I like the interstate testing ground argument. But I think you [stick n move] are overestimating the number of families that would decide to travel in this way.
Well, that's what I thought when various folks rhapsodized over the potential of this line. Glad you think that; my Florida observations suggested the same, but I thought things might have changed due to something I didn?t know about.
If I'm staying with my family on the Gulf Coast (and by that, presumably you mean on the coast and not in downtown Tampa, which is not a great vacation destination)
My in-laws lived in Tampa, and whenever I visited them I wondered why anyone would want to; why anyone would think it had tourist draw or elements of a resort, seaside or otherwise; or why Ybor City was perceived as anything but a terminally boring mishmash of kitsch, inauthenticity and suburban values (and my in-laws were Cuban!). One Ybor City visit was quite a bit more than enough; it?s the kind of place Cz would rail against if he visited.
? then I still have to drive 20 miles to get to the HSR station in Ybor. That 20 miles represents about 20-25% of the entire driving distance from the coast to Disney.
Right, and once you're in your car and the kids plugged in, why get out, and ...?
Then [after herding everone through a blazing parking lot or gloomy deck] I need to pay for, say, four round trip train tickets for my family. Presumably this will cost me $60 to $80.
Dream on. You have a family of four, right? Try $200.
Then, I need to plan my trip around the train schedule, meaning I'll have options to depart every hour (at best) and likely every two.
And better not miss the last train.
Now my family actually would probably travel this way. But why would your normal, non-transit obsessed family choose the option that is more complicated, more expensive, and takes longer?
Ain't it grand to be a railfan? I'm one too. Most of us can be found on a dozen internet forums. I'm saving up for the Cathedrals Express. Had my eye on the Duchess of Sutherland last year, but she's currently withdrawn from service.
belmont square, earlier you might have somewhat contradicted your spot-on observations:
While I don't know much about Orlando travel patterns, these do sound like good trips to serve with transit?
And then you get right back on course:
?(although most people going to Disney are part of families/groups, for whom the on-demand $50 cab ride from the airport would be tough to beat for an infrequent train that would likely cost more if you have more than a couple in your group)... I do question whether these are the types of trips that merit federal investment in HSR?
Ybor City, while dense for Tampa, is less dense then the areas immediately adjacent to the Amtrak station in New London, CT.
LOL; it?s also dense for Antarctica.
And relying on the Tampa trolley for transit feeder service to the station there would be like stripping away the entire MBTA system except for the Silver Line Direct Connect to South Station and saying there was decent feeder service to Boston's Amtrak station. And that's probably being unfair to Direct Connect.
LMAO
Am I the only one who absolutely loves this idea? Orlando isnt the ideal vacation city, so who woudlnt want to be able to stay with your family on the gulf of mexico and then take a quick trip to disney on a hsr.
Well, you can see from this thread that there isn?t universal enthusiasm for this proposal.
Then once its done the disney traffic alone will make this thing a success, and it will open new doors for the more important but also more complex systems like the california network and boston to new york. Trust me I would have wanted them to do boston to ny off the bat but there are rolling hills out here, trees everywhere, and there definately isnt one straight highway from boston to new york so it would have been muchhhh more complicated, cost a lot more money, and taken much more time than tampa to orlando. Im very confident that this will be a success and will be a model for us to push for all the future developments that we all want.
Truth is, it?s somewhat true that ?if you build it, they will come.? They built a very expensive light rail line in Charlotte, partially with Federal funds. The line has riders, and is declared a success by those who authorized it, because its ridership exceeded projections. Since you can control the numbers in a projection, you can issue them to guarantee ?success? when the real numbers come in ? but the Feds? money would have been better spent in Boston.
And the Tampa-Orlando funds would have been better sent to California.
