From: Ronn!Blankenship <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: Killer Bs Discussion <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Killer Bs Discussion <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: New Jersey (was Re: religious/political question) Date: Sun, 02 Nov 2003 09:02:19 -0600
At 08:40 AM 11/2/03 -0500, Jim Sharkey wrote:
Erik Reuter wrote: >Jim Sharkey wrote: >> Even a place like DC that has a great public transportation >>system in the Metro winds up with loads of traffic. >In Jersey, there just aren't enough train lines to live next to >unless you just want to commute to New York or Philly, in which >case, I'd rather live in New York or Philly anyway!
That's understandable. However, the desire to live in cities changes in many people as they get older, get married, and raise children. At that point, they have to go somewhere. And NJ is no worse a choice than Long Island, Westchester, and etc. And as Tom pointed out, those aren't convenient either.
You really can't compare a subway system to suburban rails anyway. I don't see them as the same animal. Even the Metro, which I've already spoken well of, has limited suburban stops.
Can anyone cite me an example of good public transportation *into* a metropolitan area?
I'm not sure what you mean by "good public transportation" here. If you mean for getting commuters in to the city in the morning and back out to their homes some distance away at night, I was under the impression that New York City probably had the best such system in the country. Is that not what you mean, or is my impression incorrect?
New York's Long Island Rail Road is probably the best example I can think of (and the obvious choice for me, considering I use it every day.) Metro North (CT and Upstate NY from NYC) is a decent system, but trains don't necessarily run as frequently as you might expect.
LIRR is really expensive, though. I spend more than $200 on my monthly commute, including subway. With parking costs, that's still cheaper than using the car everyday.
A better comparison for New Jersey might be Westchester or Rockland Counties in NY. Queens and Nassau Counties (Long Island) don't really have the suburban feel that most of NJ does anymore. And LIRR and the NYC subway handle a much higher volume of traffic than NJTransit.
The main thing I notice when I travel is that the subway or rail systems in other cities is not that they're schedules are less convenient, but that they are typically a LOT cleaner. From DC's Metro to Portland's Light Rail, the systems look much better. Of course, the traffic volume argument also applies.
Jon
Le Blog: http://zarq.livejournal.com
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