From: jishnu@nospam.verizon.net   
      
   On 6/9/2014 10:28 AM, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:   
   > On Monday, June 9, 2014 10:16:02 AM UTC-4, John Levine wrote:   
   >   
   >> One question they don't answer is whether the NJT #62 bus is still   
   >> running.  It costs $1.50 rather than the $5.50 for the PA shuttle, and   
   >> goes to the same place almost as fast.   
   >   
   > Given the relatively short trip time from Newark Penn Station to the airport   
   via the regular bus, one can't help but wonder if the whole monorail and   
   separate train station was a huge boondoggle.  For far, far less cost, they   
   could've provided an    
   express bus, designed for easy luggage handling, from Newark Penn.  Some   
   traffic priority in tight spots could've been given.  Perhaps even better   
   service than what is provided now.   
   >   
   > Newark Penn was originally built to be an inter-modal station.   
   >   
      
   The trip time is short only when it is low traffic time. At high traffic   
   times it is neither short nor of predictable length.   
      
   I don't think anyone really believes that the EWR station was a   
   boondoggle. PANYNJ might want to operate it sufficiently incompetently   
   to make it look like a boondoggle given their inherent anti-rail bias,   
   and they may be succeeding at it at least with hancock.   
      
   Newark Penn Station is not really well situated to be an intermodal   
   station which includes an airport. It is too far away.   
      
   Current ridership estimates show that only a very small proportion of   
   EWR station users are actually using the overpriced bus from NWK, and   
   the share of rail users to EWR is seriously down. The relevant question   
   is how long it will take to recover all that rail ridership, which has   
   mostly moved to bus (and some to even taxi) to get back on rail after   
   PANYNJ is done with this particular piece of its ongoing incompetence,   
   perhaps by design.   
      
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