Does anyone know if the United Rail Passenger Alliance is still going? There hasn't been anything new posted on their site in almost 2 months and they haven't issued anything concerning the 2006 budget which really suprises me.
Posted by Mr. Toy (Member # 311) on :
URPA seems to be down to just a few members, and not particularly influential anymore. They have had a lot of interesting ideas, many of which I agree with. But they lost a lot of followers with their endorsement of Bush's plan for Amtrak, their criticism of other advocacy organizations as sheepish "lapdog organizations," and harsh criticisms that David Gunn is perpetuating the mistakes of his predecessors, and thus no better. They've alienated a good portion of the rail advocacy community.
Posted by MOKSRail (Member # 3163) on :
A long time ago I signed up to receive their newsletters.
This one pasted here is from a few weeks ago. I reposted it online because it had some good arguments and data regarding the relatively low funding cost and high load factors of the LD trains.
Selden has long been an advocate.
However, the next newsletter I received, the writer again started going after advocates with the prejudicial terms.
Therefore, I do not necessarily agree with everything this organization does. I'm not a member. I'm a NARP member. I used their information to support LD trains.
[This message has been edited by MOKSRail (edited 02-09-2005).]
Posted by superchief21 (Member # 3724) on :
I also find some of their ideas quite interesting but I do beleive the whole Gunn bashing and other things need to be toned down a bit. Some of the criticism seems too dogmatic at times and not really practical.
Posted by TwinStarRocket (Member # 2142) on :
Small world. I went to Sunday School with Andy Selden of URPA. He is also President of MNARP and writes some pretty extensive and interesting articles in their local newsletter.
Posted by George Harris (Member # 2077) on :
This is and always has been a major aggravation of many in the US. We see the entire country pouring money into a rail system that benefits primarily the richest portion of the country, while we get one train a day (if that!) in the middle of the night. How much ridership would the NEC have if New York city was served by one train in at 3:00 am that drifted down the track at an average speed of about 40 mph?
OK, "pouring money" is somewhat of an exageration, but the imbalance is still the point.
Posted by Charles Reuben (Member # 2263) on :
I have a question: What is meant by the term "load factor."
I refer to Mr. Richardson comment,
"In FY 04, the Northeast Corridor accounted for about 30.4% of system output (long distance trains produced 48.3% and the other short distance services about 21.3%). The NEC had 56% of system passenger revenue (based on the very high prices), while the long distance trains had 27.7% and the other short distance trains about 16.2%.
"NEC load factors appear to be about 45%, long distance 69% and short distance about 37%. (The data is a little less clear for this.)"
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
Load Factor:
Revenue Passenger Miles ______________________________=Load Factor(% tge) Available Seat Miles
In short, how "full up' is your transportation conveyance????
[This message has been edited by Gilbert B Norman (edited 02-10-2005).]