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Originally Posted by riverc0il  Your example of Loon is quite idealistic. What about Waterville, Cannon, Bretton Woods, etc. which are all along the I-93 corridor? Regarding not that many stops, if the train doesn't stop that often to pick up more passengers, that means the average passenger has to drive further (often in the wrong direction I.E. south) to get to the nearest station. A bus need only stop once to get filled up to capacity. Not sure about speed but I wonder if the current rail situation in New Hampshire could handle high speed rail service. I do know that MBTA is slower than driving by a substantial amount when there is no traffic. The trade offs for avoid North Conway traffic don't add up. Take the side road and you can avoid the worth of NC. Or better yet, head to VT where has better mountains within that same three hour drive to from Boston to NC areas. All things considered, the difference door to door would be substantial and I stand by my +2 hours estimate has being a reasonable estimation. |
All this is rather fanciful, as NH doesn't even have Amtrak service, but since we are having a fun debate...
Making more than one stop to pick up passengers makes no sense at all. Who would be the primary consumer of a ski train or ski bus? (1) People who don't have cars (2) People who feel guilty about driving their cars. (3) People who'd rather ride than drive. In general, your talking about an urban (or at least urbane) population. I suspect that SOMEONE in or near Amherst, New Hampshire would make use of the service, but that doesn't that Amherst, NH should have a stop.
Sure, a stop northwest of Boston makes sense as long as it has a lot of safe parking, but turning an express vehicle into a local would partially defeat the purpose.
For the fictional Lincoln, NH example: the market would fix this over time. If a dedicated train or bus service was popular enough Cannon (assuming freedom to act) or Bretton Woods would find it in their best interest to either pay for an extension or run a shuttle. (Bretton Woods could issue tokens for use on the service, and they could be called the Bretton Woods III standard.) All I know about Waterville is that it is popular and south of loon.
A North Conway service makes more sense due to its greater diversification of activities, higher density, and an existing trolley.
But all this is moot since we are talking about New Hampshire.
Another big flaw in this is that connecting from Providence wouldn't be very workable due to the whole south station/north station thing.
When there is no traffic, cars are going to beat a local MBTA train for two reasons. First, trains move slower in high density areas (not NH). Second, they make local stops.