Quote:
Originally Posted by mcgrath618
Finally. Someone else speaking my language!
Philadelphia's subway network is incomplete at best, and insufficient at worst. We're a city of 1.7 million(ish) and we have 2.5 subway lines. Boston, a city < 1 million people, has more heavy rail than Philly.
This isn't even mentioning that Philly has characteristically narrow streets, so running light rail through Center City isn't really feasible.
While the Arthaus is well served by the Broad Street Line (and to a lesser extent PATCO), where one can go once they're on said subway is incredibly limited.
In the immediate term, Philly needs a subway up the Parkway and then north into the Northwest. That is the biggest gap I see. Once we have established service to the Art Museum and points northwest, we can start talking about cross-town subways.
This map, while incredibly pie-in-the sky, shows what Philadelphia could be with time and money. After all, one of the benefits of living somewhere like the Arthaus is its accessibility to the city, and if we're going to continue to populate our downtown, we're going to need more transit. |
love the subway map. i've seen several versions of it, and as pie in the sky as they are, it's fun to think of what might have been.
we are probably veering off topic here, and more into something more suited for the transportation thread, but the key to success for any subway system is connectivity to other lines. if you just have one line, say under broad street, then the only people who will use it are those who have to be on or near broad street. but the more lines you add, the number of users grows exponentially, not linearly. so if there were only one line, the broad street line, that might have 1,000 users. also, if you had only one line, but under market street, that might also get 1,000 users. but put them together, you might have 10,000 users, not just 2,000. then you add 3 more lines that connect with each other somehow, you might get 50,000 users. I'm making those numbers up, but you understand the concept.
it would be even better if subways could be built and run privately, which is to say for profit. they would be much better run. but it never seems to be possible.
it's also galling that austin, tx, is building a $10 billion subway and light rail system. for that much money we could at least extend the BSL to the navy yard, build the northeast line, and possibly even the center city loop. but again, septa is too poor and too inept.
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