VIA Rail

[kEiThZ]

I've yet to meet that fabled creature then!

I had such profs in graduate school. And that was in engineering. I don't think folks like these are that rare. And in my experience, the better the institution, the more of these "fabled creatures" you'll find.

Maybe it depends on what field you are studying, as I would think that it is difficult to maintain conflicting viewpoints in a law-based and interpretation-free field like, say, mathematics...

There's lots of room in the hard sciences (even fields like mathematics) to disagree on interpretation of a set of data and approaches to how problems can be solved.

 

[kEiThZ]

Some contrarian caution on HFR. Why is Brightline doing so poorly?

https://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2019/12/09/virgin-trains-will-massively-underperform-2019.html

 

[innsertnamehere]

It's not a real regional route yet, and is located in an extremely car reliant part of the US that has lots of challenges in creating a culture of transit use? I mean look at Miami and it's fairly robust transit network that still sees absolutely atrocious transit ridership..

 

[dowlingm]

Some contrarian caution on HFR. Why is Brightline doing so poorly?

https://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2019/12/09/virgin-trains-will-massively-underperform-2019.html

Because of too many grade crossings and too many dumb drivers?

Video shows Brightline train striking Mini Cooper in North Miami Beach

NORTH MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A driver is lucky to be alive after their car was struck by a Brightline train in North Miami...

wsvn.com

 

[cplchanb]

Because of too many grade crossings and too many dumb drivers?

Video shows Brightline train striking Mini Cooper in North Miami Beach

NORTH MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A driver is lucky to be alive after their car was struck by a Brightline train in North Miami...

wsvn.com

just dumb drivers. that mini had plenty of time to just drive straight before the gates even completely lower. my bet is that they panicked and had deer in headlight syndrome.

 

[crs1026]

^The Brightline stats on grade crossing events are a real eye opener. Floridians just don’t seem to be able to grasp that any time can be train time. Same with pedestrian-train events. The line has good grade crossing protection, but people just haven’t caught on.

- Paul

 

[tmlittle]

Brightline has always seemed like a bit of a hail Mary being in Florida of all places -- the culture seems utterly opposed to it, and having it as a luxury service doesn't let it meaningfully compete with the Greyhound market.

 

[crs1026]

Brightline has always seemed like a bit of a hail Mary being in Florida of all places -- the culture seems utterly opposed to it, and having it as a luxury service doesn't let it meaningfully compete with the Greyhound market.

I'm optimistic, but only over a much longer timeframe, and when the system is finally extended to more places. I can't imagine the system making much (any?) money in its present configuration.

Florida's highway system is reaching a crippling level of congestion. The state is politically opposed to generating tax revenue, so few new highways will get built. As that worsens, people will eventually look for alternatives.

Brightline's biggest problem is the absolute absence of first-mile/last-mile solutions. Many local transit services only offer hourly service, half-hourly in rush hour. Florida's urban areas are so spread out that first-mile really means first-20 mile.

It's a harsh market environment, but rail is so much cheaper than highway construction that the scales will tip eventually. Especially if Brightline can expand further.

- Paul

 

[kEiThZ]

I'm optimistic, but only over a much longer timeframe, and when the system is finally extended to more places. I can't imagine the system making much (any?) money in its present configuration.

Florida's highway system is reaching a crippling level of congestion. The state is politically opposed to generating tax revenue, so few new highways will get built. As that worsens, people will eventually look for alternatives.

Brightline's biggest problem is the absolute absence of first-mile/last-mile solutions. Many local transit services only offer hourly service, half-hourly in rush hour. Florida's urban areas are so spread out that first-mile really means first-20 mile.

It's a harsh market environment, but rail is so much cheaper than highway construction that the scales will tip eventually. Especially if Brightline can expand further.

- Paul

Agreed. I think Brightline can succeed over time. The problem here is whether Virgin Trains USA has the capital to survive till Brightline is profitable. If it's losing $7 million per month and has half the ridership that was projected, that's not good.

For us, I worry that Brightline will be used as an argument against HFR. Especially since the plan/operating concept is so similar.

 

[innsertnamehere]

It'll be interesting to see how Brightline works once the Orlando extension opens, that will shift the service to more of a true regional service instead of just an expensive commuter train. I'm also interested to see if they end up actually building their planned Las Vegas - Victorville train.

 

[KevinT]

Survey: Connecting southwestern Ontario

We’re looking for your feedback on the southwestern Ontario transportation plan. This will help us build an integrated transportation system for the future. This survey should take around 15 minutes to complete. We will report back on what we heard in May 2020. Closing date: March 17, 2020

www.ontario.ca

Section 3 of the survey, "Supporting a competitive open for business environment" did not include any rail related choices. Getting single occupant vehicles off of the 401 would be very effective for moving more goods efficiently by truck. Did Oxford Country write this thing???

 

[Northern Light]

Section 3 of the survey, "Supporting a competitive open for business environment" did not include any rail related choices. Getting single occupant vehicles off of the 401 would be very effective for moving more goods efficiently by truck. Did Oxford Country write this thing???

There are some problematic question sets.

But there are also sections that allow write-in comments. Make full use of them!

 

[KevinT]

But there are also sections that allow write-in comments. Make full use of them!

Absolutely I did, I also respond to Kelly Elliott's tweet. Thanks!

 

[robmausser]

It'll be interesting to see how Brightline works once the Orlando extension opens, that will shift the service to more of a true regional service instead of just an expensive commuter train. I'm also interested to see if they end up actually building their planned Las Vegas - Victorville train.

And the extension to Tampa. Building in phases is a challenge. Because projects do not usually become totally useful until they are complete. So you risk people saying the project is a failure when its not technically even done

 

[crs1026]

And the extension to Tampa. Building in phases is a challenge. Because projects do not usually become totally useful until they are complete. So you risk people saying the project is a failure when its not technically even done

True enough - but I was especially thinking of Tampa when I commented on the 20-mile last mile. Tampa is one of those places where you don't want to get dropped off downtown at 10 PM. It may be a 30-mile commute from there to Clearwater, or St Petersburg.

Huge potential for a train that would haul snowbirds from the Gulf Coast to Disney for the day.... but you'd have to build further on than just Tampa.

- Paul