bikentransit wrote:There are a number of parties that wish the line dead and perhaps even assisted this latest trail movement.
You may not have noticed, but the line IS dead and has been for quite a while.
bikentransit wrote: These are the parties that continue to promote the fallacy that the line is a bad investment, stealing riders from other lines, not feasible, etc.
I won't ask your opinion regarding climate change, but there have been multiple travel demand studies from the late 70s to 1995 that have all concluded that, at best, the Newtown Line will only attract a few hundred new riders--not enough to warrant a new parking garage on the West Trenton/Warminster/Doylestown Lines, let alone investment in a new rail line.
bikentransit wrote: SEPTA did their own study in 1991 that green lighted the project...
Not aware of any study commissioned by SEPTA or anyone else in 1991. SEPTA under Lou Gambaccini was obsessed with assembling a coalition for the "Cross-County Metro" and didn't let anything else be considered, let alone "green lighted". Maybe you're thinking of the 1995 travel demand forecast study produced by DVRPC on SEPTA's behalf (
https://www.dvrpc.org/Reports/95002.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;). As noted above, it did not conclude happily.
bikentransit wrote: ...but guess who made sure no funding was allocated for it.
Uhhh...SEPTA? Because in the 90s they were activity shooting down any project idea that competed with the Cross-County Metro (e.g.: the City's last attempt at extending the Broad Street Subway up the Boulevard)---at least until Jack Leary took over and the Schuylkill Valley Metro eclipsed the Cross-County Metro....
bikentransit wrote: Same thing happened in 1980 when Russ Parkhouse tried to get funding to electrify the line.
I have a great deal of respect for A. Russell Parkhouse and appreciate anyone making reference to him 33 years after his death---but what the h*** are you talking about?!? I worked for the County from 1977 to 1982 (then SEPTA from 1985) and I can assure you that [1] Mr. Parkhouse did not have a stash of money for electrification---that is not how projects are funded in the Delaware Valley, [2] if he did he wouldn't spend it on a transit project (he was all about leveraging other people's money (whenever i was going to meet with SEPTA he always advised "don't commit to anything you don't want taken out of your paycheck"), and [3] he especially wouldn't spend it on the Newtown Line (Mr Parkhouse's political base was Eastern Montgomery County---who do you think set the policy to deep-six the Newtown Line?).
I think you've confused Mr. Parkhouse with Ed Tennyson, who electrified the Newtown Line as far as Fox Chase and, as PennDOT Deputy Secretary under the Shapp administration, set aside funding to finish the job (
https://lightrailnow.wordpress.com/2014 ... velopment/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)
bikentransit wrote: Its funny after all these years, they still troll places like RR.net to make sure no one gets the idea that the trains are needed. Only a plant would know that the "Snail Darter" was an issue...
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A well-informed plant, I guess...
Is it necessary to descend into name calling and conspiracy theories to make your point? If you recall, this thread began with a 1985 photo of a Railbus bound for Newtown with me in the front window. I've done my part in trying to maintain, then restore service, but sometimes the dragon wins and i have the scars and bruises to prove it.
What have you done lately but sow paranoia with half-facts and unsupported assertions?