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Originally Posted by Busy Bee
We are happy the Silver Line has finally reached the premier int'l airport for DC but your defense of lack of express service based on travel times for CBD to airport rapid rail services in NYC and Chicago is a weak one, if not a bad faith one altogether. JFK does not have a premier first-world express airport rail link, with air passengers dumped off at Jamaica to change to the E train or LIRR for the rest of the journey to Manhattan. Nor does Chicago with a truly pitiful time it takes the Blue Line to pull into ORD from downtown. When compared to international expectations, the lack of a true express or very limited stop rapid rail link to JFK should have NYC officials and the MTA hanging their heads in shame.
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You’re saying that I’m defending the lack of express service in DC when I said that the Silver Line from Metro Center to IAD takes about an hour, which is similar to a trip from WTC to JFK in NYC and Union Station and ORD. I’m in no way defending the cities who opt to not use express trains to go to and from their int’l airports, but supporting them for providing mass transit links. Out of the three cities, DC doesn’t have express service on it’s Metro, so I believe that’s the reason why the Silver line isn’t an express service like the other lines on the DC metro, not because I prefer the Silver line to be local!
If you want to beef on why the cities didn’t provide express transit links, you can’t take it out in me, as I didn’t build the lines, but with the transit agencies that built out the lines instead and speaking about NYC, the A runs express via Fulton St in Brooklyn and the E runs express via Queens Blvd in Queens, so there’s express service on those routes, so when it comes to NYC, I don’t know what you mean by express service as both the A and the E has express service. Once again, take it out on the transit agencies, not random.
Here’s one of my other posts that defends what I believe about express service in general:
https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/sho...3&postcount=27
Quote:
Originally Posted by Busy Bee
Airtrain...give me a f***ing break. NY is an global alpha city...it's inexcusable, and LGA has no link at all. Chicago isn't quite alpha city and while a rapid rail link to ORD is good, it too deserves a limited express dedicated rail link to compete with its global peers. Which brings me to DC. It isnt just some random metro. It's our nation's capital...its seat of government... The wealthiest nation on the planet should have made it a priority to roll out a red carpet for both domestic and foreign visitors in not just a rail link to the airport but a truly swift and impressive express train to the heart of the District. The trip from Dulles terminal to Mall should take about 12 minutes not an hour plus. Thats what would have impressed the citizens of this country and the world. Many unfortunately will decide a cab is a better option even with potentual traffic and that is a very unfortunate outcome for such an opportunity the Silver Line presented.
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NYC is an Alpha++ global city and Chicago is an Alpha city (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global..._Network#Alpha) according to GaWC 2020. That being said, those cities provide some of the best mass transit in America. We all want quicker access to the airports from the CBDs and that’s not even the argument.
The real argument is whether these cities provide mass transit links to their respective airports, & NYC, Chicago & now DC provides mass transit links to their int’l airports, albeit not in your preferred time of 12 minutes. You have to understand that America has done a bad job in funding mass transit for over 70 years already and now America is playing catch-up to Europe and Asia when it comes to not just providing mass transit links to airports, but mass transit in general.
Finally, the MTA is already starting to build a transit link to LGA from Willets Point-Mets on the 7 train. America isn’t a perfect country and would’ve we have preferred to have a 15 mink link from the city’s CBD to the airport? ABSOLUTELY! But you also have to consider the infrastructure the city has plus the housing, the dwellings, and the city’s natural barriers that make it impossible and if you’re thinking that the city should demolish multiple housing and infrastructure just to have a 15 min airport transit link, then you don’t know how national and local American politics works.
You cannot just steamroll and demolish vibrant neighborhoods because you want a 12 min link to the airport. If there’s a faster way w/o demolishing neighborhoods and it’s cost effective w/o overruns, then go for it, but if you have to go around neighborhoods just to provide that transit links and the neighborhood wants their community intact, we also need to consider the voices of the people that inhabit that community, so long as it makes a lot of sense and the plans benefit the long term for both the community and the city. There’s really no magic wand to provide swift transit to the airport and if there’s a quicker way to get to IAD from DC, we’d all support it but you have to use what you have and all complaints should really go to WMATA if you’re not satisfied with the speed of the Silver line!