Scranton Times-Tribune: Amtrak proposes adding passenger train route to Scranton

[railiner]

Actually if one were to mindless follow the "railiner principle" of "trains must be faster than best time by road to be built or maintained", there would be many existing service that ought to be discontinued and many potential corridor service that ought not to be built.

Good points, but I was referring to this one case, which would cost a whole lot to do, and with not so much benefit.
I believe there exist many more places where expansion would yield more favorable results.

 

[west point]

For persons who drive to NY City what happens to your insurance rates once your carrier finds out? I was always able to sleep on commuter trains where as not so much on a bus. Amtrak much easier to sleep.

 

[bms]

For persons who drive to NY City what happens to your insurance rates once your carrier finds out? I was always able to sleep on commuter trains where as not so much on a bus. Amtrak much easier to sleep.

I haven't lived in eastern Pennsylvania in about ten years, but at that time to get insurance in Lehigh County, you had to answer yes or no to whether you commute to the New York area. Rates would be two or three times as high if you said yes. And rightfully so, that's 200 miles of driving every day.

 

[Exvalley]

I am a person who avoided driving into New York City for years. I would normally park in Stamford and take the commuter train from there.

A couple of years ago I decided to drive instead. I was shocked at how easy it was. Sure, traffic is always an issue, but the streets of New York City are laid out much better than Boston and many other cities that I have driven in - and the flow of traffic seemed much more orderly as a result.

 

[MARC Rider]

I spent 19 years commuting on the MARC train between Baltimore and Washington. I drove into town exactly twice. One time was a one-way trip -- I left the office at noon and headed out for a long weekend trip. The other time I drove in to cart home the stuff from my office that I didn't throw out or give away. On both trips, despite the traffic jams on MD and DC 295, the trip was about 30 minutes faster than the door-to-door train trip. However, it was a lot more stressful, driving very crowded freeways at high speed in the dark. Getting out of town mid-day was OK, but downtown DC traffic is always a pain. The time I picked up my stuff, I stayed late and had dinner in town to try to beat the PM rush hour. It didn't help that much. The ride home was also crowded and the drive stressful, even after 7 PM. And, being February, it was dark.

I should also mention that the parking garage, while fairly convenient to my office, was about $25 a day. I didn't research what a monthly pass would be, but I'm sure it would be 100s of dollars. On the other hand, most of the larger employers in DC provide some sort of transit subsidy to their employees. This, I believe is mostly driven by the states of Maryland and Virginia (and DC) getting emissions offset credits under the Clean Air Act. It also probably part of the reason why the traffic isn't as bad as it could be.

So even though I could have gotten to work faster by driving, why should I put the wear and tear on my car and pay for all that gas and parking, especially when I get a subsidy for my monthly MARC pass and at least some of the Metro ride? I'm sure it's no different for people commuting into New York.