Because you know how whiny us bloggers can get. Okay, it probably didn’t cost millions, but based on the animations and renderings alone, this video for NJ Transit’s new ARC plan (Access to the Region’s Core), had to cost a boatload. Guess I know where their wireless budget went this year. Basically, they want to dig a new tunnel under the Hudson from the Meadowlands into NYC, which is supposed to double the amount of passengers the current system does.
First, 100 meg hard drives were amazingly huge once too. Second, not sure we want to dig too deep, otherwise won’t Morlocks be released?
Why does this feel like it’s shaping up to be the sequel to Boston’s Big Dig. For the non-NY crowd needing a glimpse of the fun NJ commuters have when heading in each day, the first half of the video is spot. On. Check out the sequence in the Penn Station cattle call. Good times as people try and guess the right door to stand by when boarding is announced. Track 12? Oh, damn. By the way, uou just happened to be standing by the door for track three. Yea, you! Especially in August.
The rest of it though is pure fantasy. Especially for regular riders who know better. Older trains are being replaced with newer ones already, but let’s face it, people are people, which means what? Yes: People suck. They’re definitely doing their part to trash them. Not in the land of tomorrow though: Quiet passengers! Spacious walkways and platforms! Chair massage as you step off the train! Hey, I want in on that.
The way they show the finished project, you’d think you’re in an airport hanger with room to tango. Penn’s homeless pied pipers in this utopian fantasy? Gone, or, at least relocated for the animation. The only place that looked that clean with as few commuters was San Fran’s BART.
As for the congestion problem, it’s not more trains they need as much as where they need them. I live on the second to last stop out of the city, often the second or third on and almost always the last off by the time I get home. ARC may help locals doing the Meadowlands > NYC run, but heading in during morning rush, I can tell you that nine shiny new doubledeckers are already standing room only by the team we roll into Seacacus.
If I’m still blogging in 10 years, first, smack me, then laugh. Second, check my follow-up post on this topic as I’ll probably be discussing how the project at that point has grown to three times its original estimate–and they’ve yet to break ground.
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