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According to a Statehouse source, the 3C Corridor should be officially receiving federal stimulus dollars tomorrow in an announcement following Obama’s State of the Union speech. In October 2009, ODOT and the Ohio Rail Development Commission submitted their application for $563 million to help fund a passenger rail line that would run between Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati. More information about the 3C Corridor can be found at 3cisme.ohio.gov. More information about tomorrow’s announcement can be found in a Dispatch article here.
Update #1: Gov. Strickland’s office is planning a news conference today (Thursday) in the Statehouse Rotunda at 1pm. Anyone planning on attending?
Update #2: It’s official. The 3C Corridor is receiving $400M in federal funding.
Don’t you just love people who signed up the same day start ranting?
And make up figures with no basis in reality?
ETA
Also love when they start using name calling to articulate their point. This takes me back to 2nd grade.
lifeontwotrainingwheels says “jlmms, good for you. Some people will ride, some won’t. Some will drive, some won’t. What’s wrong with a balanced transportation system that gives us options and allows the state to grow responsible instead of paving under every cornfield”
Few will ride, most won’t. Most will drive, few won’t. A balanced transportation system in one in which I have multiple options, each having specific cost, speed or convenience benefits that tailor to my needs. The benefits of 3c+d are so narrow as to throw the balance way to the car side. Also, last I checked the ratio of cornfield acerage to road pavement was not in any danger of a significant change anytime soon.
Nice to see there are maybe 10 people here who will ride the train, only 447, 990 to go to meet the estimate.
And your data?
There is no real data for how many peope wil actually pay to ride. I think I have been very accurate as to real world time and cost estimates, and factoring these in, it is not difficult to see that traveling on 3c+d makes very little sense to an overwhelmingly large percentage of the population. Again I ask, who will ride? The answers you have given thus far will never begin to economically support this system. I believe most of you proponents have some personal or emotional reason for supporting this project and you just can’t or won’t look at it objectivey.
“I think I have been very accurate as to real world time and cost estimates”
Your cost estimate has no basis in reality when you look at cost per mile from both the IRS and AAA.
You also account for 45 minutes in delay when riding 3C (yet for some reason you account for no possible delay by car). According to the Amtrak feasibility study, their numbers indicate a delay of no more than 8%. Someone can check my figures but I calculated no more than 25 minutes of delay.
Your assertion that food would be more expensive than a McDonald’s stop also has no basis in reality.
Here is your data you’ve begging for….
Amtrak has been serving Cleveland since 1971.
Two trains a day each way go through the city on the way to West to the Amtrak hub in Chicago.
One is the Capitol Limited
Chicago -Toledo - Cleve – Pitts – DC
http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer/AM_Route_C/1241245652139/1237405732511
The Other is The Lake Shore Limited
Chicago – Toledo – Cleve – Buffalo – Albany – NYC – Boston
http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer/AM_Route_C/1241245664423/1237405732511
Amtrak has been serving these routes nearly 40 years, look at the passenger figures. These include people getting on and off from all the AMTRAK trains.
http://www.amtrak.com/pdf/factsheets/OHIO09.pdf
lifeontwotrainingwheels writes: “Your cost estimate has no basis in reality when you look at cost per mile from both the IRS and AAA”
With all due respect, the IRS and AAA do not drive my car. Between gas, car payment, insurance and maintenance, I average $500/month. That breaks down to about 70 cents an hour. If I get in my car right now and drive to Cleveland, I am going to spend $15.00 above what I would have normally spent this month, so that is my real world cost.
It’s cost per mile, not per hour.
As you can see, people do not ride slow trains in Ohio, not from Toledo to Cleveland, not from Cleveland To Pittsburgh.
Why would a slow ride to Columbus or Cincy be any different ?
None of the talked about economic boom surrounding any of these stations happened, most of them are nothing more than bigger COTA type structures in Ohio.
Here you go BC:
On the Capitol Limited an 11.7% increase in ridership FY ’07-FY ’08 and a 19.7% increase FY ’04-FY ’08
Lake Shore Limited, 10.6% and 23.6% increases, respectively.
Also the Cardinal with 12.7% and 22.8% increases in ridership, respectively.
http://www.miprc.org/Portals/0/Amtrak_Ridership_Midwest_FY_04_to_08.pdf
“Nice to see there are maybe 10 people here who will ride the train, only 447, 990 to go to meet the estimate.”
and two who won’t…what is your point exactly?
ETA: A car trip to Cleveland isn’t going to cost you 15 dollars.
lifeontwotrainingwheels writes: “You also account for 45 minutes in delay when riding 3C (yet for some reason you account for no possible delay by car).”
I never said anything about actual delays on 3c’s side. Again, I only deal in real world time estimates. For example, if I live in Columbus and I need to get to Cleveland for a meeting at 2:00pm, my option is to leave my house at 11:00am leaving 45 minutes extra time. The train only runs 3 to 4 times a day, chances are it may leave at 9:00am with an arrival time of 12:15pm. Now I have to leave my house at 8:15 so I have tme to get to the station, park, get to the platform and wait for my train. When I get to Cleveland I am going to have almost 2 hours to waste till my meeting. So now my option is 3 hours by car or almost 6 hours by train, and the train will cost me more, alot more if there are more than one of us traveling. Given the limited amount of times per day that the train will run, this scenario is probably the norm rather than the exception. Most business people like myself are not going to take a bus once we get there so we are going to have a significant added expense of a cab as well.
Core_Models writes: “ETA: A car trip to Cleveland isn’t going to cost you 15 dollars.”
I’ll say it again, if I jump up right now and decide to go to Cleveland, I am going to put 6 gallons in my Accord and go. I am only going to spend $15.00 above and beyond what I would have spent on my care this month. My insurance is not going to go up, my car payment is not going to go up, and my maintenance costs are not going to go up. So $15.00 it is, and that’s all that it is. Now if I drive a Suburban, it will probably be $25.00, but then again, if I’m driving a Suburban, I’m probably not too concerned with the cost of gas.
And again, the established way-recognized by no less than the federal government in the form of the IRS-is to base costs on the established cost per mile, based on all associated costs and depreciation on average. It provides an effective and objective way to estimate, over the greater population, an average cost.
But please, continue…
Wheels,
Only 39.371 total passengers used AMTRAK in Cleveland for two trains for the entire year of 2009.
Only 14,777 total passengers used AMTRAK in Cincy for the service.
Where are the 450,000 riders coming from ?
Do you think AMLATE sold anyone a bag of goods here ?
i like the idea,but this train is 25 years too late.
besides,you can ride a greyhound and smoke in the back.
the driver doesn’t give a shit
@buckeyechuck: Possibly, but common sense, logic, and reason tells me you came here specifically to tear down commuter rail so it seems logical to ask where your agenda is coming from.
David F
President Obama said high speed rail, this isn’t what was promised and Ohio should turn this money down.
Ohio will have just one chance to do this correct, and if it’s blown passenger trains will never be an option in Ohio, ever again.
And I’m speaking as someone that has ridden on the ACELA many times, as well as the TGV trains in France. Both trains are extremely fast, convenient and optons of ground transportation numerous with subways, buses and even walking.
I am a believer in trains, but this is a 70 year old type service that is being sold to the public, and it just wont work. Not in this day and age. Maybe in 1940 this would have been fine, but this is 2010.