Quote:
Originally Posted by mrnyc
screw uncle sam and red states, i would settle for ny, nj and ct tri-state metro to have one consolidated and unified transit system, instead of the ridiculous arbitary legacy fiefdoms we have now.
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NYC is the densest city in America with 29,302.7 ppsm and one of the densest in the world. While for many transit nerds would love to have a wet dream of having one consolidated and unified transit system within the Tri State area, it makes a lot of sense why the MTA doesn't run revenue service in NJ and why NJT doesn't have revenue service outside of Penn Station in many parts of NY.
CT, NY, and to a certain extant parts of NJ already share a unified rail system with Metro-North (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Haven_Line), while the Paskack Valley and the Port Jervis Lines in Rockland County are operated by NJT, with the stations in the NY side maintained by Metro North,
so when it comes to having a unified rail system within the NYC Metro, the Metro-North is a perfect example of such a system!
The PATH's proposals to extend from Newark Penn Station to Newark Liberty Int'l Airport is very progressive enough to connect Lower Manhattan, Jersey City, and Newark with NJ's largest and busiest airport, as well as the closest airport to Downtown Manhattan.
And PATH is yet another perfect example of a consolidated and unified rail system since the PANYNJ is the operator of the PATH system and the PANYNJ is a bi-state transit agency, meaning that NJ and NY have equal rights to the system, as well as the airports and seaports that operate within the waterways, and the bridges and tunnels that cross through the Hudson River.
Finally, the reason why I mentioned Metro-North and PATH because both systems actually work for their jurisdictions. It would be extremely superfluous to extend the PATH, a local service that connects points in Lower and Midtown Manhattan, and parts of JC and Newark, as far north as New Haven, let alone the rest of NYC since NYC is properly served by the NYCTA, and it wouldn't make a lot of sense to extend the LIRR further into Morris and Somerset Counties, since Downtown and Midtown Manhattan are the biggest CBD's in not just the NYC Metro area, but in the US. Don't you think that the powers that be in the 1910's and 1920's actually had this conversation about consolidating the NYC Subway with the old H&M Subway, the predecessor to the PATH?
And why didn't consolidation happen between the two transit agencies them? Because the H&M was a private rail company from it's founding in 1900 in which it's purpose was to connect Newark Penn Station (PRR) to Hoboken Station (ERIE), and other railroads which used to terminate alone the New York Harbor such as the LVRR, and the CRRNJ. The IRT and BMT were also private rail operators in which their purpose was to transport passengers within NYC to and from Manhattan to the outer boroughs (Brooklyn, The Bronx, and Queens). The IND was a public agency established by the late mayor John Francis Hylan to compete with the IRT and the BMT. The BMT, IND, and IRT was
unified around the 1940's to become what we all know now as the MTA and the NYCTA.
The reason why NYC's subway system and the commuter rail systems was constructed and the main operations center is in Times Sq rather than in MetroTech in Brooklyn is because Downtown and Midtown Manhattan are the main economic engines of the NYC Metro. Not Downtown Brooklyn nor LIC nor Jamaica, and not JC nor Newark, but Downtown and Midtown Manhattan! And I say this as a former Brooklynite (RIP MetroTech). Meaning each commuter rail and subway line was constructed to transport passengers to and from their work and home and back, many of whom work in Manhattan!!!