by Arlington
gokeefe wrote:Interesting point. I had to dig up the May 2014 performance report to make a direct comparison for the Northeast Regional.To run this strongly against the low-gas-prices and wider NJ turnpike in mid-Jersey--both of which "hit" the NEC starting in late 2014 early 2015, the TSA is my prime suspect. The recent advice to arrive *two hours before* your *domestic* flight is really horrible for trips that are only supposed to take 30 mins to an hour in the air and an hour gate-to-gate (as all "NEC" flights to/from NYC are), and still terrible when considering any other pair of endpoints from the BOS/PVD end, PHL middle or BAL/WAS end. (which are all 1.5hrs gate to gate and an hour of flying).
That figure was 708,691 it was compared to the "adjusted" (for multi-ride accounting change) figure of 733,962 of May 2013.
At 757,786 I strongly agree this is a major increase in travel and potentially a record for May on the NEC. I'm very surprised by this result.
We probably haven't taken sufficient note here of how the wider NJ Tpk has already affected the NEC (expediting car/bus trips that involve either Balt/Wash - NYC or anything from the Keystone territory to NYC), and how the yet-to-come interchange between the PA Tpk and "Philly's I-95" will connect (in 2018) center city Phil to NY by much better paths than available today.
"Trying to solve congestion by making roadways wider is like trying to solve obesity by buying bigger pants."--Charles Marohn