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| Re: Staten Island rail tunnel. (1413470) | |||
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Re: Staten Island rail tunnel. |
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Posted by Michael549 on Sat Oct 22 04:22:50 2016, in response to Re: Staten Island rail tunnel., posted by MainR3664 on Fri Oct 21 07:21:29 2016. Several times on this forum and others - folks would bring up a revival of the North Shore rail-line, and usually my basic point is that the land uses and situation on the island has changed since the 1950's. So a simple revival would not "by magic" solve several transportation problems on Staten Island.However there are some folks when it comes to improving transit on Staten Island ritually repeat the mantra - "Restore The North Shore!" - with glazed eyes and a zombie stare. I'm not kidding! A few years ago there was a North Shore Alternatives Analysis - a study done by the MTA one whether to restore the North Shore, or create a kind of bus rapid transit, or light rail system. The planning team looked at each of the alternatives, costs, benefits, etc. and included their analysis in their reports. The reports and maps were previously available on the MTA website. These reports were actually rather good reading on the issues. The planning team also held meetings at the Sung Harbor Center which I attended faithfully. The team preferred creating a bus-rapid transit operation on the North Shore railway right of way as a way to spread the benefits of improved transit to more sections of the island. At the meetings - there were transit fan-folk who repeatedly shouted down the speakers - crying "Restore The North Shore!" The issues of funding, bang for buck, improved ridership, and/or the changes in land uses, population and the locations of places that folks want to travel to and from - simply did not register with these folks. Like Pavlov's Dogs - the mantra - "Restore The North Shore!" was all they could repeat! There are simply plenty of places on the interior of Staten Island that folks want and need to travel to and from that are NO WHERE NEAR THE NORTH SHORE RAIL-LINE - and improving transit for those places just seems to be off of anyone's radar. This is similar to the folks that want to build a light rail line along the western highway on Staten Island - that skips the populated areas, that skips the important places that folks want to go to - all under the guise that finally something is being done. Saying such stuff almost gets one banned from the "transit fan club" - but the truth has to be told. Not every old right of way serves the needs of today's or tomorrow's transportation situation - and is thus a candidate for revival. Just my thoughts. Mike |
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