Quote:
Originally Posted by Crawford
Huh? Nassau might have the best suburban transit in North America. It has 24/7 LIRR service, running on subway style third-rail, almost all of it grade separated, and the main lines are now 3-4 tracks. And the Babylon line is almost entirely elevated out to Babylon.
You can live almost anywhere in Nassau, and be in relative proximity of third-rail transit taking you directly to either Grand Central or Penn. Something like 1,100 weekday trains now.
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I already provided a very clear explanation, which you conveniently and deliberately chose to omit from your quote of my post:
"And when I say transit that frees up parking space for redevelopment, I don't mean commuter rail stations surrounded by park and ride lots."
Nassau can't build transit-oriented development if the transit is surrounded by park-and-ride lots. They can't redevelop parking lots if they encourage people to park. Reliance on parking also severely restricts the ridership of LIRR, which is reflected in its lower ridership compared to MiWay and Brampton Transit in Peel Region.
Long Island Rail Road: 70.3 million riders in 2022
vs.
MiWay: 48.0 million
Brampton Transit: 49.2 million
Despite the third rail and grade separation, LIRR carries only a small fraction of the riders of a typical grade separation and electrified rail system. With such low ridership, the system is limited in its impact on development.
Ultimately, for intensification in Nassau County to happen, they will need to make a serious commitment to funding transit. Park and ride lots are a symptom of high car dependence. With increasing car dependence, the market of high density development becomes much smaller, and the costs for the developers becomes much higher too.
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