j653 wrote:In 2009:
- -1,242,663 individuals few in/out of MDT
-58,453 used the Middletown Amtrak station
Getting just 5 percent of flyers to use the Amtrak station would more than double the annual number using the station. And regardless of the final location selection, a free shuttle should be provided every 10-20 minutes.
Either at the current location or the AP Green Site a shuttle can be used to get to the airport very easily (not that it would have been that difficult from the current station so why there's no shuttle there is a big question mark). worse, there's a shuttle for the parking lot
Shuttle Schedule: This lot is served by shuttle buses that are fully accessible to those who are physically challenged. HIA Parking shuttle buses run approximately every 10 minutes, 24-hours a day from the numbered shelters in the Long-term/Economy lot to the terminal and back.
every ten minutes! and they can't meet 12 trains a day? as far as I can tell, you can walk from the AP Green site to the long term lot which is another reason it makes sense (it's actually closer than the terminal for the airport)
AP Green-walk to middletown downtown: 2-3 blocks. adds 2-3 blocks for parts of middletown. will ahve parking and pickup for station, walking distance to long term lot for airport, easy for shuttle buses to stop at station.
Current site: shuttles woudl have to go through residential neighborhood and platform would be curved
HIA-lots of parking, not near middletown, requires crossing freight tracks (new interlocking, work with NS, possible congestion)
AP Green seems like a no brainer to me.
OTOH, while the numbers may at first be striking, we need to think about what they don't say. sure, 1.2 million flew out of HIA but where did they go? would they, instead, take the train to PHL rather than catch a puddle jumper from HIA? If so, how many people does that account for? I've met people taking the R1 to the Keystone, one can only imagine more people would do it without the transfer, negating the need for connecting flights from HIA to PHL. there's no reason, IMO, a fast line couldn't take 70% of this market. where do they live? does it make sense to drive from lititz, pa to lancaster, park, and take the train to HIA when it's faster and probably just as cheap to drive to HIA? 5% may be an ambitious target, maybe 1% is more realistic. and if transportation policy is changed, ridership at the airport coudl plummet so maybe 5% of what's left.
http://maps.google.com/maps?sourceid=na ... CA8Q8gEwAA
the AP Green site is just north of the long term parking on the right
http://www.flyhia.com/documents/hia_cam ... ension.jpg