MSchwiebert wrote:The key to buying a first car is a reliable trouble free set of wheels that won't cost too much $ when the inevitable accident occurs. To extend this to the ex Metra cars, - they're of a reliable time proven design that if the service doesn't work out - the money outlay was not very much.
"Reliable, time-proven design." No, no, no. Just because something looks similar on the outside does not mean it is identical on the inside. The cars we are dealing with are the first-ever order from Budd. Designed by Budd and CB&Q in the 1940's, they were delivered in 1950. There were several other incremental car orders through the 1950s, all of which incorporated
changes and
design improvements. These cars were used to develop a "reliable, time-proven design." But they themselves are the orphans, not the result.
Interestingly enough, you've waltzed into the crucial issue here. SEMCOG and MDOT are trying to start a commuter service, and it's quickly becoming obvious that the people at the planning office are learning as they go. When other cities start commuter service, they have a dedicated Authority to oversee finance, planning, and operations. We don't have that here, just a patchwork of government organizations with everyone from the state to the bus people in Ann Arbor having some sort of role. Normal procedure is to start with a study that says ridership will support a service. You take your study to the federal government and apply for "New Start" grants. With that seed money and matching local dollars, the Authority can negotiate with the freight railroads, acquire equipment, and contract for infrastructure and service.
What we don't have is a study that says enough people would ride it, so we're not getting federal "New Start" dollars. In fact, the Ann Arbor-Detroit line was turned down for ARRA stimulus funding, indicating federal planners are taking a dim view of how things are developing. So, MDOT and SEMCOG are going around, hat in hand, trying to raise the $60M to $80M to startup service for Ann Arbor-Detroit and $30M for WALLY. And, in the general theme of doing things backwards, they have signed a contract with Federated Railways to provide coaches and cab cars, even though they have no formal, binding agreements with the freight railroads to operate this service, no locomotives lined up, no contracted operator lined up, and no total cost accounting for ROW and signal upgrades. Heck, they haven't even agreed on a lease rate for the rolling stock with Federated, even though they are spending $6M on refurbishing the cars.
What we have is a service where there's no proven demand, with antique equipment, where riders have to transfer to busses at the endpoints to actually get anywhere. The danger here is that by doing this the "Southeast Michigan" way, with everything backwards and half-baked, that the result will be such a failure that it will kill the potential for any real, properly-planned service in the future.
