Posted on Tuesday August 11th by Jebediah Reed | 116
.
- New York State needs $250 billion to maintain and repair its infrastructure over the next 20 years, says a new report. That’s $80b less than what’s now planned for spending.
- Arthur C. Nelson, a leading expert on development patterns, is predicting a “dramatic shift” in American cities in coming decades — specifically, “a new era of infill and redevelopment.” Part of phenomenon will be lower home ownership rates. (Calculated Risk)
- Amtrak’s ridership has taken a rather significant hit during the past year — altogether it’s down almost 10 percent. The decline cuts across all categories, but Acela ridership was off more than most, off 12 percent. (Bloomberg)
- A potential solution to goosing Amtrak’s ridership? One guy who lives in DC and likes biking and also likes riding the train opines that letting passengers bring bikes aboard all the time might be a big hit. (Examiner)
- And yet! More and more business travelers are taking trains and ride share services instead of a taxi when they arrive at airports. For instance, in NYC a train to Newark airport is $15 while a cab can run as much as $90. (NYT)
- Al Gore gives a homework assignment to some uppity electric company CEO. “Go find out those systems that capture wasted heat from coal fired plants, bucko. It could save the planet!” The CEO, it seems, was “not familiar” with that particular technology. (WSJ)
- The Re-burbia contest was conceived to identify promising design ideas for saving the suburbs. Now, the judges have unveiled the top 20 submissions and the future looks pretty wild: blimps as suburban transit or swimming pools repurposed as mini sewage treatment plants, anyone? Anyone? (Dwell and Inhabitat)
August 11th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
I used to be really taken with the idea of zeppelins, but then I looked up how many people they could carry. I doubt an airship smaller than one of those leviathans could carry enough people to make it worthwhile.
August 11th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
Where did you get the wrong information about trains from NYC to Newark airport? Not from the NY Times Web site, it seems. The JFK AirTrain is $5 (or $2.5 if you buy ten rides at once) from two subway stations and one LIRR station. The cheapest way to go from NYC to Newark by train is to buy an NJ Transit ticket to Elizabeth and costs more than $5 once you figure in the AirTrain access fee.
August 11th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
the reburbia ideas are on the whole pointless cute theoretical exercises that architecture critics have a fetish for. theres a few decent ones but most are just sleek renderings of some half baked ideas. a zeppelin adds nothing to the dialogue of a new suburban lifestyle. another one is a rip off of habitat 67 in montreal as if that high density model is really an appropriate suburban scheme. considering its sponsored by dwell all you have to do is propose a mid-century architectural idea and computer render it all sleekly in V-ray and you are guaranteed a prize.
August 12th, 2009 at 12:17 am
What’s old is new again: the suburbs can be partially redeemed by being made back into streetcar suburbs.
August 12th, 2009 at 7:43 am
Would it kill Inhabitat to just once show an airship that is aerodynamically feasible rather than just striking to look at?
Airships do have a legitimate place in long distance and specialty cargo hauling. Imagine a wind turbine blade being delivered right from factory to construction site by airship rather than redoing right-of-ways and holding up traffic for miles for ground delivery?
This, though, is dumb. There was only once ever a reasonably successful intercity airship commuter network (Germany, pre WWI), and it was still far more an example of Prussian hubris than practical infrastructure.
August 12th, 2009 at 10:24 am
Chung-cheih,
Thanks — it was a mistake, meant to be “$15″:
“Travelers flying out of Newark can take a New Jersey Transit train from Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan to Newark Liberty International Airport station, where they pick up AirTrain Newark; the one-way fare for the entire trip is $15. By contrast, a one-way cab ride from Midtown Manhattan to Kennedy Airport is $45, plus tolls and tip, while a one-way cab ride from Midtown to Newark can go as high as $90, plus tolls and tip. ”
JR
August 12th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
But the best way, still, about 75 percent of the time, to get to Newark Airport is to take the BUS from Port Authority Bus Terminal. It’s $15 one way, $25 round trip (the train offers no round-trip discount, idiotically) and the bus leaves every 15 minutes, every day, all day long (evenings every 20 minutes) takes you right to the check-in lobby curbside, and takes 29 minutes at the most.
The train, on the other hand, requires navigating Penn Station, an erratic train schedule (there are some gaps of 30 minutes or more - 50 minutes on wknds), during the day, when there is not a single train stopping at Newark Airport), competing with commuters for space on trains not designed to accommodate suitcases, a transfer to the pokey, bumpy and crowded airport monorail, which means navigating 3 additional sets of double-height escalators, a bank of turnstiles that aren’t user-friendly, and an additional 10-15 minutes, before reaching the check-in lobby. Oh, and if it snows, the monorail shuts down and they put you on a 15-minute waiting line for super-jam-packed buses that take a half hour to get to the airport. The only time the train is a better idea is when Lincoln Tunnel access is backed up, which is 3-6pm weekdays.
The airtrain option to Newark is one of the worst-planned rail transit systems I’ve ever seen, in comparison to train-to-plane configurations in every other city that has them. Even the JFK airtrain is superior, even though it goes only as far as Jamaica, because it’s cheaper, more reliable and faster. LaGuardia, of course, has no rail link at all, but at least has local bus service connecting to the subway, so you can rely on its consistency.
August 28th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
The NJ Transit train between New York Penn Station and Newark Airport does offer an off-peak round-trip discount, but in a roundabout way: buy an off-peak round-trip between New York and Elizabeth (which is cheaper than two one-way tickets) and add two airport access fees.