Our trip to Florida allowed me almost no time to ride or observe railroads. However, I walked from the north Fort Lauderdale Hampton Inn west to the Cypress Creek Blvd station of Tri-Rail this Tuesday morning 2.15.2005 and was happy to observe the arrival of the southbound 7:34 train, four cars, though six minutes late. On my walk, I had counted 50 autos in the parking lot, and twenty passengers awaited the train. A fellow with a bicycle and another man with roll-away luggage stood on the rear handicapped platform. When the train stopped, it appeared (to this outsider) that the conductor refused to extend the bridge (or whatever) for the handicap platform, so that the luggage and bicycle had to be swung over the gap to the train. I am presuming that some device would have been extended over the gap for a wheelchair. Is that privilege reserved only for wheelchairs? I saw others take bicycles on or off the train at the other door positions, to the low platform.
Considering the traffic jams we encountered on I-95, it is a pleasure to see the new stations, escalators, bridges, and expansive parking lots, all ready for future patronage. May they fill to overflowing as here on Long Island!
Joe McMahon
Considering the traffic jams we encountered on I-95, it is a pleasure to see the new stations, escalators, bridges, and expansive parking lots, all ready for future patronage. May they fill to overflowing as here on Long Island!
Joe McMahon
