White Plains as Destination

I'm always impressed with how many people travel to White Plains from NYC (reverse commute), I suspect it must be a major commuter destination when you add in people from upline who commute there.

Are there other MetroNorth stations where a combination of local zoning to allow higher density use (taller buildings, etc) could boost use of the railroad? I know that the Maryland and VA suburbs of DC created zoning specifically to benefit the Metro system. Tall buildings at and near stations, develop along the rail corridor, etc...

Lackawanna484 wrote:Are there other MetroNorth stations where a combination of local zoning to allow higher density use (taller buildings, etc) could boost use of the railroad? I know that the Maryland and VA suburbs of DC created zoning specifically to benefit the Metro system. Tall buildings at and near stations, develop along the rail corridor, etc...

The MTA is talking about this, but the NIMBYs will cry long and loud before they allow building in their little hamlets. In Hong Kong, subways are run by a private firm (the MTR) that has development rights at stations. Many include malls, hotels, offices and housing. While the transit operation loses money, the real estate division more than makes up for it. The result is no public subsidy for one of the best transit systems in the world. Could that happen here? Probably not.

There was an NY Times article on white plains just hte other day. It's an ever growig destination it seems. I myself occasionally reverse commute to Valhalla (got a few clients there). The train more or less empties at white plains, with maybe half the crowd going beyond that, at least on weekday mornings.

It's a little unfortunate that our gov't & MTA is set up as it is, without the ability to use such assets. Stick them in the parking lot of someplace like white plains and build a parking garage or two to make up for the lost spots. It could work depending on the location (forget about it in a little town like valhalla though - and call me crazy but not everyplace should be developed large. I like a lot of the small towns along the MN lines...) They could even use air rights and build over the ROW around the bronx. Same goes for LIRR and amtrak over sunnyside in queens (they've actually talked about doing something like that for years, including a big station stringing together the subway routes and other transit in the area)

On the other hand, would YOU want the MTA as your landlord?

White Plains didn't grow by accident- it's the county seat, location of county offices and courthouses... lots of government employment there. Not to mention the colleges, corporate headquarters and office parks, and throw in the county campuses at Valhalla...

A more intersting site is on the Hudson line north of Tarrytown....
The old GM plant area. That could be a desitination.

"Are there other MetroNorth stations where a combination of local zoning to allow higher density use (taller buildings, etc) could boost use of the railroad?"

Stamford of course is as big a reverse commute destination as WP. New Rochelle would like to be more of one, but they have had a harder time attracting office space.

And of course a good way to save money is to take the train from anywhere on the Harlem Line besides NYC to White Plains. I mean, for me, it costs $2.25 to go from Chappaqua to White Plains. That's almost subway fare.

dc700 wrote:A more intersting site is on the Hudson line north of Tarrytown....
The old GM plant area. That could be a desitination.

Yes.

There have been a number of plans for large scale housing, shopping, etc on the GM site. The access to the railroad is always a major selling point.