Hello!
I’ve decided to launch an advocacy group for public transit in lake county!
If you are interested, find us on Twitter/IG @LCOHforTransit, or on Facebook at Lake County for Public Transit
I will be creating posts/sites with more information on what our goals are and other information!
these aren't for major systemic problems like "it doesn't go anywhere useful" or "it gets stuck behind traffic" - more those little things that drive you nuts way more than they really should.
here's mine - the old Kinki-Sharyo LRTs on the Seattle Link system have electronic rollsigns which display the final destination in a *really* slow marquee. this was OK when we had one line, but now with two lines, the rollsigns slowly scroll through "DOWNTOWN REDMOND 2 LINE" which seemingly takes longer than the actual dwell times of the trains. this is actually kind of annoying when you're running down the stairs at Westlake and don't know if you should get on the train at the platform or not. what's wrong with just showing "2 - REDMOND" or something without the scrolling text?
thankfully the refurb program for the KS trains include new rollsigns, if the pictures some people have snagged are any indication (though FEDERAL DTWN is dumb - just say FEDERAL WAY")
I hope this segways nicely into the arrival of the new train’s. A better fare system and fare enforcement would do WONDERS for this system.
Decided to take a crack at making a transit diagram for how I think the GCRTA rail system should expand. I appreciate any feedback and discussion!
Thought it would be interesting to dive into 2025 NTD data and see how different cities in the US compare by rail ridership (heavy rail/rapid transit, light rail/streetcar, commuter rail) per capita.
| Region | Trips Per Capita | Rail Ridership |
|---|---|---|
| New York | 118.3 | 2,644,196,000 |
| Washington D.C.* | 31.2 | 196,972,100 |
| Boston | 20.3 | 172,826,800 |
| DC - Baltimore | 20.2 | 206,597,600 |
| Chicago | 17.6 | 175,182,800 |
| Philadelphia | 14.8 | 111,115,200 |
| San Diego | 13.3 | 43,747,600 |
| San Francisco Bay Area | 11.8 | 108,308,100 |
| Seattle | 7.8 | 39,744,900 |
| Portland | 7.5 | 25,087,300 |
| Salt Lake City | 6.1 | 17,421,000 |
| Denver | 5.1 | 19,212,700 |
| Atlanta | 4.1 | 30,373,600 |
| Los Angeles | 4.0 | 74,827,800 |
| Baltimore* | 3.4 | 9,625,500 |
| Minneapolis - St. Paul | 3.1 | 12,970,000 |
| Dallas - Fort Worth | 2.7 | 24,133,300 |
| Miami | 2.7 | 19,895,400 |
| Sacramento | 2.7 | 7,410,000 |
| St. Louis | 2.6 | 7,665,000 |
| Phoenix | 2.1 | 11,100,300 |
| Charlotte | 1.8 | 6,403,100 |
| Houston | 1.6 | 12,651,100 |
| Pittsburgh | 1.1 | 3,104,400 |
| Cleveland | 1.0 | 3,618,200 |
A few caveats are that I used 2024 Combined Statistical Area estimates to level the playing field which isn't exactly accurate for DC/Baltimore which is why I also calculated each at the MSA level. Additionally, NJTransit does not easily break down ridership between NYC and Philadelphia serving lines so I just included them all within NYC.
The big takeaways, as always, are that NYC is in a league of its own and most Sun Belt metros fall near the bottom. It was surprising to see how competitive San Diego was - the highest ranked west of Chicago and just below Philadelphia.