Proposed Rail Extension To King of Prussia, PA

[trackwelder]

Is supporting development and poor land use decisions that include a mall and a smattering of suburban office parks the right decision? Or should we really put our money where the jobs really are - Philly? Are we strengthening the City and our metro area by this project [...]

I saw this kind of "focus on the core" parochialism with NJ Transit, which is almost entirely oriented towards getting people into and out of Manhattan. Morris County has a population of half a million - that's a third of Philly's population - and is served by a train line to NYC that goes from 4 trains per hour peak to just 1 train per hour off-peak, and a fleet of around 15 mostly-intra-county buses operating almost exclusively on weekdays. So there are thousands and thousands of cars on the road as people drive to jobs and shopping in the county and nearby. One can argue that it's their own fault for residing there or for working for employers who can't afford the costs of operating in a big city, but it's pretty short-sighted to say that all transit money ought to go to the urban core.

NJ and NJT have a track record of making substantial investments all around the state. To say that NJT is almost entirely oriented toward getting people to NYC is not correct, despite the fact that the NYC is the largest employment center in North America. The HBLRT, the RiverLine, the Newark City Subway and numerous other services are evidence of this.

In the Philly area, unlike NJ, we have no substantial, real transit system-expansion project that is anything like any of those non-NYC based NJT services. Not one. So my general point is that we have one shot at this. Let's not blow our one shot on KOP.

you really don't like king of prussia, do you? what's to say this is our only shot, or if we even have a shot? at least they're trying to expand something, for once.

[zebrasepta]

More News on the KOP project
http://pottstown.patch.com/groups/aroun ... g_bb31da97" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Don’t like the traffic congestion in the King of Prussia area? Neither does SEPTA.

SEPTA held a public meeting and open house at the Radisson Hotel at the Valley Forge Casino late Tuesday afternoon to discuss the King of Prussia Rail Project, which would increase transit service to the area by expanding upon the Norristown High Speed Line.

[Matthew Mitchell]

Also, I think NHSL to KoP could have a psychological impact. That mall draws people from a vast area, and if they see transit there, and see it being as quiet and convenient as the NHSL is, it might start changing attitudes about transit.

Y'know, I think the attitudes are already changing, given what we've seen at public meetings in King of Prussia, the Quakertown corridor, and Gloucester County.

[FatPants]

I don't share everyone's optimism here. I don't think that SEPTA has one bit of interest in this project, whether they have the rolling stock or not, and whether or not they are sponsoring the study or not. SEPTA is just flexing an earmark that will expire for a project long-since dead. This isn't immediately observable but I wouldn't be surprised if the primary backers of this project are different from the one that is sponsoring the study and will have to come up with the local share for this. Don't overstate the complexity of finding a local share for this project, to say nothing of the fact that this has to meet FTA's byzantine criteria for New Starts (which has changed recently and will continue to change). I'm happy that this project is consistent with KOPBID's marketing materials, and the charter of GVFTMA, but neither of those organizations are going to move the needle anywhere it needs to be from the funding standpoint. SEPTA+MONTCO+KOPBID+GVFTMA+PennDOT/the Commonwealth does not equal $400m in capital costs (at the very least).

I haven't seen the ridership projections or the capital/O&M costs for this but I'm fairly certain that this project wouldn't stand the best shot in the Philly region of capturing New Starts funding, let alone compete favorably against other projects around the country. Some reality about the competitive nature of the process and the politics around projects like this is necessary.