Ah, the subway. It’s only a subway for a brief stretch around the university, but whatever. "Urbantrain" just sounds stupid.
The northern end is in Sagrado Corazón, near the ferry terminal to Old San Juan, and surrounded by empty lots. In a burst of good sense that Boston would have done well to emulate, they use Metrocard machines straight outta Brooklyn instead of designing a brand new system that doesn’t work half as well.
F—k you, MBTA!
Apologies. But if you’ve ridden the T, you’ll understand.
The subway is a white elephant so far, with ridership running at about 30% of projections. The fare is reasonable—$1.50 per ride—but that is twice the cost of the bus, and for those who can afford it, well, like the lady said in Singles: "I still love my car."
Mayor Jorge Santini of San Juan (his name is omnipresent on billboards across the city) and Mayor William Miranda of the exurb of Caguas (the creator of the "Willie Tax") have approved a high-speed feeder line to run from Caguas down the median of Highway 52. The line will then directly connect to the subway at the Cupey station. The idea is to lure people coming in from the southern exurbs out of their cars. That, they hope, would ease congestion on Highway 52 (or at least provide an alternative to sitting in traffic) and boost subway ridership, relieving the Urbantrain of its current boondoggle status.
What are your thoughts?
On its face, it looks like a good idea. Being an exurbanite myself, the idea of a high-speed feeder into the metropole's mass-transit system is appealing. You're probably already used to a major commute, so a quick transfer at a station like Secaucus or Hoboken isn't a big deal.
Posted by: Bernard Guerrero | August 13, 2007 at 10:37 PM
The real question, I think, is: where are the commuters going? If they're currently headed to Hato Rey or other places near Tren Urbano stops, then I think your instincts are right.
But if their places of employment are more than a half-mile from the current Urbantrain stations, then I'm not sure that a feeder line will be enough to get them out of their cars. If you were working in, say, North Bergen or Union City, would a fast train to Hoboken be enough to get you out of your car?
Posted by: Noel Maurer | August 14, 2007 at 12:08 AM
Likely not, as that's similar to my current situation. There's a line that runs near to the Paramus office blocks, but not near enough unless I pay to keep a car there for the short hop, and the buses don't run quite in the convenient direction. More numerous buses for the short-haul would do it, though.
Posted by: Bernard Guerrero | August 14, 2007 at 01:08 AM
Likely not, as that's similar to my current situation. There's a line that runs near to the Paramus office blocks, but not near enough unless I pay to keep a car there for the short hop, and the buses don't run quite in the convenient direction. More numerous buses for the short-haul would do it, though.
Posted by: Bernard Guerrero | August 14, 2007 at 01:08 AM
The Tren Urbano was supposed to be a metro system with 36 stations, not 16. These 16 were built first because these are the backbone to the entire system, but if your backbone doesn't connect to arms and legs, how is it gonna work?
There were 3 other lines ending in Old San Juan, the international airport and Carolina's historic district, respectively. Like I said, these aren't extensions, they are necessary to complete the system. They were all designed at the same time.
The Caguas thing, now THAT's an extension; that's not gonna happen for another 25 years at least.
Posted by: David Soto | January 04, 2010 at 05:21 PM