New Dinky to Nassau Street

To your point then, I have a hard time believing that NJ Transit is really prepared to invest in a unique dual use bus/light rail setup for an isolated 2.7 mile spur when it would be easier to say, hey we looked at light rail but we're dropping that in favor of just running a bus.

Especially if Transit used electric buses; that would placate the environmentalists. I can see electric buses using the Dinky ROW as an express route

If it's going to be a bus route the buses ought to go farther into the town center. What would be the University's feeling about "ugly overhead wires" over the streets? (Lithium-battery buses don't seem ready for prime time.)

Maybe a job for trolley buses with batteries, good for a few miles?

Sucks to see more rails in NJ get ripped up, if that's the way NJT wants to go.

scratchyX1 wrote: ↑Sun Dec 11, 2022 11:45 am Maybe a job for trolley buses with batteries, good for a few miles?

That might work. I hate to find myself favoring a bus substitution, but I can't see a "landlocked" rail operation with unique equipment for such a short distance with so few passengers.

A further thought is that if they're going to use the railroad row it should be possible to arrange a cross-platform transfer at the westbound platform (Track 4) to spare passengers a hike from there to a parking or drop-off area to reach the bus.

ExCon90 wrote: ↑Sun Dec 11, 2022 10:56 pm

scratchyX1 wrote: ↑Sun Dec 11, 2022 11:45 am Maybe a job for trolley buses with batteries, good for a few miles?

That might work. I hate to find myself favoring a bus substitution, but I can't see a "landlocked" rail operation with unique equipment for such a short distance with so few passengers.

A further thought is that if they're going to use the railroad row it should be possible to arrange a cross-platform transfer at the westbound platform (Track 4) to spare passengers a hike from there to a parking or drop-off area to reach the bus.

I've lived in the Mercer/Somerset county area a long time and am familiar with the local traffic (and have taken the Princeton branch train (the Dinky) a few times). The idea of electric trolleys or busses running under wire from Princeton Junction to Princeton station, and then on batteries for the 1/2 mile from the current Princeton station up to downtown Princeton makes a lot of sense to me. They could run up Alexander St, go right on Mercer St, about 100 ft on Nassau St , and then right again to back down University Place to get back to the station. Or if you think big, then could return from Nassau St down on the road through the center of campus to the station. On Google maps the roads on campus in the station area look to b configured to make that possible.

One big issue to me would be that at peak times one "bus" is not enough for the passenger traffic to/from Princeton Junction, and the car (bus?) that travels between Princeton and PJ would require multiple units. And probably only one could go on the local streets like I described above. So passengers would have to walk forward to the one car (or unit) that continues onto local streets, and there would be coupling/uncoupling time delays involved. Does anyone have any creative ideas, beside the loop bus that I described being totally independent of the Princeton to Princeton Junction vehicles?
JS
PS. THis is a long thread. Probably my idea has been posted before here, but I was too lazy to read it all.

The NJ Transit study specifically calls out changes to Nassau street and extensions to the route that are "rubber tire only". Note that Princeton University already operates a bus from the Campus to Princeton Junction (requires university ID but is free to all riders).

I would like to see rail or trolley service in the future. But realistically, I think battery-powered buses that service downtown Princeton and then use the paved-over Dinky ROW to express to PJ train station is the likely outcome.

Matt Johnson wrote: ↑Sat Dec 10, 2022 4:10 pm To your point then, I have a hard time believing that NJ Transit is really prepared to invest in a unique dual use bus/light rail setup for an isolated 2.7 mile spur when it would be easier to say, hey we looked at light rail but we're dropping that in favor of just running a bus.

I don't disagree.

However, as a public project that did public outreach three times as part of this study, people apparently really love the idea of having something on rails, so this was the highest-rated proposal. The all-BRT proposal was the lowest-ranked, to the point that preserving the status quo ranked higher.

Did you actually read the report?

Personally, I'm more interested in hearing about how this service is going to work, as the LRT is shown to be single-track at stations:


For someone waiting for the first departure at the right-hand platform in this picture, when the light rail shows up before the bus, what do you do? Run across the road? I guess it's not the worst if the vehicle has doors on both sides but still feels weird.

https://citytransport.info/Frame1.htm
Perhaps something like this system, which had busses and trams on same segment?

Huh? The rails are embedded in the pavement. This is just like street-running LRVs in Newark.

My question was more about the logistics of having only one track through stations which have two side platforms.

Conceptual depictions often get the details wrong -- maybe the illustrator wasn't given enough information to go on.

The description does talk about passing tracks — would make a lot of sense to build this like the river line where the passing tracks are sometimes at stations.

Dcell wrote: ↑Tue Dec 13, 2022 2:16 pm I would like to see rail or trolley service in the future. But realistically, I think battery-powered buses that service downtown Princeton and then use the paved-over Dinky ROW to express to PJ train station is the likely outcome.

NJ Transit has commenced testing of battery electric buses: https://www.nj.com/news/2022/10/nj-tran ... fines.html