WashCo Commuter Rail

Curious about the new Washington County commuter rail line? Me too. They describe it here.

I don't know what I would use these trains for. It will be all too interesting to see whether people ride them. The problem is that -- unlike light rail to downtown -- your destination is relatively unlikely to be within walking distance of the station. You can't use park & ride on both ends, unless your employer runs a shuttle!

So the key question is: where are the stations going to be? See here.

Another problem: the trains will run only every 30 minutes, and only during commuter rush hours. We're all counting on everyone that is able to use these trains to commute to work. Because it sounds like few of us will be able to use them for anything!

Suburban mass transit is really tough. To get people to use it, it has to be really frequent. But it's not very frequent, because too few people use it. Smart people have been trying to figure this out for a long time. We HAVE to figure it out.