R6 Cynwyd: SEPTA's "Dinky"

I must say; I am in favour of SEPTA's decision to run single-car consists on the Cynwyd Branch. With only three stations to boot, it seems appropriate. Granted, mileage-wise, it is certainly a longer route than the 2.7 mile Dinky, but still. Ridership justifies a single car.

I like it!

How could you possibly like it? I mean, you have to accept it, but as an advocate (which I suppose you are, since you are here) of rail transit, you should not be happy with the service on this line? It was at one time a mighty route on the Pennsylvania RR only to be cut down with the lack of funding and vision that INEPTA brought into the Philadelphia area.

Have you not noticed that HUGE viaduct that spans the river? You know, the one left to ROT and DIE? How about how they have cut service and cut service to 'keep the line alive.' Bull. They know fully well what they are doing. And it isn't keeping the line alive. Do you keep a starving patient alive with scraps of food? OR do you feed it back to health?

SEPTA (and the state of PA) seems to think that the way to make a better RRD is to keep the food at bay and hope for the best. Well, look at what it has gotten us. A system that is a mere shadow of its former self.

And the Mayor and the Governor wonder why business won't come to Pennsylvania. Well, there is one of the many answers.

Is there a point to this thread? LIke we don't know that our rail system in Philly is crappy enough?

What I am trying to tell the original poster is that nobody, especially rail advocates, should be happy with the service that SEPTA is running at thos point in time.

SEPTA doesen't deserve the 'thumbs up' that Paco gave them over the Cynwyd Line. They deserve to be made to ride the system that they put in to place.

I think Paco's point is that given the current length of the line, single car services are reasonable. I think we would all agree that restoration of service over the old bridge to Manayunk and hopefully beyond would be a great thing, but that would require major investment. For now, can anyone justify increased car length to Cynwyd?

I fail to see the logic behind the way SEPTA runs this line. Actually, ridership is not that low. Those 1 car shuttles fill up. But instead of ending it at suburban, why not run it all the way to Temple and then back again, bus line style...all day!

For one thing, it would serve as a frequent shuttle for the CC stations if you just had this thing turn around and go out again. Why have it end downtown, send the crew on lunch and then an hour later have them go out again? This line is the fastest way to CC from City Line Ave right now. If the trains went back and forth all day it could have 30 min headways.

I guess it never occured to SEPTA that the line has 'low ridership' because its only 3 stations, or because each station has such limited parking capacity. The Bala Station has some promise in that there are apt. buildings close by so at least some people can walk.

Nor has it occured to them, that if they are going to keep the line open, they automatically inherit the fixed costs of the MOW. So the fixed cost per trip goes up each time they reduce service, making the line more dependent on subsidy....an endless spiral into oblivion......

But how much more does it really cost to keep it running all day? If people knew it was there I'm sure someone would use it. The best way to fill the trains up again is to re-extend it to Manayunk again. The Norristown side is always packed, with tons of people getting off at Ivy Ridge and Manayunk, and since we all know SEPTA won't add cars or service to alleviate the crowded conditions, why not augment it with more Cynwyd trains?

As we speak, SEPTA is planning on cutting this line again this summer, along with the Fox Chase because of its low ridership nature.

:D Someone really ought to alert SEPTA to this board.

Another thing that they haven't thought of, *gasp!* ADVERTISING!

Make the stations known to the potential riders. Make the stations worth travelling to and from. [Re] Introduce more frequency. Give people an incentive to ride the train and they_will_ride_it.

The bridge and remaining line cannot require so much capitol investment that they can't extend service back to Ivy Ridge. It's nuts. I bet, if SEPTA put their minds together, they could get the line up and running in six months time. No problem. (Assuming they had the money and minds to put on the task.)[/b]

Not to muddy the issue, but the PRR ran single Silverliner units on non-peak hour trains on this line back in the 60s. There's a pic in Pennypacker's Trackside Around Philadelphia.

jfrey40535 wrote:As we speak, SEPTA is planning on cutting this line again this summer, along with the Fox Chase because of its low ridership nature.

Just FYI... me, being a daily Fox Chase Rider, am telling you that even though the line may be decrepit and that ridership might be low, the people in this neighborhood WILL NOT allow that line to be closed down, no matter how hard SEPTA tries!

I sympathize with you Matt, I'm just repeating what I'm hearing. in SEPTA's eyes, the line is impractical because it is small and will never generate alot of riders like the Paoli or Trenton lines. If anything, SEPTA should be building parking garages at these stations because if you can't get their by bus or car, you're not going to use it. Fox Chase is an all city route, you would think it would have a higher number of riders...

There are so many things they could do to encourage ridership, but the only tactic they know is discouragement.

Roverinexile said it best. Given the current length of the line, single car service is all that is needed. Why that single car service doesn't run hourly is another story.

I am completely in favor of service being extended over the breathtaking Manuyunk Viaduct into Ivy Ridge, but it is not happening anytime soon. Given the present length of the Cynwyd line the mere three stations it serves (all of which are close enough to the R6 Norristown and R5 Paoli lines), one car does the trick nice.

Plus, you have to remember R8queenlane, Conrail ripped up the PRR's double-track Skoo-kill Valley line to Norristown, not SEPTIC. If anything, SEPTA voiced interest in the line when Conrail was removing it. Hence, the current end-of-track in Ivy Ridge. Granted, SEPTA has done little for the line since, but thankfully, there are some politically connected residents in Bala and Cynwyd that voice strong opposition.

why did ConRail rip up the Pennsy line to Norristown?

Elwood

Probably to reduce their real estate tax.

Take commuter lines like ACE in San Jose and SLE in New Haven. These lines only have 2-3 trains/day in the peak direction. If you think about it, even though the Cynwyd line is only 1 or 2 car trains, its still 3-4-5 trains more than that.

I hate to say this, but the person who said that the bridge and tracks could be back in service in six months is kinda, well, dreaming. There are no(!!) tracks across the bridge at all. They end at the station on Belmont Ave (sorry, I don't know the name offhand). The tracks don't begin again until about 1/4 mile from Ivy Ridge station.

Also, does anybody know the structural integerity of the bridge? Granted, I've never seen a train roll across that bridge in my lifetime, I was born too late (just a few years, but I still missed it.) SEPTA did a cosmetic restoration, but that was to stop the face of the bridge from falling down (and yes, it was literally falling down, on people's cars too. Sounds familiar with the RDG bridge that runs up Cresson street too. What a trend.)

Speaking of tracks, you need signals to govern these trains. There are none in place past the bridge. Need them too.

I've said this before, a long time ago. Once you get past Ivy Ridge, it's a jungle. Literally. I drove over the once was crossing that now begins the Valley Forge bike path and looked into the woods. I couldn't believe that just twenty or so years ago, a trian used to cross here. I couldn't get over it. Oh and between Shawmont Ave and the beginning of the bike path, the people who live along Nixon Road have "extended" their yards onto the former ROW. About the only thing that's still in place along that former line are the catenary poles with the high voltage lines on the tops of the poles, not the catenary themselves.

Okay, I'm going to end this now before my hands fall off.