"Is the commuter rail worth reviving"

From the article:

Although high gas prices in the early fall boosted ridership, it's too early to know whether those gains will persist now that prices have subsided somewhat.

Gas prices went up, went down slightly, and are noware going up again. How can you talk aobut doing away with commuter rail? Gas prices will continue to go up, and people's wages continue to stagnate. How can we not afford to have a viable alternative to the car to get in and out of the city?

I believe that the commuter rail will be refurbishing their rolling stock. I can't wait for that. I can tell you; the extension to Nashua and Manchester, NH is important. It wouldn't hurt to have the line extended to Manchester first.

It wouldn't hurt to have the line extended to Manchester first.

I hate to commit the twin sins of veering off topic, and relying on anecdotal evidence, but this is tangental to the article. Although it's at least 10 years away, I've heard quite a lot of interest from people in Kittery and York at the prospect that the MBTA may someday extend into Maine.

I think extending the train past the York toll booth really would get a lot of people to stop using cars. Even if tickets were $7.00-$7.50 one way, the 14 to 15 bucks you spend would still be cheaper than what you'd spend on gas and tolls to travel between S. Maine and Boston. Furthermore there are attractions at both ends to keep people moving both ways. People in Maine would commute to Boston, and at the other end you'd have the beaches and shopping outlets. Aside from the expense (and it's a big expense) of rebuilding the bridges, it sounds like a win win situation to me.