Re: Fall River/New Bedford Commuter Rail
First time poster, long time lurker (so be easy on me folks...put the SCR pitchforks down)...
I've lived in Taunton for 8 years & Fall River for 4 years (from '06 - '10). I moved to Weymouth 4 years ago to buy out a family house with my wife & "set up shop". I've always been a "South Coast" boy at heart (though that's not to say I haven't been taking the T to Boston for 15+ years for my own amusement).
I very much enjoyed Fall River & New Bedford during the numerous times I drove there, even prior to living in FR. It was clear FR was "rough around the edges" when I initially moved to the city, but that wasn't a deterrent. Rather, I saw it as a chance to be witness to a region-wide change. You can't do anything but rise to the top after you've hit rock-bottom, and FR/parts of NB have been rock-bottom for years.
The reality is, FR has been/is undergoing improvements (some minor, but improvements nonetheless) to its community landscape. The former Regatta (aka "Regretta") is slated to re-open as a new restaurant, while the crumbling Route 79 deck (coincidentally) has been removed as part of a major downtown traffic improvement project. The paint-stripped Braga Bridge has been undergoing major renovations for the past few years, while the new Veterans Memorial Bridge (leading into Somerset/Swansea/etc.) replaced the nearly unusuable old Brightman Street Bridge. Al Mac's diner went from a closed city landmark to a reopened & rejuvenated place for a quality meal. Jerry Remy's opened right near (a personal favorite) respectable Bicentennial Park. The SRTA has opened a new primary bus facility while making overall service improvements to schedules...these are all positive steps in the right direction for FR, but why point all this out when it's so easy/cool to cr*p all over the city?! (Oh, by the way, the Old Colony RR Museum, city carousel, boardwalk to Bicentennial Park, Marine Museum & some dining options are all within walking distance from where the Fall River CR station would be, so don't tell me there aren't attractions nearby to supplement a trip down there).
My point: these are not moves, whether through state investment or individual business owners, that are reflective of a still-stagnant city, but rather moves of a city that is finally looking to rise to the top after being at rock-bottom for years. Of course there's still drug problems, but to that point, there's problems in EVERY town/city. Taunton/FR/Quincy/Weymouth all have heroin issues and it's well-known. But for those stories, there are always the former prostitution rings in Wellesley that were kept hush-hush...no city is exempt from problems, and therefore, no city should have potential improvements fall to the wayside due to it, especially infrastructure improvements. Of course it's easy for North Shorers to say "why bother" when the "gettin' is good" up here, but I guarantee if the shoe was on the other foot, you wouldn't want opportunities for your area to be passed over because times were tough, like it was for so long with Fall River. That's a very hollow viewpoint when thinking of long-term benefits for a city.
Now, do I think SCR in its current form is perfect? Absolutely not. In the same breath, do I think the South Coast region doesn't deserve this? Again, absolutely not. I think the main problem is that many are promoting this as an opportunity for the workforce to commute to Boston. From my observations, most of the South Coast workforce heads north to Taunton & heads south to Providence, so saying this is for Boston commuting seems very inaccurate.
What I DO see is the opportunity for utilizing SCR as a heavy inner-zone service...by that, I think keeping service heavier between New Bedford, Fall River & Taunton would be very smart to do, as these are communities that "interact" with each other much more on a daily basis than they do with Boston. I'd like to think that South Coast service up to Taunton would benefit to have its own schedule (treat it like rapid transit), while rail from Taunton to Boston should have its own schedule. Though this may lead to some inconvenient transfers (depending on timing), have a shuttle run from the Taunton CR station to the Bloom bus terminal & the Silver City Galleria. This allows transfers to Bloom & Dattco buses (respectively), which travel to Boston. This would allow New Bedford/Fall River commuters to wait at the Taunton CR station for a Boston-Taunton train to arrive, while allowing alternative transfers to bus connections to Boston.
Yes, $2+ billion is a LOT for us to take on. Maybe the pending ridership doesn't justify the cost of it...did it for the Greenbush Line? No, and yet, it still operates every weekday (yes I know, cost was different). The MBTA did its part...it's up to Weymouth & Quincy to start making moves like Fall River has been doing the past couple of years & have the service compliment the opportunities each city can put forth. Otherwise, it's just a train passing through with no incentive to "stop & smell the roses". With SCR, I see the opposite...Fall River (& some of New Bedford) has been making positive moves for the past few years. Rail service can pass through, and allow inter-city commuting options among cities that are doing a 180 turn-around. That my friends, is when I want to get off the train to stop & smell the roses.
