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January 18, 2008Amtrak Averts Strike; SEPTA Riders Exhale
Amtrak will apparently grant back wages to its workers worth $150 million, which the government will probably pay since Amtrak is run almost entirely on federal subsidies. However, $150 million for the government is absolutely nothing, so hooray, everybody wins! Posted by D-Mac at 01:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) January 17, 2008Amtrak To Screw Up Entire East Coast
The regional rail lines that run on Amtrak lines are: R1 Airport, R2 Newark, R5 Paoli, R6 Cynwyd, R7 Trenton and R8 Chestnut Hill West. (The Inquirer says it would affect 54,000 daily rail riders.) Similarly, NJ Transit would have to shut down its Northeast Corridor Line, which runs from Trenton to New York and is by far the best way to get into New York City. (SEPTA to NJ Transit to Penn Station. When I started college, this was actually pretty cheap, too!) Continue reading "Amtrak To Screw Up Entire East Coast" Posted by D-Mac at 04:02 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0) September 18, 2006Don't Flick Your Headlights At Cars With Lights Off
A little under a year ago, Amtrak announced that it was raising fares -- some marked up 59 percent. While monthly pass sales have fallen, revenue is up a whopping 3 percent. Many passengers have decided to go the SEPTA/NJ Transit route to New York City instead of paying higher Amtrak fees. But, there was a time when the fare increase was just a rumor, and that forced one resident to make a move right then and there: In the summer of 2005, when James Walker left his longtime job with a New York nonprofit for a foundation post with the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, rumors of a hefty Amtrak fare hike were a factor. Yep. I always like to take rumors into account when making important life decisions. Amtrak fares up; ridership adapts [Inquirer] Posted by D-Mac at 02:02 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0) May 25, 2006NB To Stranded Workers: Probably Not The Best Idea To Bash Your Boss In The Newspaper
The Inquirer sent three reporters to ask people if they were annoyed at being stranded -- in a shocker, the commuters said "Yes!" -- and did find a story of a SEPTA worker who was driving people to a bus stop. They also found this woman, who is totally getting a talking-to from her boss now that she's in the office: "It's been good for a while -- for a few months," said another stranded passenger, Jennifer McCarrick, also of Malvern. "I think, mostly, things have been getting a little better." Ahh, yes, telling the paper of record that your boss used to be late is surely a way to move up on the career ladder! But, well, stranger things have happened. Stranded commuters navigate the stress [Inky] Posted by D-Mac at 02:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) Quickies: You're Welcome• Hey, the old Visitors' Center has reopened.... as the Welcome Center! How this is a big change mystifies me, but KYW 1060 has the scoop, of course. [KYW 1060] • Speaking of our favorite radio station, Phil Neuman has left the station after 21 years, saying that management had its head up its as. As management tends to do. [Inky] • The question that needs to be asked: What if the Inquirer's new owners -- i.e. not Brian Tierney, but the Royal Bank of Scotland -- decide they're not making enough money? [American Debate] • Did you get to work on a train this morning? Liar. [Philly.com] Posted by D-Mac at 10:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) January 13, 2006A new proposal to rename '30th Street Station'
And, okay, this city renames things for people all the time, and it's all good. Who's really going to argue with, say, renaming 30th Street Station "Ben Station", as proposed by Pew Charitable Trusts and endorsed yesterday by Mayor Street? Well, lots of people. I detailed the stupidity of this idea before, but let's reiterate: This is the stupidest idea since the Sixers traded Charles Barkley. Let's do a little imaginary conversation, shall we? 30th Street Station Inga Saffron's article in today's Inquirer essentially makes it known that this is a done deal, and they're just waiting to make the announcement that 30th Street Station is now named Ben Station. John Street's rebuttal to the critics? Oh, he has a rebuttal: "I say to those people, this is a great idea, and I wish they would get on board." Whoo! Some people have said that this idea is confusing, because it would be too similar to Penn Station in New York. And others have said that we should name it Judge Higginbotham Station instead. Well, I say no to Higginbotham Station, and certainly no to Ben Station. I don't think either goes far enough. My proposal is to take the confusion of "Ben Station" one step further: We should rename 30th Street Station "Philadelphia International Airport." Then we'll truly be a world class city. Street fires up momentum for 'Ben Station' [Inky] Posted by D-Mac at 12:36 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0) December 28, 2005All about the Benjamin
Look, I like Ben Franklin and all: He founded the college I went to, he did something with a kite and key, he invented about a million different things and he wasn't a player -- he just crushed a lot. But do we really need to name every single thing in the city after him just because he was born 300 years ago? Franklin Field, Franklin Square, the Ben Franklin Parkway, the Franklin Institute, the Franklin Building and that stupid statue near Pine Street aren't enough? A guy on Livejournal notes that Amtrak doesn't like the idea, especially due to its similarness to Penn Station -- and there are already two of those, in Newark and Manhattan. (Another guy on LJ says "I think it is great. It reminds me of Ben Franklin, famous intellectual and world-class pimp," which is the most compelling argument in favor of the renaming I've heard yet.) Anyway, even if they renamed the station in favor of Ben Franklin, everyone would just call it 30th Street Station anyway. (See: West River Drive, Delaware Avenue, etc.) And that's the way it should be. The Inky editorial board is all nice about it, and that's all well and good, but let's say it like it is: This is the stupidest idea since, well, putting a Planet Hollywood at Penn's Landing. Uh oh. Editorial | Name of the game is leave it the same [Inky] Posted by D-Mac at 03:19 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0) November 04, 2005Day 5: Breakin' (down) the strikeFive days in and we're still nowhere closer to a settlement. Pack it in for the long haul, people. Some recent developments: • Downed power lines caused delays of up to two hours on all Regional Rail lines during the evening rush hour yesterday. Reportedly, the lines were backed up all the way from the station to the Gallery. From 30th Street Station to the Gallery. [KYW1060] • Philly School District wants students to be able to get on Regional Rail with a token. Yeah. Over my cold, dead body (that's clutching $3.75 for the ride to a Zone 3 station). [KYW1060] • Fast Eddie looks to enter the ring, provided the negotiations have a buffet. [DN] • The NBC10 SEPTA strike blogger has been idenfitied -- online editor Teresa Masterson -- and she can't find a cab: "So I did the only thing I could do. In the words of Forest Gump, 'I...WAS...RUNNING!' I may have actually looked like Forest Gump, too." [NBC10] • And when things are tough, it's best to think of the little people: the strike is hurting Main Line commuters. [Main Line Life] Posted by D-Mac at 11:05 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0) |
This morning, commuters up and down the East Coast were stranded due to a power outage. AMTRAK, SEPTA, NJ Transit, etc. were all out. People were stuck in tunnels under rivers. It was a mess. (Thanks to Flickr, there are 
You know, I tend to like descriptive names for places. There's nothing wrong with renaming West River Drive after Martin Luther King, but something about West River Drive had a sort of nice ring to it, especially since it told you where the drive was (along the Schuylkill River) and which side of the river it was on (the West side).
An editorial in the Inquirer notes today that there's a possibility that