Holy Infill, Batman!
Those CTA engineers planning to build a new station on the Skokie Swift line could learn something from New York's Metro-North commuter railroad. To help in-city riders get around, they built a temporary station at Yankee Stadium. Let's be clear here: there was no station there on Monday. It's Wednesday, and they have a station there. Obviously, there isn't much infrastructure required when you do fare collection onboard, but it's still pretty amazing. Still, commuters aren't too impressed:
Day 2 of the strike on Wednesday saw the opening of the temporary Metro North platform at Yankee Stadium, designed to offer a park-and-ride option off the Major Deegan. A mob of desperate commuters was expected: There were about a dozen cops, several Metro North employees, remote trucks from three television stations, even a Salvation Army van there to greet them. The only thing missing at around 10 this morn' were the cars—there were barely ten in the lot—and the people.
Too bad. Thing is, we have proof of concept. The fact that MARC trains are slowed through Halethorpe on the way to Washington because of a low platform should be even more embarrasing when a passable replacement that could shave minutes from this popular run could be built literally overnight.
All over the country, new commuter lines are in planning stages. Once the tracks are brought up to code and deals are struck with the freight lines that usually own them, cheap prefab platforms can go up next to where the permanent structures would be. Since ridership is always low initially, the parking lot doesn't even have to be very big at first. Kinks could get worked out, interest raised and transit converts created in many suburban neighborhoods.
So, who's going to impress me first?
Post Author:
rj3 | 11:13 PM |
Link
|
TrackBacks
