For the last time..There are 5 diffrent types of rail systems that serve diffrent pop. denisitys.

[Leon Silverman]

Many responses here have said the government SHOULD create high density living/working areas that can be served by mass transit. The truth is that local government (municipal) policies have created the suburban sproul that requires hugh subsidies to operate. These policies are known as tax rates and short sightedness.
As a lifetime resident of the Philadelphia area, I have seen the suburbs blossum while the city withers, in terms of both population and jobs. This is due to higher business and wage taxes levied on city residents, workers, and businesses. Both the population and businesses fled the city. Does anybody wonder why Silicon Valley developed in California after the first mainframe Computor, Eniac, was built in Philadelphia? The city would not provide an industrial park for the industry.
People are not going to move back into densely populated because the rural areas have developed a metrophobe (fear of the big city) mentality. My daughter attended one semester at Idiana University of Pa. This is situated roughly halfway between Pittsburgh and Altoona. We lived in Philadelphiaat the time. Her classmates could not understand why she didn't do or sell drugs. They asked her how she was able sleep during all of the driveby shootings going on at home. (Guns aren't that much of a noisemaker. Unmuffled cars and motocycles are.)
The result of these policies is the development of all suburban lifestyles of people both living and working outside the city. This is why beltways are frequently just as congested as highways going directly into the cities. With one exception, all commutor train routes serving Philadelphia travel between the city and the suburbs. The line that now serves the airport was added by electrifying a former freight route. The rest of the trains travel routes that were formally owned by either the PRR or Reading. The city built a tunnel that connected the seperate downtown terminals. The only all suburban route is the River Line that connects Trenton with Camden in New Jersey. The only way to get from one suburb to the other on the SouthEastern PA side is to travel into center city Philadelphia and then back out again.
I have seen a rash of new, expensive homes being built in the far northeast of Philadelphia (near commutor trains and buses). They are selling because they are eligible for a ten year tax abatement. let's see what happens when the ten years are up.

Current South Jersey (Boonies) resident who commutes 40 miles each way to Philly to work.

[Anonymous]

I have a habit of staying out of big citys and traveling in midsized citys like Cleveland and Albany NY. The Think here is that the local planners tell me that there citys dont have the densitys to support commuter rail BUT at the same time the Metropolitin Planning Authoritys have no problem building and subsidizing freeways and road widings that gobble up green space in the burbs(not to mention drive up property taxes for freight railroad yards) The theory is that freeways will spur growth in empty land(Empty? Tell that to the wildlife) Our tax dollers are subsizing suberban spawl by building sewers and water and roads so that real estate fat cats can get even richer. NOW if we were to build Commuter Rail to delelop land smarter then when we have the population density upgrade to Light rail,,then Heavy rail We could use commuter rail as a tool to promote green growth. OH Yeah and urban growth boundrys like Portland OR,

[Anonymous]

Ed,
I’ve ordered a squadron of UN black helicopters to abduct everyone within a mile of the Acme Brick Company and take them to headquarters for deprogramming and medical experiments.

[edblysard]

Oh, so that what happend to the dogs...

Hey, for anyone interested, the UP Heritage unit, #1982 in the MoPac paint, is in Settagast as I type...am off for photos..
Ed

[Sterling1]

QUOTE: Originally posted by chad thomas

What works best for the Amish?[:D]

Big ol' "bus" carriage and some horses . . . [(-D]

[DSchmitt]

Instead of areas of high population density separated from areas of high employment density, how about planning areas of mixed housing densities incorporating areas of employment for the majority of the residents within walking distance of or even in their homes. Amenities sush as markets, theaters, parks, etc would be incorporated too. The few people who needed to go to locations remote from their homes could use SGPTM for their trips. SGPTM's would be owned by individuals and/or familiy groups and be made in various sizes from single passenger to those capable of carrying 8 or so people and/or cargo. SGPTM's would also be useful for vacations.