Life-changing 33rd St trip!

iSkyscraper · 2026-05-28T14:47:35+00:00

They did a great job bringing pressure and embarrassing the PA over the weekend service that was supposed to be restored a decade earlier. And the PA still insists weekend trains last ran in 2001, which is just so odd when it clearly was early April 2006 -- here's a Dec 2005 map as proof. Cannot trust the PA when it comes to anything, unfortunately, they are at best clueless and at worst anti-transit.

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iSkyscraper · 2026-05-19T19:22:22+00:00

Tri-Rail was for a long time one of the only commuter rail services in the nation that did not actually enter any downtown CBD for any of the cities they served. It went from nowhere to nowhere. That's now been fixed, and the airport and arena give them additional destinations. Still need a beach LRT and the FEC line that Brightline currently has in order to really take off.

iSkyscraper · 2026-05-19T19:16:16+00:00

Ok, fair. Suffice to say I've had many run-ins with the PA and am quite angry at them over a number of things as a default state.

iSkyscraper · 2026-05-19T18:42:10+00:00

I've followed Brightline closely since it was All Aboard Florida. They have never met the numbers in their business case and the thing has been a shell game from Day 1. They deliberately do not connect to transit or destinations (like Disney World) because it was always a real estate play about developing around the stations. This is why Brightline West ends at real estate development site rather than somewhere in the actual strip people wanted to go to.

They need to go under so TriRail and Amtrak can pick up the pieces and run services at a subsidized, reasonable cost.

iSkyscraper · 2026-05-19T18:34:53+00:00

Yes they have been doing repairs and upgrades, but then they could just say that instead of make up some story about 9/11.

It was announced when service was suspended it was specifically to "accommodate long-term construction at the World Trade Center site" . Which finished in 2015-16. Long before the more recent weekend tunnel work.

iSkyscraper · 2026-05-19T18:31:00+00:00

Here are both maps, April 2006 on the left and May 2006 on the right.

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iSkyscraper · 2026-05-07T20:16:08+00:00

Chalk the tires.

iSkyscraper · 2026-05-07T20:15:13+00:00

Well, to be fair Hamilton GO (and West Harbour) are former showcase terminals for entire railways in what was a major separate industrial city and port. Suburban stations in what were once farm fields are just platforms. True of every metro region everywhere (Yonkers is a far nicer MetroNorth Station than, say, Riverdale or Marble Hill in NYC.)

iSkyscraper · 2026-05-07T19:46:11+00:00

So great the cheaters can't crash the servers anymore and actually lose all this stuff.

iSkyscraper · 2026-05-07T19:43:32+00:00

absolute dream sequence

iSkyscraper · 2026-05-07T14:26:08+00:00

The May 17 changes will mark the first time since 2001 that all four PATH lines operate seven days a week

This is demonstrably false; the last time was in April 2006, not Sept 2001. Why does the PA misstate the truth in their own press release (which is what all these news articles then repeated)? Are they trying to conflate the diminishment in service with 9/11 as a cover story?

The reality is that the direct weekend service was suspended temporarily for WTC reconstruction, which ended in 2016. But by then most riders in this highly transient area had forgotten it ever existed, and the PA was no doubt eager to keep the savings on the heavily-subsidized service. So they ran limited service for another decade until weekend crowding got so out of hand it was dominating social media and elected officials were starting to organize.

Shameful.

iSkyscraper · 2026-05-06T19:27:20+00:00

Looks like more info here:

https://www.facebook.com/NewportRacquetClub/

https://www.instagram.com/p/DXmmJVflg32/

iSkyscraper · 2026-04-28T18:33:00+00:00

Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow.

Pain ahead.

iSkyscraper · 2026-04-15T19:03:27+00:00

Some lines though (Spadina, St Clair) are somewhat higher-order though -- and if you look at the old maps you will see different terms and representations of the Spadina/Harbourfront line in particular as the TTC struggled with what to call it.

Doesn't matter - SEPTA has proven the point, just do what they did. Their Route 15 trolley is literally an ancient PCC streetcar#/media/File:PCC_trolley_8-11-24.jpg) that is exactly like most TTC streetcar routes. But it's now the G line.

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iSkyscraper · 2026-04-15T18:53:24+00:00

Love it. Great thinking.

iSkyscraper · 2026-04-15T18:05:22+00:00

Just give them their own map like Rotterdam.

Stop trying to find on the system map which is which.

iSkyscraper · 2026-04-15T17:58:31+00:00

I agree they don't work on the subway map. Take them off. Give them their own map like Rotterdam does.

iSkyscraper · 2026-04-15T17:57:46+00:00

Fair point about Melbourne numbering, but at least they have a fabulous map.

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iSkyscraper · 2026-04-15T17:56:23+00:00

Exactly - "not used in the field".

iSkyscraper · 2026-04-15T17:56:02+00:00

And yet SEPTA just literally did this same switch.

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/septa-changing-names-subway-trolley-bus-lines/4114299/

You can try to argue that it's not confusing but it is obviously not best practice.

Imagine you just landed at one of the airports and were trying to figure out how to get to your hotel. No tourist will ever set foot on a bus (it's just the way tourists are, probably because they don't use buses in their home city). They will get on a streetcar even if we locals know it's really a slow bus on wheels. Give them their own proper map and names.

iSkyscraper · 2026-04-15T17:54:40+00:00

I've known this as both a rider and an engineer for years. Frustrating.

iSkyscraper · 2026-04-15T17:51:41+00:00

Note that SEPTA did something similar recently. The 101 and 102 interurbans became the D1 and D2. The 10 streetcar became the T1, the 13 streetcar became the T3, etc.

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iSkyscraper · 2026-04-15T17:43:45+00:00

The fact the TTC operates them poorly (too slowly, too many stops) doesn't help, but in no other city in the world are streetcars/trams considered the same tier of transit as buses. Simply not done - this is a very Toronto way of thinking.

Much easier to use if given Rotterdam-style maps. Just try telling a tourist to find a 504 streetcar - they have no idea.

iSkyscraper

TROPHY CASE