SEPTA service is extended to Wawa, but: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBCNJQe6_ZQ
Excellent summary.
Dream On, Again!
SEPTA service is extended to Wawa, but....
https://www.google.com/maps/@48.0006856,-84.8976447,38397m/data=!3m1!1e3
Thank You.
Wawa, Ontario is what I thought when I first saw that.
Now to get the battery car service set up between West Chester and Wawa. What I'd like to see is for the West Chester Railroad people to combine efforts with SEPTA to provide this with some amenities, as an extension of their current service.
Bigger question - Is there a Wawa Store at Wawa?
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
BaltACDBigger question - Is there a Wawa Store at Wawa?
https://www.wawa.com/about/locations/store-locator
(I was distressed to find that the brisket is back... and here I sit a thousand miles away, hungry.)
Overmod BaltACD Bigger question - Is there a Wawa Store at Wawa? Oddly enough... no. Although there appear to be two on Baltimore Pike in Media, and two more on Baltimore Pike in Glen Mills. https://www.wawa.com/about/locations/store-locator (I was distressed to find that the brisket is back... and here I sit a thousand miles away, hungry.)
BaltACD Bigger question - Is there a Wawa Store at Wawa?
Oddly enough... no. Although there appear to be two on Baltimore Pike in Media, and two more on Baltimore Pike in Glen Mills.
Head to Buc-ee's
ORNHOO SEPTA service is extended to Wawa, but: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBCNJQe6_ZQ
Every undergrad that takes a planning course and has a twitter becomes an instant urban planner. Just add light rail to taste.
If it was that easy when I went to school, I would have been one, too!
Honestly, that was my college career track. But once I noticed that all the "new" ideas being touted are all the same ideas that were being touted for the past 100 years, it seemed like a lesson in futility. Planners have a lot of ideas, but they never seem to have the next 10 words in how to fulfill their ideas. Or that's what I got out of it.
I suspect many of these 19 yr old "planners" (rail/bus/subway/trolley fans) all over twitter/reddit/youtube will eventually look back at these videos and laugh or cringe at themselves 10+ years from now as they jump in their RAV4 to drive to work from their house in the suburbs.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.
And therein lies the problem. While I'm sure that there are any number of proposals out there that are quite impractical, even the more reasonable and carefully thought-out proposals will go nowhere if they don't come up with an acceptable means of funding them.
Might Baba be buried in Wawa?
GrampMight Baba be buried in Wawa?
I also am curious what overlap there is between people that think remote work/ work form home should be the norm, and people that want commuter trains/busses to run as frequently as possible.
CSSHEGEWISCHAnd therein lies the problem. While I'm sure that there are any number of proposals out there that are quite impractical, even the more reasonable and carefully thought-out proposals will go nowhere if they don't come up with an acceptable means of funding them.
Their solution is just to nationalize everything.
There's a freight train wreck? NATIONALIZE! Because wrecks won't happen if the paychecks are paid for by the US Gov't somehow.
I'm literally reading a twitter thread spouting this thoguht right now.
zugmannI also am curious what overlap there is between people that think remote work/ work from home should be the norm, and people that want commuter trains/busses to run as frequently as possible.
Commuter trains and buses should be owned by the Government, and therefore run on frequent headways whether workers from home are riding them or not. They are all powered with green free Government energy from the sun or wind, and driven autonomously by ChatGPT AI programmed by Indian workers working remotely from home a LOT further away than control centers in the United States.
What a great future it will be when transit goes everywhere but doesn't have to stop for passengers! Somewhere there are bureaucrats that probably think that's a stunning idea!
zugmannTheir solution is just to nationalize everything.
If the federal gov't is going to force contracts on us from here on out, most likely, maybe we should just become federal workers?
Solve the sick day issue as well.
zugmannIf the federal gov't is going to force contracts on us from here on out, most likely, maybe we should just become federal workers?
OvermodWouldn't you have to give up Railroad Retirement benefits?
There's still commuter RRs and Amtrak that are part of the RRB.
zugmann I also am curious what overlap there is between people that think remote work/ work form home should be the norm, and people that want commuter trains/busses to run as frequently as possible.
Therin lies the question. Just how much of "work from home" is here to stay and how much "commute to work" capacity is going to be needed? I don't know how much the future holds for either and I doubt anyone else does.
Certainly, the businesses that own the properties their people work in are eventually going to say "Get your butts in here! We're not paying for the maintanance of this building for no reason!" while the ones leasing the properties might just say "OK, we'll just keep the place until the lease runs out and get rid of it, then let everyone work from home," especially if there's been no loss in productivity. It's a "wait and see," no doubt in my mind about it.
zugmann CSSHEGEWISCH And therein lies the problem. While I'm sure that there are any number of proposals out there that are quite impractical, even the more reasonable and carefully thought-out proposals will go nowhere if they don't come up with an acceptable means of funding them. Their solution is just to nationalize everything. There's a freight train wreck? NATIONALIZE! Because wrecks won't happen if the paychecks are paid for by the US Gov't somehow. I'm literally reading a twitter thread spouting this thoguht right now.
CSSHEGEWISCH And therein lies the problem. While I'm sure that there are any number of proposals out there that are quite impractical, even the more reasonable and carefully thought-out proposals will go nowhere if they don't come up with an acceptable means of funding them.
Profits on today's PSR rails are largely generated by various means: longer trains beyond siding capacity and heavier carloads to cut labor costs; deferred maintenance costs. All these contibute to more accidents. The profits are not cost free.
"Nationalize everything" is just another 10 word answer. Too simplistic thinking.
I just wish there was a little more indepth discussion from many of these people and their blogs/twitters. Of course I say the same with most things, even govt.
We had two major nationalized railroads, Conrail and CN. Then as now they shipped large amounts of dangerous goods and had accidents every now and then. And they tried to cut jobs and other costs.
Perhaps keeping those railroads nationalized would have prevented the closure of certain yards and the elimination of some jobs and maintenance programs. Or maybe the government would have eventually proven just as inept at running a railroad as the current PSR overlords. At any rate we've proceeded too far down the privatization rabbit hole, freight railroad nationalization isn't in the cards on this continent, no matter what left leaning pundits might say.
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
SD70Dude We had two major nationalized railroads, Conrail and CN. Then as now they shipped large amounts of dangerous goods and had accidents every now and then. And they tried to cut jobs and other costs. Perhaps keeping those railroads nationalized would have prevented the closure of certain yards and the elimination of some jobs and maintenance programs. Or maybe the government would have eventually proven just as inept at running a railroad as the current PSR overlords. At any rate we've proceeded too far down the privatization rabbit hole, freight railroad nationalization isn't in the cards on this continent, no matter what left leaning pundits might say.
In many respects CN was an industry leader and trailblazer as a "nationalized" railroad. A nationalized railroad is "owned" by people just as a publicly traded shareholder railroad is. I don't think it really matters that much who the "owners" are so long as there's a mechanism in place to ensure that the railroad is managed properly.
In the past the old nationalized CN was often criticized for inept management, but what is sometimes forgotten is that CN was a conglomeration of failed or marginal lines, some of which shouldn't have been built in the first place. And not having to answer to fickle investors and fund managers on Bay Street every quarter gave CN some rope to test new ideas.. the Breadsmore engines..doodlebugs..visibilty cabs..radio communication, safety cabs and more... all of which required longterm thinking beyond the next quarter.
Publicly traded companies, including railroads, are a wonderful idea as they allow average people to share in the economic success of society, but one drawback we've got is that the "setup" is geared to short term thinking..there's very little incentive to think ahead more than a few quarters, and certainly no incentive to think ahead 10 or 20 years, in sharp contrast to privately held "family owned" businesses.
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