Genuinely the only real commuter rail in the US outside of NJ Transit Rail and maybe Metra if you're feeling extremely generous. (hexbear.net)

submitted 1 year ago by Posadas@hexbear.net to c/urbanism@hexbear.net

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[-] darkmode@hexbear.net 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The LIRR is so goddamn close to being an amazing train line beyond commuting. For people with a decent paying job and either live near the station and/or own a car, it's a great way to get to work in the city. It runs 24/7 and just had an extension to grand central. However, it's because expensive and there's no north/south service on long island itself msot ppl just stick to car only mode.

Based on nothing except the short hand legacy of long island, I imagine this has something to do with segregation followed by redlining and then whatever neo-redlining has been going on in the 21st century.

All it'd need are like fucking shuttles or something to and from the stations or god forbid north/south trains and 1000% less racism. Plus of course, the downfall of the west

[-] Shinji_Ikari@hexbear.net 5 points 1 year ago

One thing they do right, ironically, is make the stations so convenient to park and ride that many choose to do that over driving the whole way into the city.

Its weird, normally parking lots are bad, right? They make it easy to drive places and use up land, but in this microcosm, these parking lots do more to reduce car dependency than a few crappy bus lines. You don't need to worry about not getting a spot or parking passes, you just show up and pay for an expensive ticket and you're on your way.

[-] darkmode@hexbear.net 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

iirc (bc i got the hell outta there). The station in my home town has paid parking in addition to being able to park on the street nearby relatively easily. Sure it's convenient, however, it's not convenient enough to make a theoretical trip by car from Penn station to Amityville take 2hrs (a roughly 39 mile trip) due to traffic during rush hours.

sorry i think i'm just grinding my personal axe here

[-] Shinji_Ikari@hexbear.net 2 points 1 year ago

No its far from optimal, its a reasonable axe to grind. Its sad that this is basically the best the US can do, but its also cool to experience the best the US can do compared to how the rest of the country lives. Being near the LIRR means you know far more people who welcome a rail commute into their lives, despite the cost and delays.

[-] Posadas@hexbear.net 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Based on nothing except the short hand legacy of long island, I imagine this has something to do with segregation followed by redlining and then whatever neo-redlining has been going on in the 21st century.

Why do redlining when you can just keep doing de facto segregation.

https://projects.newsday.com/long-island/segregation-real-estate-history/#nd-promo