philly or baltimore (Philadelphia, Lancaster, Harrisburg: homes, neighborhood, price)

[solibs]

It's actually already the case that if you live in Arlington or further out in Fairfax Co. or beyond you can take VRE into Union Station and transfer to an outbound MARC train for free (and vice-versa). It's a pretty cool set up if you live in MD and work in VA (or the other way around.)

[andreaspercheron]

I would say Philly. My b/f's Mom moved from Baltimore after living there about 7 years and absolutely loved her home in the burbs but hated everything else about Baltimore. Not only is crime just out of control and seeping into nicer neighborhoods but the taxes are so high they make it almost impossible to live comfortably and they tax you on everything you can possibly imagine.
Philly has a great mix of people, all ages, and plenty to keep things interesting and fun. The added perk to living in Philly is that you can leave the city and still find all sorts of things to do from wine tasting, skiing, hiking, swimming, etc.

[kyle19125]

Not only is crime just out of control and seeping into nicer neighborhoods but the taxes are so high they make it almost impossible to live comfortably and they tax you on everything you can possibly imagine.

Not compelling...that sounds an awful lot like Philly also.

[pman]

Originally Posted by solibs

It's actually already the case that if you live in Arlington or further out in Fairfax Co. or beyond you can take VRE into Union Station and transfer to an outbound MARC train for free (and vice-versa). It's a pretty cool set up if you live in MD and work in VA (or the other way around.)

It's okay, would stillbe a very long commute and neither service runs that often. It's over an hour from Baltimore to DC plus VRE and transfer time. you could be in NY faster on Amtrak from Philly

Originally Posted by Tone509

I would agree that with today's technology, the government could "spread the wealth" of Federal jobs more evenly through the country. However, a good portion of the job growth in the Baltimore/Washington metro is coming from private contractors and other companies who want/need to be near DC.

The whole politics of those government decisions is another subject.

yep. money that could have been reinvested in the private sector in parts of the country that generated it, or invested in the local infrastructure there. DC seems hell bent on becoming Rome.

Originally Posted by subwayfan

OT:
I know there is a plan to connect the MARC's service in Perryville MD into SEPTA service which terminates at Newark DE. It still might be a pipedream idea.

would be nice, I guess, it'd still be faster to take a bus though. service is infrequent. I'd prefer if Amtrak were more affordable for such things. I'm sure the old train didn't take over an hour just to get to perryville.

[FindingZen]

Originally Posted by subwayfan

OT:
I know there is a plan to connect the MARC's service in Perryville MD into SEPTA service which terminates at Newark DE. It still might be a pipedream idea.

Not to get too far off-topic, but that would make things interesting if/when that happens. One would then theoretically be able to take local commuter rail from New Haven, CT all the way down to Fredericksburg, VA.

[solibs]

Originally Posted by Tone509

One would then theoretically be able to take local commuter rail from New Haven, CT all the way down to Fredericksburg, VA.

New London, CT to Fredricksburg, VA

The Shore Line East runs from New Haven to New London.

[solibs]

Originally Posted by pman

It's okay, would stillbe a very long commute and neither service runs that often. It's over an hour from Baltimore to DC plus VRE and transfer time. you could be in NY faster on Amtrak from Philly

THe train trip from Baltimore to DC is exactly an hour. Slower than Amtrak but certainly faster than driving during rush hour.

MARC runs once an hour or less. That's pretty standard for regional rail.

Anyway, MARC isn't really set up to get people from Baltimore to DC or vice versa. It's set up to get all the people who live in between to their jobs in Baltimore or DC

[FindingZen]

Originally Posted by solibs

New London, CT to Fredricksburg, VA

The Shore Line East runs from New Haven to New London.

Ah even better! Thanks for that clarification.

[pman]

Originally Posted by solibs

THe train trip from Baltimore to DC is exactly an hour. Slower than Amtrak but certainly faster than driving during rush hour.

MARC runs once an hour or less. That's pretty standard for regional rail.

Anyway, MARC isn't really set up to get people from Baltimore to DC or vice versa. It's set up to get all the people who live in between to their jobs in Baltimore or DC

MARC is the better of the two. it takes roughly 50 minutes by express and at rush hour there's a few trains heading south. HOWEVER, VRE runs only one southbound train and it leaves at 7:30 AM. to give yourself some leeway you'd have to catch the 6:17 am out of baltimore arriving at 7:09 am, catching the 7:30 am to Alexandria arriving at 7:47 am for a total of 90 min in transit, not including time to/from the station. it's theoretically possible to catch the 6:25 but that would give you five minutes to catch the VRE, too close considering the next outbound VRE is at 10:55 am. either way, it's an ugly commute, that's all I'm saying.

It now takes 1h50m from perryville to DC, and the last train is 2:50 pm. Current schedules dictate you'd have to leave 30th St at 11:39 am arriving at Newark at 1:07 pm 1h27m of travel. so that's 3h17m without the newark perryville segment and transfer times. you'd have to be nuts to take that trip over a bus. as you said, it's for, say, DE to perryville (shuttle to base maybe) or perryvile to wilmington commutes, not really for intercity travel. even Amtrak actually had to slow it's trains down to achieve the 2 h trip time to DC (used to be 1h45 min). They probably let too many MARC trains on the line without adding enough physical capacity.

[solibs]

Originally Posted by pman

It now takes 1h50m from perryville to DC, and the last train is 2:50 pm. Current schedules dictate you'd have to leave 30th St at 11:39 am arriving at Newark at 1:07 pm 1h27m of travel. so that's 3h17m without the newark perryville segment and transfer times. you'd have to be nuts to take that trip over a bus. as you said, it's for, say, DE to perryville (shuttle to base maybe) or perryvile to wilmington commutes, not really for intercity travel. even Amtrak actually had to slow it's trains down to achieve the 2 h trip time to DC (used to be 1h45 min). They probably let too many MARC trains on the line without adding enough physical capacity.

yeah, good points.

It would be nice if the northeast corridor had the "clocker service" back. There has been talk of NJTransit bringing it back but with most states in the red these days it doesn't look like it's going to happen soon.

For those that don't know, the Amtrak Clocker ran from 30th St. to NY Penn making stops at Cornwells Heights, Trenton, Princeton Junction, New Brunswick, Metropark, Newark and NYC. The NJTransit version would make all the same stops but would terminate at Suburban Station for a $50 r/t and the trip would take about 90 minutes.

A "clocker" to DC is what's needed. 30th St., Chester, Wilmington, Newark, Aberdeen, Baltimore, etc. down to Union Station.

I've taken the Chinatown bus before. Last time it took me a problem free 2:30 to get down there (short stop in Baltimore) but about 4 hours to get back b/c of traffic. A train would be much more reliable.