposed rail service can't possibly provide this kind of service." PLUS 8 more talking points.

One of the other arguments I provided was "(5) The station in High Bridge is closed. Arriving passengers would have to wait in the cold or inclement weather for the High Bridge Line. Of greater concern is the fact that New Jersey Transit (which operates the rail service) had considered reducing or ending the service to High Bridge (which is the end of the line for that branch). Would not NJT, knowing how dependent our LVRR service would be on the High Bridge station, be so inclined to shake us down for a couple of bucks to keep the service running?

I also pointed out in this other post why Passenger Rail Doesn't Make Financial Sense-- "Despite 85,000 passengers a day riding Amtrak's 300 trains in 2012 taxpayers still had to kick in another $1.3 billion on top of the fares... Amtrak's 85,000 passengers a day represent only a teeny tiny fraction of America's daily travelers. The Schuylkill Expressway in Philadelphia alone handles 163,000 vehicles a day which contain multiple passengers. Common sense dictates here we have a highway that handles well over twice the number people and in no way conceivable cost us $1.3 billion a year to operate."If these three amigos want to ride a train so much, go to Knoebels or Dorney Park. Leave us taxpayers out of it. Trains are like canal boats, they were nice in their day but, 100 years later it's time to move on irregardless of TMC's Paul Carpenter's cheerleading for them in March 2013. Which I said in my opposition against them, "It not only saves the taxpayers $649 million to create local rail service in the first place, but another $11.7 million yearly to maintain it."

I'd rather see the money spent on creating mass transit only lanes between cities. It makes more sense then choo choos.