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I'm curious about this. What were the stations and regional rail lines that were closed down? How much better can mass transit in Philly be right now if those weren't closed down?
I redid my plan and was less but still more then most states surround did..
Cynwyd Line - 3 stations and Viaduct citing the safety of the viaduct which was later upgraded , its being converted to a Trail but service might come back when another line is restored.
Media/Elwyn Line - 11 stations , service was closed to neglect of the tracks however service will be restored in Phases , but only 4 stations are planned.
Warminster Line - no stations were closed , but Service will be extended to New Hope
Fox Chase Line - 10 stations were closed when Septa ended all Diesel service , this portion of the line will be restored by the end of the decade not all 10 stations though.
Reading line - ended when Septa ended Diesel Service , it will be restored later this decade
Allentown line - Ended when Septa ended Diesel , will come back in phases first will be to Quakertown and second Allentown which is harder.
Stony Branch line - ended to due to lack of use will be restored when service to Quakertown resumes
Oxford line , might be restored to Passenger Rail sometime in the 2020s....
They canceled service on alot of Tram lines since there Trams weren't in ADA Compliance , between all those lines and the New lines will be restored or added.
My experience from cities and States I have visited"
NJ: B
Philadelphia: B
NY: B+
LA: C
Hou: D
DFW: C
DEN: D
DET: F
I think, though am not certain, that the reason Philadelphia laid waste to so much of its rail system was the desire to convert to an all-electric system. I was pleasantly surprised by the transit in LA.
My experience from cities and States I have visited"
NJ: B
Philadelphia: B
NY: B+
LA: C
Hou: D
DFW: C
DEN: D
DET: F
I think, though am not certain, that the reason Philadelphia laid waste to so much of its rail system was the desire to convert to an all-electric system. I was pleasantly surprised by the transit in LA.
Septa unlike other agencies let there Railways rot and then said they couldn't keep them anymore. Which made people very angry , Ridership was very high on those lines. Most of them are coming back , towns and Philly itself are pushing for them.
I would give Charlotte a 70. The busses cover about 85% of the city and LRT is excellent. I think busses get a bad rep which is unwarranted. Once Charlotte figures out a way to get more funding to pay for an extension for its LRT, and gets the streetcar moving to connect East and West Charlotte, it could move up to 80 or 90. I judge a score based on access and logic, not necessarily the aesthetic of public trans.
Denver's is so so 5/10. The bus system is very expansive and the bicycle sharing system is pretty cool, but the light rail train system only serves the southern half of the metro area. Greater Denver is currently undergoing a massive commuter train upgrade that will expand mass transit exponentialy. When that is complete it will probably be closer to 7-8/10 but a street car or subway system would be nice.
CTA provides 53 percent of passenger-miles, Metra 41%, the remainder Pace bus. Pace buses run so infrequently that many times you could walk there by the time the bus arrives. And most of the routes quit running by 7 P.M. No night life in the suburbs? Maybe it's just as well.
The trouble with "passenger miles" is that they actively incent transit companies to promote sprawl over transit convenience, when sprawl and transit convenience are generally incompatible when affordability is part of the equation.
As commuter rail, Metra is fine if you live near a station and want to live in the suburbs and work downtown, or if you live in the city and want to visit people in the suburbs who are willing to pick you up at the station.
For nearly any other use, Metra is not very useful. You *can* use it for things like holidays in the city, etc, but it's not going to really be competitive with a car for 95% of trips.
Now, Metra is absolutely a necessary and welcome component to Chicago's mass transit and I would actually like to see their service better integrated with the overall transit picture within the City limits, but the value it contributes to the system as a whole is grossly overstated by "passenger miles" as compared to actual "passenger trips." Metra provided 82.3 million trips last year. The CTA provided 521 million - nearly 6 1/2 times as many rides.
Overall, I would rank Chicago in the top five US cities for transit. It's generally quite capable, and depending on how you want to use or rank transit, Chicago could either be second to New York, or even as low as somewhere in the 6-10 spot instead of the top five.
Internationally, Chicago suffers a little because of its radial instead of mesh type of rail system, but if you're not afraid of taking the bus Chicago is quite transit-friendly, especially now that you can get real-time bus arrival data for any bus stop online, or using smart phones or any mobile phone with SMS capability (which is most), and we'll be able to do that with the trains sometime next year, too. Even New York can't do that yet. Overall, I'd probably give Chicago an 8/10. Definite room for improvement, but quite usable when you consider that the bus system in Chicago is extremely extensive. The main thing holding Chicago back from being as transit-friendly as the best European transit capitals is overall density. Chicago city density only average about 12,000 people per square mile, yet you can get to within about a 10-minute walk of nearly any place in the city via rail or bus, and within a 5-minute walk of the locations where probably about 70% of the population lives. The suburbs, with their even lower density, don't fare as well, even though they have 2/3 of the area population, but for the city itself we do quite well.
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