PHILADELPHIA | Lowrise/General Developments Thread II

[Raja]

Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown

it's still nice to have a portfolio of carriers at the airport so that american can't gouge on price.

just last week I flew back from Spain. i was on an extended stay and when I went, I bought a one way ticket there because I wasn't exactly sure what my itinerary would be once I was there or exactly how many days I was going to stay.

well, American knew I was there and that presumably I needed to come back, so any return flight I searched for on American regardless of city was about $3000k for a coach ticket. i ended up flying back from dublin on aer lingus for 1/3 the price American was trying to charge me. if it weren't for that flight, i would have flown into Newark.

part of the reason why philly can't get more traction is because american has a monopoly and when you're price shopping on airline tickets, it often makes more sense to go to Newark or BWI because it can be far cheaper. in those cases, even people for whom PHL is more convenient and closer go somewhere else because once you get to a difference of $400 or $500 a ticket the added expense of getting to a further airport is often worth it.

Particularly true when it's a family flying together and you start multiplying the per-ticket disparity. We're going to Greece and flying out of Newark because the tickets are literally $1,000 cheaper. For a family of 5, that's $5,000 -- easily worth the car service up.

[mja]

Originally Posted by Raja

Particularly true when it's a family flying together and you start multiplying the per-ticket disparity. We're going to Greece and flying out of Newark because the tickets are literally $1,000 cheaper. For a family of 5, that's $5,000 -- easily worth the car service up.

We basically only fly out of Newark anymore because of this. We just take Amtrack. It goes right to Liberty International and is often dirt cheap depending on when you buy the tickets and when they're for.

[Mr Saturn64]

Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown

it's still nice to have a portfolio of carriers at the airport so that american can't gouge on price.

part of the reason why philly can't get more traction is because american has a monopoly and when you're price shopping on airline tickets, it often makes more sense to go to Newark or BWI because it can be far cheaper. in those cases, even people for whom PHL is more convenient and closer go somewhere else because once you get to a difference of $400 or $500 a ticket the added expense of getting to a further airport is often worth it.

This is quite a catch 22 because what it seems is that no one is going through PHL is too expensive, but airlines aren't setting up there because there aren't enough travelers. Maybe that's not how it is. I don't know.

On a similar note, I'm planning a trip to Canada this Fall, and Air Canada is $50 cheaper than American is.

Originally Posted by PhilliesPhan

Essentially, this has more to do with the JetBlue/Spirit merger than it has to do with Qatar's ability to capture demand out of PHL. JetBlue and American are unwinding the Northeast Alliance as a result of a Department of Justice lawsuit against it. With the dissolution of the Alliance, American is moving its JFK-DOH flight to PHL.

PHL needs to compete on the fact that we have a large, centrally-located, non slot restricted airport with a ton of OneWorld connectivity to the rest of the US. Unlike all three New York area airports and DCA, PHL does not have any takeoff and landing restrictions. This should be a huge boost as transatlantic travel comes roaring back. I would love to see Turkish Airlines, Norwegian, Icelandair, and even Japan Airlines and Cathay Pacific come in. I would also love to see an Asian destination from PHL in the coming years. Philadelphia to Tokyo, Hong Kong, or Shanghai could perform well.

It will be interesting to see how PHL would be affected by a potential JetBlue/Spirit merger. JetBlue only does PHL-BOS, but there's a handful of Spirit flights. Could be a potential gain for Frontier, who just yesterday added Philly-Santo Domingo.

I'm fairly confident in saying that Icelandair is coming back. Iceland is becoming more and more popular, and Icelandair connects people to Europe for less than the US carriers do.
Turkish Airlines always seems to do well in the US no matter where they go, so that would hopefully work.
Japan Airlines is probably the best chance we have of getting an Asian flight, since they are a OneWorld member, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
No way in hell Cathay sets one up in Philly.
One airline I may be bold and say that it could come is Royal Air Maroc. PHL-Casablanca with American was going to start in 2020, and since then RAM has joined OneWorld.
I would love it if Norse Atlantic added a flight or two to Philly. Cheap flights to Europe? Yes, please!
The Francophile in me would love to see Air France come back. Who knows?
I've heard Emirates had record-breaking transatlantic profits this year. If they want to expand, I'd welcome them as a replacement for Qatar.

Bottom line, American needs competition at PHL. The airport will benefit from that.

[nemesisinphilly]

For certain high demand European routes AA pricing is just outrageous coming out of PHL compared to EWR.

I'm keeping an eye on flights to London to see the Phillies next year and direct flights out of EWR are less than half the price compared to PHL.

For 2 round trip tix it's almost 4k to fly out of PHL compared to about $1700 from EWR.

And it's just not because of the Phillies, other dates in May/June/July have similar pricing. I get that's it's high season but much cheaper out of EWR.

[DeltaNerd]

My opinion only.

The reason why PHL local fares are so high is because of peak summer season flying and more important AA is favoring connecting passengers over passengers originating from PHL. PHL is dominated by AA (64%) and it's their best interesting to leave space for connecting passengers. So of course us Philly base people suffer high fares and look else where for cheaper fares. PHL lacks competition along with the airport and city not having international advertising.

The airport is working on a proposal to massively upgrade all the terminals and redesign a large portion of the airport with more gates, larger security, and improved ground transportation. I expect to see some renders soon and will share as soon as I see it. This airport expansion is not funded.

As for the city, we need the PHLCVB need to step up their efforts to make our city more marketable and the surrounding region. We have ski mountains and beaches nearby making us a year around tourist hub if done correctly. Also we have the tons of office and lab space for future businesses.

A combination of improving the airport and city's image would help attract more international flights.

[ScreamShatter]

Phillys airport needs a major expansion and overhaul, for sure. I hope they go to Amsterdam and look at its new airport as an example. Everything is so well labeled, lacks unnecessary queues, free coffee, and very smart design.

[Gatorade_Jim]

Philadelphia—Representatives from the Circuit Trails Coalition today expressed their optimism that the City of Philadelphia is moving forward on contracting for the engineering design of the Spring Garden Street Connector, which is projected to be a $50 million investment in transportation safety and green stormwater infrastructure. The corridor is a priority project for the coalition that is working to connect over 800 miles of trails across the Greater Philadelphia region because it will create new walking and biking access to jobs, services and amenities along Spring Garden Street, from Schuylkill Banks to the Delaware River Trail.


“We’re glad to see real progress on the Spring Garden Street Connector a year after the Circuit Coalition helped to secure $3 million in private and public funds to supplement city funds for design,” said Sarah Clark Stuart, co-chair of the Circuit Trails Coalition and executive director of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia.

“We’re at a critical juncture for the city and for the Spring Garden neighborhood. For more than a decade, residents and community leaders have shared their frustrations and their expectations that they’ll be able to walk and bike safely where they need to go. Thousands of people have raised their voice in support of the Connector. As the Kenney Administration winds down, we are counting on them to deliver on their promise to residents and lock in this design contract. That’s what it will take to get the Connector done in the near-term, unlocking tens of millions of dollars in public funds that are already allocated for the project and delivering what the community wants and deserves,” said Stuart.

The 2.1-mile project is an important segment that will serve neighborhood residents by providing safe access to local schools, businesses and residences via regional and national trail networks and linking the hugely popular Schuylkill River Trails and Delaware River Trails. It is envisioned as a separated and safe bicycling facility that families, children, older adults and people with disabilities would be comfortable using.

https://bicyclecoalition.org/spring-...nding-secured/

Strange that they don't mention it in the blog post, but the update they're sharing is that this week, the City of Philadelphia announced that Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson (JMT) has been selected as the engineering design consultant for the Spring Garden Street Connector.

[Philly Fan]

An organization that represents Philly’s residential developers has endorsed the 76ers’ arena proposal

With City Council this fall expected to decide the fate of the 76ers’ proposal to build an arena in Center City, groups hoping to influence the outcome are lining up to make their voices heard.

The Building Industry Association, which represents 400 real estate companies, primarily in residential development, became the latest to weigh in on Friday. The group endorsed the plan to build an arena at 10th and Market Streets, saying it will “generate jobs for architects, engineers, skilled tradesmen, and laborers during the construction phase, and thousands of new jobs upon completion.

“We don’t see $1.5 billion projects every day,” said Mo Rushdy, the organization’s vice president and managing partner at the Riverwards Group development firm. “Twelve thousand good-paying jobs created, an opportunity to train a diverse workforce and over a billion dollars in new created revenue for the City of Philadelphia are all reasons why we need to rally behind such a great project. It’s no secret, Market East is dying. This project is exactly what this corridor needs.”

The endorsement comes days after the Design Advocacy Group, an organization of Philadelphia-area architecture and design experts, came out against the arena proposal, and the BIA’s announcement included a response.

See more at the link above.

[Radio5]

Originally Posted by Gatorade_Jim

Philadelphia—Representatives from the Circuit Trails Coalition today expressed their optimism that the City of Philadelphia is moving forward on contracting for the engineering design of the Spring Garden Street Connector, which is projected to be a $50 million investment in transportation safety and green stormwater infrastructure. The corridor is a priority project for the coalition that is working to connect over 800 miles of trails across the Greater Philadelphia region because it will create new walking and biking access to jobs, services and amenities along Spring Garden Street, from Schuylkill Banks to the Delaware River Trail.


https://bicyclecoalition.org/spring-...nding-secured/

Strange that they don't mention it in the blog post, but the update they're sharing is that this week, the City of Philadelphia announced that Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson (JMT) has been selected as the engineering design consultant for the Spring Garden Street Connector.

Are there updated renderings for this? I know it's been whittled down from the original proposal.

[jaysb]

Originally Posted by Radio5

Are there updated renderings for this? I know it's been whittled down from the original proposal.

This should be such an easy win for the city. Spring garden looks like dogsh!t despite running along some very nice areas, and no Kenyatta to lobby against it. Just do it !

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by jaysb

This should be such an easy win for the city. Spring garden looks like dogsh!t despite running along some very nice areas, and no Kenyatta to lobby against it. Just do it !

Easy win?

Whose gonna maintain it? Philly’s really good at getting these projects in the board and then once they’re done it’s crickets and a plethora of bureaucratic orgs saying “not my jurisdiction”.

[Gatorade_Jim]

Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown

Easy win?

Whose gonna maintain it? Philly’s really good at getting these projects in the board and then once they’re done it’s crickets and a plethora of bureaucratic orgs saying “not my jurisdiction”.

Maintain what? It's all hardened infrastructure improvements. It's not a garden or other similar project that needs to be consistently maintained. Scroll down on the link below to see what I mean.

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories...4fb221aae81ae6

[Gatorade_Jim]

Originally Posted by Radio5

Are there updated renderings for this? I know it's been whittled down from the original proposal.

What do you mean scaled back? See the most up to date renderings I'm aware of by scrolling down here: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories...4fb221aae81ae6

[jaysb]

Originally Posted by 3rd&Brown

Easy win?

Whose gonna maintain it? Philly’s really good at getting these projects in the board and then once they’re done it’s crickets and a plethora of bureaucratic orgs saying “not my jurisdiction”.

Big ugly street surrounded by nice areas , connection to both river trails. Easy win. Hell, look at n. American st in Kensington and the development that’s been spurred on in conjunction with that.

[Radio5]

Originally Posted by Gatorade_Jim

What do you mean scaled back? See the most up to date renderings I'm aware of by scrolling down here: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories...4fb221aae81ae6

The original proposal had protected bike lanes down the median with more trees. https://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-phil...reet-greenway/

[Gatorade_Jim]

Originally Posted by Radio5

The original proposal had protected bike lanes down the median with more trees. https://www.ocfrealty.com/naked-phil...reet-greenway/

That was an old design. The new design is a big improvement. I say that as someone that bikes 15-20 miles a week in center city. Putting the bike lane in the middle is much worse than having it on the side. If you want to stop at a business mid-block it's a pain in the ass, especially on a street as busy as Spring Garden.

[blart]

8/27

2nd & Poplar





Cecil B Moore & Howard





Frankford & Berks

[yuryphilly]

Originally Posted by jaysb

Big ugly street surrounded by nice areas , connection to both river trails. Easy win. Hell, look at n. American st in Kensington and the development that’s been spurred on in conjunction with that.

I wish Broad street could be redeveloped in a similar way. Add protected bike lanes, rebuild sidewalks, and add trees. That would be such an improvement for the city.

[SEFTA]

I always felt bike lanes work better on adjacent one-way streets. They tend to have less traffic and avoid the deadly left turns that never watch for bikes.

[DeltaNerd]

Originally Posted by SEFTA

I always felt bike lanes work better on adjacent one-way streets. They tend to have less traffic and avoid the deadly left turns that never watch for bikes.

Certainly need more north-south bike lanes east of market and need more bike lanes North of center city