From: gl4317@yahoo.com

In article ,
 "conklin"  wrote:


> Adding parking to the old station would not cost much.


Add parking where?  There is a small triangle of trees on the lot at the
station, but those won't yield much parking.  You would have to take out
a structure to the south or west, and have people cross a street to get
to the station.  Better than some cities, but not really the best
solution.

Adding parking does not address the issue that the station only sits on
one side of the wye, nor does it address the fact that one train
obstructs the other if two happen to be there at the same time, or if a
freight has been sent through on the track closest to the station.

Adding parking does not address the fact that the tracks are a bit of a
barrier between the station and downtown.  Its on the wrong side of the
tracks, quite literally.

If you look at the numbers:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raleigh_(Amtrak_station)
it shows ridership at the station having dropped about 2.5% recently,
even while North Carolina ridership
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piedmont_(train)
has increased ridership every year it has operated the Piedmont, and
some years that train has seen 40%+ increases in ridership.

These numbers in this last paragraph indicate to me that there is a
particular problem with this station location.  Here in Amtrak Cascades
land, there aren't stations that are reporting drops in ridership while
at the same time the trains serving them are increasing in ridership.
The station as it exists, just doesn't seem to be working for people.

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