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bobtehpanda last won the day on April 18 2022
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Queens Bus Redesign Discussion Thread
bobtehpanda replied to Lawrence St's topic in New York City Bus
I've always thought the Q60 should be two routes, the Manhattan portion to Queens Center and Queensboro Plaza to Jamaica. -
amtrak to long island and staten island
bobtehpanda replied to Real Greenpickles987's topic in Amtrak
The notion that the LIRR can really just push back on everything and anything at MTA HQ is laughable. Ask Helena Williams how that went for Penn Station Access. -
R268 (R68/R68A Replacement) - Information & Discussion
bobtehpanda replied to Around the Horn's topic in New York City Subway
In addition to the other comments Siemens doesn't really make metro cars in the US. Their existing plants are pretty much at capacity because they handle nearly every light rail and Amtrak order in the US. CAF has had some reliability issues with their sets produced in the US Stadler in subway equipment is relatively new in the US, their first and only order so far has been MARTA in 2019, and those have not been delivered yet -
Department of Subways - Proposals/Ideas
bobtehpanda replied to EE Broadway Local's topic in New York City Subway
That would require either the legislature to pass a law allowing a referendum, or amending the state constitution to allow voter-proposed initiatives. The recent transit expansions in the US are funded by voter-proposed initiatives, which is mostly a thing in Western states. -
Department of Subways - Proposals/Ideas
bobtehpanda replied to EE Broadway Local's topic in New York City Subway
To be quite frank, if that's your dream you probably won't achieve it. Planners first, and foremost, are bureaucrats. They implement policies to fit officials' desires, but they do not have the mandate or the authority to start imposing their own ideas willy nilly. The primary problem with the MTA's building, is political, not technological, so if you want to fix that a better bet is probably to run for office. -
Systemwide CBTC - Planning and Implementation
bobtehpanda replied to Union Tpke's topic in New York City Subway
CBTC is basically *the* modern standard at this point, there's not much reason to arbitrarily have not busy lines without it. -
Systemwide CBTC - Planning and Implementation
bobtehpanda replied to Union Tpke's topic in New York City Subway
Also IIRC the IND currently has some of the oldest signals anyways, right? -
Systemwide CBTC - Planning and Implementation
bobtehpanda replied to Union Tpke's topic in New York City Subway
It probably just makes sense to complete the lines where there is already CBTC equipment, and try and minimize the amount of other lines and rolling stock that need to be upgraded as well. The only new trunk lines that get dragged into the current schedule would be and . and are getting 211s. And these lines should probably get them anyways so that they can continue to operate GOs where CBTC is active. -
Governor Hochul seeks ‘alternatives’ to LaGuardia AirTrain
bobtehpanda replied to GojiMet86's topic in New York City Subway
While the AirTrain is dead (at least for now, the airports lobby is pretty powerful and LGA is like the darling airport of business travelers), one interesting thing to note is that this probably means the optimal route to LGA might actually be a surface light rail extension of the IBX via Junction Blvd/94th, jogging over on Northern. -
Governor Hochul seeks ‘alternatives’ to LaGuardia AirTrain
bobtehpanda replied to GojiMet86's topic in New York City Subway
That's not the reason why the extension was rejected. An LGA runway directly ends at the GCP. If you have ever driven in the area you'll notice very stubby streetlamps. Indeed, if you look at that neighborhood on Google Maps, there is a whole-ass clear zone where there are no buildings that are legally allowed to be built. Nothing can be in the general path of that runway and taller than those streetlamps. So you can't really build an elevated line from the west. There's also a 90 year old storm and wastewater pipe that is apparently critical for serving hundreds of thousands of people in Queens that is also underground in this location, so it's not easy to build a tunnel either. Here's the report: https://www.panynj.gov/content/dam/port-authority/press-room/press-kits/lga-mass-transit/2023-03-13-Full-Report%2bExecutive-Summary.pdf -
Interborough Express (Triboro RX) Discussion
bobtehpanda replied to GojiMet86's topic in New York City Subway
It's worth noting the very specific case of "off the shelf". Off the shelf means that they're going to be pretty much exactly the same as all the other units in the country (which makes me thinks Siemens S70/700 is the obvious choice) and it means that parts are cheap. Also, all those agencies around the country using those vehicles already have spares, already have people trained, etc. so it's clearly not very hard. On the other hand we don't really have off-the-shelf high floor cars; LA Metro has been off doing its own thing for a while now, and the high-floor S200 has exactly two operators. The NTTs are notable in that they are actually fairly expensive per car, and a good deal of that is because no one else really operates trains like NTT. -
Interborough Express (Triboro RX) Discussion
bobtehpanda replied to GojiMet86's topic in New York City Subway
Unsightly is not the issue. ADA compliance is. For the most part, low floor LRVs are basically flush with the curb, or a little bit higher. The ADA limits slope, so a high floor platform needs a longer, more expensive ramp. Not to mention the cost of the additional concrete and whatnot. -
Interborough Express (Triboro RX) Discussion
bobtehpanda replied to GojiMet86's topic in New York City Subway
It's probably going to be low platform. They specifically mention using off-the-shelf rolling stock, and all of that in the US is low-floor. You can have flat cross platform transfers between light rail and subway, the light rail trackbed would just be higher. -
Interborough Express (Triboro RX) Discussion
bobtehpanda replied to GojiMet86's topic in New York City Subway
5.5bn for 14 miles comes out to about $240M per km. The cost per rider actually compares favorably with SAS; this is 5.5bn for 115,000 riders, SAS Phase II is is $6.3B for 110,000 riders. In general this is cheaper than a subway but at inflated New York costs