(erielack) PoconoDirect service

["MDelvec952_@_aol.com"]

In a message dated 5/12/99 9:08:47 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Inlinebob writes:


>  My first ibservation is neither of you guys have ever commuted when you 
have 
> to change trains, right? ;-) What a drag.

I was a commuter, Dover to Hudson Stret in Manhattan, for more than six 
months.  2 hours each way door to door minimum, and after the few rush hour 
trains that time went to well over 2 hours on those all-stops milk runs.  I 
hated it, and stopped doing it.  There's more to life than the commute.  
Can't beleive people have been enduring that kind of commute for 150 years.  
I wished, and I've written to NJT asking, for more emphasis on trip time -- 
but that's another topic.  On days where I didn't have to be in Manhattan 
before 11:00 a.m., I could drive it and park in about an hour or slightly 
more.


>Couldn't the Scranton train cover the saqme M&E schedules that already 
exist? It seems rather logical that an existing express schedule from NYP 
could be covered by a train bound for Scranton as easily as one bound for 
Dover, no?<<

That's part of the problem, that NJT would use a Scranton-NYP train to fill 
in on the M&E, which would stretch what will likely be a 3:30 trip into a 
four-plus hour trip.  Scrantonians would save time by changing trains.  And 
what percentage of riders do you think would want PennStation anyway?  
Downtown riders would want Hoboken, and let's not forget all those North 
Jersey destinations.  It'll take a few years of Scranton service to properly 
meter the demand and purchase whatever extra equipment will be needed.


> It is myopic to start this service without direct NYP service, especially 
since it could be done by convering an exisitng M&E schedule with an engine 
change to provide one-seat riding from Scranton to New York City.<<

We disagree here, but neither of us are making the decisions, and neither of 
us have all of the necessary information, either.  Banter, we must, but I 
would hate to see all those stops on an already long trip.


> For the Pocono resort market, which 
> will provide head count to this route, a train change will not win over 
> anyone in New York City. And if you underestimate the potential fare base 
in 
> MYC and Long island, take a good hard look at Pocono tourism.
 
This is a good point.  I know first hand that New York City folks, especially 
those without cars, are just dying to get out of that concrete prison every 
weekend, and they'll jump at the chance to train-it somewhere new.  But New 
Yorkers also regard changing trains as a way of life.  Almost no one living 
in the City can get to PennStation without the subway anyway, and they often 
most make two or three connections and then walk the quarter-mile corridor to 
get from the subway to the NJT tracks 1-4.  LIRR goons will have to change, 
also (a much shorter walk, but still a long one).  Those arriving by taxi or 
limo have to walk almost as far as the LIRR people.

More PennStation outbounds are necessary, and I'm not saying that 
PoconoDirect service wouldn't work or shouldn't be considered.  It would 
work.  But at first the extra equipment won't be there, and subjecting the 
Scrantonians to all the stops of a typical off-peak (no one from Scranton is 
going to get to North Jersey early enough for a rush hour express, anyway) 
will also drive away riders.

We'll see -- trains into the Poconos are quite a ways off yet, and so many 
circumstances are going to change by then.  We are putting the cart years 
ahead of the horse; the scheduling of MidTown trains is far more complex than 
either of us have discussed.

Isn't it great, though, that we are all hashing out new services?  The last 
generation of railfans would have been hashing about train-offs and line 
abandonments.

                                    .....Mike

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