To make my bias plain, I’m a regular commuter rail user and a big fan.
That said, Tuesday’s Globe had some dispiriting news about the newest commuter line — Greenbush. Its getting roughly 2700 riders per day (or around 1350 round-trip passengers) but a quarter of those are from another form of public transit — the commuter boat out of Hingham.
So, we paid $500m+ to get about a thousand people a ride into the city (that’s a cool $500,000 per person). To be fair, the line may become more popular as time goes on, but this is not an encouraging sign.
Looking back at the planning documents (see pg. 19 of this document), the seeds of this problem were actually quite clear. It forecast over 11,000 new riders on the train (a number significantly higher than 2,700 for those of you without strong math skills) but only 4,700 “net” new public transit riders. The implication being that 6,300 riders would be pulled off other forms of public transportation. Wish someone had questioned that earlier.
A friend on Friday mentioned her visit to infamous Gravina Island. Ah, Gravina Island, you ask. Pray tell, where is that?
You may recall a certain Bridge To Nowhere. You may also remember that at the end of the summer Governor Palin from her perch in the fair capital city, Juneau (yes, that is the capital), decided not to push for the construction of the BTN, thereby putting the $200+ million to use on other highways and bridges in the Last Frontier State.
You may also recall that the BTN was to have run from the balmy (for Alaska) city of Ketchikan (pop. 8,000) to Gravina Island (home to 50 permanent residents).
What I did not know was that the ferry ride is not only frequent (every 15 minutes) but also takes only about 5-10 minutes.
Sort of reminds one that instead of spending $1.4 billion on the South Coast rail link, one could use bus service to get it done. The only problem is that, well, the buses would be as empty as the trains… Have the ridership estimates changed since the Supplemental DEIR submitted to MEPA?
There has to be a better way to get this done.
Charles Chieppo provides testimony to the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight on the Secretary of Education.
Download Here: Testimony to the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight on the Secretary of Education
“She’s a good girl. She helps me a lot. She has big, big dreams. I don’t have the money, but she has big dreams. I hope she’s going to get everything, but she works so hard. She works so hard in school.”
“Our family is needing to make some really big sacrifices because we believe this is important, and so, we’re basically going to do whatever it takes… Sometimes we look at each other and go ‘I don’t know if I can do it again another month…’”
“A lot of the families have to sacrifice and work multiple jobs… And just scraping together enough money to just make tuition, just the basics.”
“It is discriminatory, that parents who want to choose an alternative to public school for their children, would not in any way receive any compensation for that, whether it be tax credit, whether it be a voucher…”
In the 1840s, nativist movement leaders formed official political parties and local chapters of the national Native American Party (later the American Party), although they continued to be commonly known as the Know-Nothing Party. Politicians sought to insert provisions into state constitutions against Catholics who refused to renounce the pope. The Know-Nothing movement brought bigotry and hatred to a new level of violence and organization.
The party’s legacy endured in the post-Civil War era, with laws and constitutional amendments it supported, still today severely limiting parents’ educational choices. A federal constitutional amendment was proposed by Speaker of the House James Blaine prohibiting money raised by taxation in any State to be under the control of any religious sect; nor shall any money so raised or lands so devoted be divided between religious sects or denominations. These were then named the Blaine Amendments of 1875.
in recent decades, often in response to challenges to school choice programs, the U.S. Supreme Court has demonstrated great interest in examining the issues of educational alternatives and attempts limit parental options. Massachusetts plays a key role in this debate. The Bay State was a key center of the Know-Nothing movement and has the oldest version of Anti-Aid Amendments in the nation, as well as a second such amendment approved in 1917. Two-fifths of Massachusetts residents are Catholic, and its Catholic schools outperform the state’s public schools, which are the best in the nation.
To make my bias plain, I’m a regular commuter rail user and a big fan.
That said, Tuesday’s Globe had some dispiriting news about the newest commuter line — Greenbush. Its getting roughly 2700 riders per day (or around 1350 round-trip passengers) but a quarter of those are from another form of public transit — the commuter boat out of Hingham.
So, we paid $500m+ to get about a thousand people a ride into the city (that’s a cool $500,000 per person). To be fair, the line may become more popular as time goes on, but this is not an encouraging sign.
Looking back at the planning documents (see pg. 19 of this document), the seeds of this problem were actually quite clear. It forecast over 11,000 new riders on the train (a number significantly higher than 2,700 for those of you without strong math skills) but only 4,700 “net” new public transit riders. The implication being that 6,300 riders would be pulled off other forms of public transportation. Wish someone had questioned that earlier.
A friend on Friday mentioned her visit to infamous Gravina Island. Ah, Gravina Island, you ask. Pray tell, where is that?
You may recall a certain Bridge To Nowhere. You may also remember that at the end of the summer Governor Palin from her perch in the fair capital city, Juneau (yes, that is the capital), decided not to push for the construction of the BTN, thereby putting the $200+ million to use on other highways and bridges in the Last Frontier State.
You may also recall that the BTN was to have run from the balmy (for Alaska) city of Ketchikan (pop. 8,000) to Gravina Island (home to 50 permanent residents).
What I did not know was that the ferry ride is not only frequent (every 15 minutes) but also takes only about 5-10 minutes.
Sort of reminds one that instead of spending $1.4 billion on the South Coast rail link, one could use bus service to get it done. The only problem is that, well, the buses would be as empty as the trains… Have the ridership estimates changed since the Supplemental DEIR submitted to MEPA?
There has to be a better way to get this done.
Charles Chieppo provides testimony to the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight on the Secretary of Education.
Download Here: Testimony to the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight on the Secretary of Education
More Commuter Rail Chatter
/0 Comments/in Better Government, Blog, Blog: Better Government, News /byTo make my bias plain, I’m a regular commuter rail user and a big fan.
That said, Tuesday’s Globe had some dispiriting news about the newest commuter line — Greenbush. Its getting roughly 2700 riders per day (or around 1350 round-trip passengers) but a quarter of those are from another form of public transit — the commuter boat out of Hingham.
So, we paid $500m+ to get about a thousand people a ride into the city (that’s a cool $500,000 per person). To be fair, the line may become more popular as time goes on, but this is not an encouraging sign.
Looking back at the planning documents (see pg. 19 of this document), the seeds of this problem were actually quite clear. It forecast over 11,000 new riders on the train (a number significantly higher than 2,700 for those of you without strong math skills) but only 4,700 “net” new public transit riders. The implication being that 6,300 riders would be pulled off other forms of public transportation. Wish someone had questioned that earlier.
A bit like asking if we should build the South Coast rail link
/0 Comments/in Blog, Economic Opportunity, News /byA friend on Friday mentioned her visit to infamous Gravina Island. Ah, Gravina Island, you ask. Pray tell, where is that?
You may recall a certain Bridge To Nowhere. You may also remember that at the end of the summer Governor Palin from her perch in the fair capital city, Juneau (yes, that is the capital), decided not to push for the construction of the BTN, thereby putting the $200+ million to use on other highways and bridges in the Last Frontier State.
You may also recall that the BTN was to have run from the balmy (for Alaska) city of Ketchikan (pop. 8,000) to Gravina Island (home to 50 permanent residents).
What I did not know was that the ferry ride is not only frequent (every 15 minutes) but also takes only about 5-10 minutes.
Sort of reminds one that instead of spending $1.4 billion on the South Coast rail link, one could use bus service to get it done. The only problem is that, well, the buses would be as empty as the trains… Have the ridership estimates changed since the Supplemental DEIR submitted to MEPA?
There has to be a better way to get this done.
Testimony to the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight on the Secretary of Education
/0 Comments/in Education, Public Testimony /by Charles ChieppoCharles Chieppo provides testimony to the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight on the Secretary of Education.
Download Here: Testimony to the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight on the Secretary of Education