The Worst Transit Project in the US is Cancelled

Here I am in south western Zimbabwe being invested in the first world problems of eastern Pennsylvania. This is fascinating stuff.

Being from Detroit, it blows my mind that there are cities in the US that have such mass transit systems. Metro Detroit is the very definition of an apocalyptic suburban nightmare from which there is no escape.

I love the fact that your name is known by the SEPTA board - keep speaking truth to power.

i love learning about cancelled rail lines on the other side of the world

Also an unpopular opinion, I’ll happily pay 0.5% more in local wage taxes to get the Roosevelt Blvd extension built.

Been to KOP once. Your description as a "car infested hell hole" is spot on.

Huge win. I hope the funds are reallocated smartly and other programs get accelerated

I just love how you always strike a perfect balance between being highly serious on one hand, and a qualified shitposter/memer on the other. Top-tier content as always! <3

When Alan publishes a new video, I feel the moral obligation to stop what I was doing a watch it.

This is the most elaborate job application I've ever seen

Navy Yard extension and RBS would be the most logical rail extensions if SEPTA is going to do any line expansions. Hopefully they'll move on to doing what they should have this entire time.

I'm a bit concerned about how they said "paused" instead of "cancelled", though IDK if that's just to appease supporters or if they actually intend on "resuming" it at any point (hopefully not). And yeah, I used to commute out there from West Philly using NHSL and unless you drive for the last mile, your commute gets twice as long anyhow. hardly matters if the station is right next to the mall or not cause all the offices in the area are spread out.

As a person who lives in the Philly area it’s very exciting to see stuff actually get done. Hopefully these funds are used correctly

I definitely understand that one-seat argument. Where I'm at on Long Island, I live along the western Montauk Branch and because of it, direct service to and from Penn is very limited so I'm stuck changing at either Jamaica or Babylon. This is because of a number of factors, firstly the branch is not electrified (they could at least electrify it between Babylon and Speonk where they have a yard) and most of it is single-track. The LIRR has 160 miles of diesel territory and only 22 percent of its fleet is diesel. Said diesel fleet keeps breaking down, and only a small amount of said diesel fleet can turn on electric mode to enter Penn. However, there was light at the end of the tunnel for a bit when in 2021, the LIRR partnered with Alstom to test batteries (the US's first) on the Oyster Bay Branch on electric trains so they could run on the diesel branches. But while initially successful, this proved to be too expensive, and the experiment ceased in July 2022. And an example of transit that goes to a mall DONE RIGHT is Newport station on the HBLR in Jersey City. Unlike other malls in the US, Newport Centre is very much a thriving mall (they still have SEARS!) and it's mostly thanks to transit. It's the most popular stop on the HBLR (which stretches across Hudson County from North Bergen to Bayonne) by far, and that's on top of the mall being near a PATH station! The HBLR also connects to the PATH at Exchange Place and Hoboken Terminal as well. Private Spanish shuttles from Union City and the GWB also go to Newport.

10 thousand some daily riders on the KOP extension vs 120k projected daily riders for Roosevelt blvd line for the same price is all you need to hear. Suburbs need better transit access but not to the detriment of Philadelphians

Heading out to Temple next week for an admitted grad student event. Thanks for giving me some good ice breakers for discussions with my fellow transit nerd peers.

LGA Airtrain in NYC is also canceled. This week was a bad week for transit boondoggles lol.

I used to live in Reading. I hoped so much for a train ride into Philadelphia. Instead I had to drive to King of Prussia Mall and ride a bus in. That bus was always stuck in the grid-locked traffic of 76. It sucked. At least I wasn't the one driving but I would have absolutely loved a straight train ride in.

I really like Philly, and I have ridden on virtually all of Septa’s various transportation ( including the commuter lines). I have also traveled on the Patco line out to NJ. I’ve driven to King of Prussia and have tried to get into Center City using I-76; it took nearly 2 hours at the height of rush hour on the rainiest Friday —-what a total nightmare! But once I was able to park the car, I used the public transportation to all the places I wanted to see.

Now we need to convince septa to build the Roosevelt subway.