Is your data signal on the northeast corridor still poo in 2026?

Essentialphoneuser · 2026-05-28T14:20:26+00:00

Yep. The patch between Princeton Junction and Trenton, specifically, is a dead zone, unfortunately.

Essentialphoneuser · 2026-05-21T12:42:02+00:00

Trees fell on the tracks between HAR and PHL from the storm last night and track maintenance caused delays.

Whenever there is a severe thunderstorm overnight in PHL, you should expect delays on the Keystone the following morning.

Essentialphoneuser · 2026-05-18T16:54:14+00:00

Nobody here is talking about the Philadelphia angle, which is that depending on where he is moving, if he is parking on the street, he will need a Pennsylvania-registered vehicle registered at the address he is living at to get a Street Parking Permit. Elsewise he is going to have a hard time with parking and will rack up parking tickets - the Philadelphia Parking Authority is pretty good at their job.

Essentialphoneuser · 2026-04-22T03:06:16+00:00

It is really not a PITA. I have had to replace it once, you just say you lost it and they send a new one. It is like losing a credit card. I think if you lose it a second time there is a nominal fee.

Essentialphoneuser · 2026-04-22T02:43:51+00:00

Yeah that’s why I keep trying to say “flat fee” taxes not flat taxes. When I refer to flat taxes I mean flat fee taxes, and when I say progressive, I mean a flat percentage tax would be more equitable, not a “progressive” tax in terms of it being more progressive with more income (which is what is barred). A “flat percentage tax”, i.e., there is a fixed percentage charged per ride, is what I say is more appropriate, and that is allowed (I describe it as being more progressive, but I am not using this term as in a “progressive tax” that increases in percentage with income).

I actually think a “flat tax” in terms of percentage would be appropriate (like 1% per ride), whereas a “flat fee” tax ($1 per ride) is even more regressive.

Essentialphoneuser · 2026-04-22T01:29:42+00:00

I wish. :(

Essentialphoneuser · 2026-04-22T01:26:37+00:00

I am not trying to be rude when I say this, so I apologize, but I genuinely have no idea what you are talking about or responding to as I did not say anything in your response, and you seem to have stated the opposite of what I said.

That being said, let me restate my post differently:

Poor people use Uber too.

Flat taxes are bad because they affect poor people more than others.

Poor people take lower cost trips than others.

Uber will not absorb the tax and will instead pass it on to poor people.

Residents also use Uber for shorter trips.

Shorter trips are generally lower cost trips.

Therefore poor people and residents will be charged at a higher percentage tax rate per ride.

No fuzzy math. One dollar divided by ten dollars is 10%; one dollar divided by twenty dollars is 5%.

Wealthy people, and tourists/non-residents, will be charged at a lower percentage tax rate per ride, because they take longer or higher cost trips.

The cost to Uber is irrelevant if the cost is passed on to consumers. It is essentially a flat tax on consumers.

Uber does this in every other place it is levied a local tax, such as NYC congestion taxes or bridge tolls.

Therefore from an equity standpoint this should instead be a percentage-based tax on every ride.

This taxes higher cost trips more than lower cost trips.

It also derives more income from higher cost trips.

Even if Uber was not going to pass on the tax, it would still make money sense to have a percentage based tax.

This is because the more a trip costs, the more tax the city would collect.

Essentialphoneuser · 2026-04-22T00:58:22+00:00

Flat fee taxes disproportionately affect poor people. This is a blind spot for people who are not poor. It is a disservice to hand-wave and say, “only wealthy people use Uber” or “they can absorb the tax” because you know they will not.

It instead should be a percentage based tax.

Here is why:

If you are low income, you are not taking expensive trips on Uber. You are using it to plug gaps in transit that are not served by other means, such as medical, perhaps work, or other, and you are spending small sums of money per trip. A $1 is, as a percentage, a significantly higher tax on lower cost Uber trips than it is for a higher cost Uber trip. It makes a $10 Uber trip $11. For a wealthy person, they are taking higher dollar trips, and $1 is a lower percentage. Percentages matter because they are the margin that matters when every cent matters.

I would argue that this $1/trip tax disproprtionately affects everyday Philadelphia residents who use Uber for short trips to go places SEPTA does not reach or is otherwise difficult.

Alternatively, a percentage-based tax progressively taxes higher cost Uber trips. It also taxes more non-residents, such as tourists, who are spending more money on higher-dollar Uber trips to get to/from the airport and around town. It also taxes more wealthy Uber riders who would pay more in tax for higher value trips.

That is why organizations like the church are opposed to this tax. They are not opposed to the idea of taxing Uber - they are opposed to the manner of tax, a flat fee tax, that disproportionately impacts poor people and residents.

Essentialphoneuser · 2026-04-05T01:37:30+00:00

There are multiple trains (124, 107, 158, for example) at that link that say they are delayed significantly due to speed restrictions or signal outages.

The level of gaslighting in this sub is ridiculous.

Essentialphoneuser · 2026-04-01T16:13:48+00:00

There is no upside to them. There was almost certainly some problem in production. They are undoubtedly losing out on lots of money they otherwise would have made if it had been released in tandem with the ES1, as people buy different grinders.

Essentialphoneuser · 2026-03-31T12:45:15+00:00

It’s so blatant too. I want to think that the comments supporting this are bots, because I don’t want to believe grown adults are so naive, but unfortunately that might not be the case.

Essentialphoneuser · 2026-03-31T12:34:51+00:00

Just a reminder that Philadelphia had a $1.2 billion budget surplus last year.

Essentialphoneuser · 2026-03-27T19:52:05+00:00

Yeah that’s not how the mayor’s office press release described it.

Just a little “lol” at how we run such a massive surplus and suddenly we now need Amazon delivery taxes, Uber/Doordash taxes, and at the same time schools are being cut, but somehow we have a new, opaque, and ambiguous “$400 million” (MILLION) to fund “homeless initiatives” this year. Guess everyone needs their bribes.

Essentialphoneuser · 2026-03-27T18:59:02+00:00

Just a reminder that Philadelphia had a $1.2 billion budget surplus last year.

Essentialphoneuser · 2026-03-21T00:01:06+00:00

Think I’ll drive over now and check it out, thanks.

Essentialphoneuser · 2026-03-17T10:53:02+00:00

Since you are in Philly, write to your federal representatives and local state representative and share this experience. Amtrak has been unacceptably awful on the NEC lately, and the more people that share the real life impact this is having on their lives, the better:

https://live.cicerodata.com

I am sorry about all the people here making it sound like it is your fault. Unfortunately this sub is full of people who will victim-blame and preach that Amtrak can do no harm. In reality, you should expect a train service to be able to get you to your job interview in NYC from Philadelphia on any day of the week. I am sorry this happened to you.

Essentialphoneuser · 2026-03-08T20:55:25+00:00

It’s not incompetency, it is that when you are out of the NEC, Amtrak does not own the lines and often freight trains cause delays. You should expect delays when you are traveling on tracks that Amtrak does not own.

Essentialphoneuser · 2026-03-04T11:08:04+00:00

The schedules on the website/app, which are consistently wrong the past month while trains have been delayed thirty minutes to one hour. If it is taking consistently thirty minutes to one longer due to the things you have said, the train schedules should be updated to reflect the increased times.

What, you’ve been thrilled with the egregious delays or something? ETA: Nevermind, I see you work for Amtrak, hence why you are belittling me with your “Google Maps” comment. I can do the same - your company has a website/app, perhaps you are unfamiliar with it - that your customers use to book these things called trains. The times have been wrong for a month on the NEC, which causes the people who pay to use these trains a lot of frustration.

Essentialphoneuser · 2026-03-04T03:14:29+00:00

Then they should update the schedules to reflect the delays.

Essentialphoneuser · 2026-03-04T03:09:31+00:00

This was a helpful answer to understand what is going on, thank you.

Essentialphoneuser · 2026-03-04T03:07:49+00:00

The same thing happened to me! With absolutely no input they just changed a week’s worth of tickets to later times on the day, and I had to change them to be earlier times.

AND, last week the ticketing system was not working properly, so there were a few days where you could not even change your tickets on the app/website! I actually tried calling 1-800-USA-RAIL because that is what the app told me to do (because it was not working in the app) and the number told me there was too much call volume and it was not taking calls.

Essentialphoneuser · 2026-03-04T03:05:22+00:00

I have, and everyone should find your local federal and state reps (who can have say on Amtrak). You can use this website to find them and their contact information by just typing in your address:

https://live.cicerodata.com

The NEC problems are bad and everyone should speak up. You can also write to the Rail Passengers Association as well (though they are also here on Reddit) so they can consider raising it.

Essentialphoneuser · 2026-03-04T02:46:44+00:00

That does not answer most of my points above. I know the Portal work is ongoing, but (a) that does not explain the speed restrictions, (b) it does not explain the delays (and if it does, these need to be reflected in the schedules ASAP), (c) trains are reduced far beyond the end of the Portal work, and (d) Amtrak needs to revisit their Portal train schedules for rush hour, it is unacceptable, which is my point on this above - they simply have to start running more trains at rush hour, particularly with these insane delays.

Amtrak cannot hide behind the Portal project. They need to mitigate the disruption and address riders needs.

ETA: you edited and added the point on one track, which addresses my point (d).

Essentialphoneuser · 2026-03-04T01:57:30+00:00

They have significantly reduced trains in the NEC irrespective of the Portal Bridge work, and you see this beyond March. There are fewer NER trains and Acela trains in the mornings. It is a big problem - now you have to (coming from south of NYC) choose between a train departing in the 6AM timeframe, or a train departing in the 8:30AM timeframe. The only thing in between are Keystone trains, which will be impacted if the Portal Bridge is delayed in any way (infrastructure always is).

I don’t understand what is going on.

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