RE: Way More Re: (erielack) Cut-off service

["Tupaczewski, Paul R \(Paul\)" <"paultup_@_lucent.com">]

Rob,

> In my eyes, the whole transit picture in NEPA realting to the NYC 
> metropolitan area is germane to our thread. Perhaps, since I 
> am looking at 
> the big picture, that's why I called the lack of NYP service 
> from Scranton 
> myopic in the first place.

One thing we *can* look at today is the *bus service.* I do see a number of
Martz Lines buses rolling along Route 80 daily heading to and from the city.
What type of customer load do those buses carry on a daily basis? The way I
see it (and I'm taking a devil's advocate view here) is that the bus offers
a non-stop (or relatively few stops) trip from Scranton to the Port
Authority Bus Terminal in NYC, a 2-1/2 trip. Faster than the train, and
probably a little less expensive. What's the train's "value proposition"
here? What compelling reason do people have to take a train vs. a bus?

I'm not sure that lack of NYP service is myopic, though. There just isn't a
foreseeable (at least in the next 20 years) "big demand" for transportation
(i.e. railroad) services from this part of PA. Expecting a major demographic
shift is something that's akin to gambling!

 
> As for changing trains, I respect your role on the railroad, 
> but if your seat 
> is in the locomotive and you aren't doing the train-to-train 
> commuter shuffle 
> every night, you really can't judge what it is like.

Probably true, so why not take a commuter survey? That would be the *best*
judge of what people want to do.

Rob, do you commute each night? If not, then you are in an equally bad
position to judge yourself... Steve does at least get to see the commuter
ebb-and-flow, probably more so than the average commuter, and can see load
patterns developing.

 > I ahve all the respect in the world for the guys who pull the 
> throttles and 
> tamp the ROW, but when it comes to planning and customer 
> service, your upper 
> ups just don't get it.

I think the key here is that (as far as I know), there isn't a single
*expert analyst* on this list (at least, not one who's commented!), and
everything being thrown out is pure conjecture. I'm not standing up for the
"upper ups," but they sure do have a lot more data on ridership and such
than we do, and as such, *should* (HA!) be able to make educated
decisions....

	- Paul

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