When I read about the new train to NYC feasibility study, I looked like I needed that drug for drug induced involuntary motions. My head was shaking back and forth and I was snickering. This is at least the second time such a study is being conducted, at another $1/2mil dollars.
The article mentions and credits Phillip Armstrong and Becky Bradley.. Armstrong, counting the days off for Christmas, only has 34 minutes left as County Executive. Becky's last brainchild was planting flowers along Rt. 22, so that rush hour traffic would have something pretty to look at while they're struck for an hour every day.
Last time they concluded that bus service was more cost effective, considering the remaining rails are heavily used by freight, and new rails would be cost prohibitive for the demand. Considering that the population hasn't grown significantly, and less demand for on site employees in NYC, I would bet the conclusion will be the same. But when I bet it's my money, Armstrong and Bradley bet with our taxes.
Every ten years or so this completely delusional fantasy is rolled out by some hack(s) to garner a little attention. It doesn’t rise to the level of farce.
ReplyDeletemj adams
The last time a train service was connected into Allentown was in 1979 when a Philadelphia SEPTA connection from Lansdale was run up some oid LVRR tracks into Allentown.
ReplyDeleteIt required a large state subsidy and after whomever was our House representative in Harrisburg left office, who had the subsidy appropriated, the money ended and so did the train ride.
The tracks had not been maintained, and from all accounts it was a rough ride for the few passengers who rode the SEPTA car to Philadelphia.
The current train enthusiasts are more than likely displaced New Yorkers who like Pennsylvania because it costs less to live here and want their train service to Manhattan so they don't have to drive or be like the other commuters into NYC that take the other communter rail services from Long Island or the northern suburbs.
The main issue is the cost. A new right-of-way will have to be built as the existing freight lines that transverse NJ are only suitable for a maximum of about 30mph. Also some type of station will be needed not just in Allentown, but along the route to Manhattan. So now we are talking millions of dollars and not mentioning why the New Jersey Central stopped service in 1967 in the first place. Very few passengers.
So who has the money to subsidise these displaced New Yorkers going to work on the trains like their other co-workers in Manhattan do?
If living in Pennsylvania gives them a better life than living in Brooklyn, or the Bronx, or New Joisey does, then riding the bus to Port Authority is the price of doing so. Pennsylvania doesn't have the money to subsidise your lifestyle.
Of course, if you can work in PA for the same salary I suppose then you wouldn't need to commute to New Yawk City?
With all due respect, Mr. Moll, we’re talking many millions of dollars per mile
DeleteWanna see housing costs in Easton rise by 300%?
ReplyDeletePawlowski pretended that he was moving the train to NYC project in his ridiculous interview in the quarterly, Easton Elucidator, some years back. The young woman conducting the interview didn’t have the slightest clue that she was being gaslighted. If memory serves me Alan Jennings and Joyce Marin pimped the pipe dream at one time. It’s got enduring appeal.
ReplyDeleteMe, I’m waiting for the bullet train from the Lehigh Valley to Ft. Lauderdale.
This is the hoax that doesn’t quit.
ReplyDeleteBecky Bradly - “Let’s do a poll.”
ReplyDeleteYeah, there was a big roll out at Hotel Bethlehem a couple of decades ago, @RENEW LEHIGH VALLEY” was the outfit. I heard that there is a bridge in Brooklyn for sale.
ReplyDeleteReNewLehighValley was the cat’s pajamas. They were in the vanguard of every issue. I remember their forward thinking about all things water related.
DeleteBummer that they tanked.
Why not just fly from ABE airport to Punta Gorda for $165?
DeleteYeah, the famous ReNew LV White Paper on Water. Who could possibly forget?
DeleteRail service was ended for one reason and one reason only... It was NOT PROFITABLE, period!!! NO company can run consistently in the red. To run a service with too few bodies using it is a loser, and sooner, than later, it is stopped. Now, for some unknown reason, someone thinks it may be a gold mine and everyone will use it... me thinks not.
ReplyDeleteDoes PennDot operate in the black?
DeleteIf you're reduced to using PennDot as your role model...
DeleteA simple formula taking into account population size and proximity of metro areas without connecting rail service quickly suggests the Allentown to New York line is the most viable new route for Amtrak in the country.
ReplyDeleteTransbridge now charges $121 round trip from Wescosville and the timing of the service, particularly outbound from NYC, is atrocious and unreliable. Demand is there.
This region lacks quality jobs and entrepreneurship. We are disconnected and off the beaten path. Sure, a train connection will bring new people. It will also give our residents easier access to capital and professional opportunities.
Bieber was a great service before it was sold. It was reliable, affordable, good schedules, it had clean newish rolling stock and great drivers. It also had suburban stations and lots of secure parking. I know Trans Bridge tries but it doesn’t reach the service mark that the old Bieber did. City to city train service can’t match the services of the needs of current potential riders. I wish it could, but I don’t think it could. Reading, on the other hand, still has a station and tracks which connects them with Philadelphia, which connects with Septa and Amtrack. I suspect Reading would have train service before Allentown.
ReplyDeleteHarrisburg has AMTRACK service and a passenger service along the I-78 corridor from there into one of the New York City stations is far more likely to have a federally subsidised passenger line established. That would connect with several of AMTRACK's established services, although it would be a competetor to the high-speed Keystone Service bypassing the existing Philadelphia route. If Allentown or the Lehigh Valley would warrant a stop, then an appropriate station funded by the local community could then be built.
DeleteMeanwhile, another shooting in Allentown last night. 1 dead, 2 wounded. Happy Holidays from the Queen City.
ReplyDeleteThe Mayor says it’s not representative of Allentown, but let’s face it, this is what Allentown has become.
If the Mayor can’t even recognize the reality of what Allentown has become, there no way things get better.
You can’t fix what you can’t even acknowledge is broken.
The fact is that it is representative of Allentown. Along with the other burgularies and felonies that came about with the introduction of the welfare class of inhabitants that moved to the city a couple of decades ago from the New York and Philadelphia slums.
DeleteIt is why many boomers either left the area or moved out into the townships, as the area west of the Lehigh River out to 12th and now further into the west end is less and less safe to live in, and the cost of housing in the west end also is becoming less and less affordable.
There is simply more desireable and more affordable housing outside of the Allentown city limits, while Turek milks the growing hispanic population for votes.
In all fairness, 7 homicides in a year is low for a city approaching 130k people, centering a metro region of 700k. Petty crime is a problem and no homicide should be viewed as ok of course.
DeleteFYI… virtually zero people have migrated to Allentown from Philadelphia over the past few decades.
Virtually no people from Philly have ever moved to Allentown. Now NYC Metro Area…..
Deleteanon@12:23: I believe that as mayor he feels a responsibility to stay positive, I don't fault him for that.
ReplyDeleteI’d like to think that people weren’t electing a cheerleader, but rather someone who would take on the problems facing the city and solve them.
ReplyDeleteI could be wrong about that, and maybe elections in Allentown have become a simple popularity contest with no more intellectual depth than a high school homecoming vote.
For whatever it’s worth, I believe that Tuerk’s approach is irresponsible, and his actions (or lack of them) are getting people killed.
anon@2:32: Most likely in the future you will look back at now as the good old days. The Republicans no longer even run candidates in Allentown. Anons like you can't speak at city council, because a name is required.
ReplyDeleteWhile it seems to preoccupy you, I really don’t care which political party brings the solution to Allentown’s problems. I just want to see them solved.
ReplyDeleteI do recognize that there currently is a progressive/socialist poison that has taken over the democrat party. But I’m not waiting for a republican upset to correct that.
Instead, I think it’s more likely that a majority of my fellow democrats will find their way back to sanity and reject the false promises of the socialists, and solve the city’s problems themselves.
Tuerk is a bad mayor. Period. It really doesn’t matter what party he belongs to. He’s failing the people of the city, and needs to go because of that.
I think of Mayor Matt like a character from the Sunday morning kids shows of my childhood, an affable, colorful, big goofy neighborhood personality. A Capt.Kangaroo type. Always good for a smile and a good yuck.
ReplyDeleteIf the Lehigh Valley were an economically depressed area (like some dying Northumberland county coal town) with no jobs, lots of dirt cheap, empty housing stock, a geriatric population, and too far to commute to good jobs elsewhere by car or bus, perhaps a train might make sense to revitalize the area and bring in new blood.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the Lehigh Valley is booming economically, housing is very expensive and in short supply, there are plenty of decent jobs locally plus one can already drive or take a bus to commute to NJ/NYC/Philly if they want to earn even more. All a train will do will push out more locals in favor of people working in NYC who will probably happily pay $400k for a beat up cape cod in north Bethlehem that was $175k 10 years ago, and make it easier for people already doing that commute via car or bus. It isn't needed and is a huge waste that will only make life worse for locals.