A train station Will Rogers would love

[jennifer7]

Not sure if you have had a chance to patronize some of the wonderful breweries, distilleries, and restaurants in the cities. Rochester has some as well.

I would love to take a 30 - 40 min train ride to Rochester, hit some breweries, catch an amerks game and catch a 30 - 40 min train back home, without having to worry about driving. If you think people would not do this you're crazy. I would be doing it every other weekend.

Every City has wonderful Breweries, Distilleries & Restaurants, the larger the City or Metro area is, the more their are to choose from

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

To rely on a downtown stadium to justify a downtown train station is foolish.

I'm not. Like it or not a new station is being built. All I am talking about is the correct location.

That's 8 days a year for close to $100 million on top of the $1 billion for a new stadium. And please spare us all the argument that people from Rochester and Toronto are going to take the train here to enjoy all our wonderful amenities. They could all be driving here tomorrow for that if they wanted to see them that badly. It's senseless to compare a decaying area like upstate New York to flourishing areas like North Carolina and Southern California. They have the amenities because they have the jobs to bring in population, not the other way around.

Have you been on a train recently?

There is a lot of bad with Amtrak. They can snatch failure from the jaw of success. That said, there are some very good things to rail.

1 - The seats are comfortable. They each have power and most trains have wifi and continuous cell service.
2 - You are allowed to bring on your own food and booze.
3 - While some routes are better (e.g. the surfliner has amazing views) by and large riding on the train is a very comfortable and scenic experience.

So with the above facts...if people actually knew them...it would be a pretty easy sale if you had competent people marketing. In North Carolina the Panthers actually market the 'Panther train'. It's on the news from Charlotte to Raleigh. Because they marketed something that was good...wait for it...people actually used it.


Bars close at 4am. The casino does not close. Downtown Buffalo is better than Downtown Rochester. Downtown Rochester does not have a Casino. Rochester does not have professional sports. These are facts.

Amtrak runs a 5pm train on Saturdays that puts you into Buffalo around 6:30. Amtrak runs a 3:30pm train that puts you into Rochester around 5pm. That just about 24 hours.

How in the hell the local board of tourism is not doing a 24 hours in Buffalo Campaign specifically targeted to Rochester is beyond me. Bring together Amtrak, Hotels, Bars, the Casino and events at CanalSide and other venues. It's not that hard to come up with enough to get both old and young people from Rochester to say let's go spend a night in Buffalo and do X, Y and Z.

Buffalo may be a decaying area like other parts in the rust belt. It might not be attractive for someone to move to for good. But it is a pretty great city if you compress it into a weekend or 24hrs.


Is this going to bring traffic up to top 20 Amtrak stations? No. But the station is going to get built anyways and this is how with very little money you make a downtown station bring a signifiant boost to the downtown economy.

[WNYresident]

How in the hell the local board of tourism is not doing a 24 hours in Buffalo Campaign specifically targeted to Rochester is beyond me. Bring together Amtrak, Hotels, Bars, the Casino and events at CanalSide and other venues. It's not that hard to come up with enough to get both old and young people from Rochester to say let's go spend a night in Buffalo and do X, Y and Z.

Buffalo may be a decaying area like other parts in the rust belt. It might not be attractive for someone to move to for good. But it is a pretty great city if you compress it into a weekend or 24hrs.

I wonder about this all the time. Either we don't know what we are talking about or the people involved with marketing the region are incompetent. I'm going to start another thread labeled "Connecticut Office of Tourism"

[grump]

Not sure if you have had a chance to patronize some of the wonderful breweries, distilleries, and restaurants in the cities. Rochester has some as well.

I would love to take a 30 - 40 min train ride to Rochester, hit some breweries, catch an amerks game and catch a 30 - 40 min train back home, without having to worry about driving. If you think people would not do this you're crazy. I would be doing it every other weekend.

Others might love to take a 40 minute train ride to Rochester as well. The reality of Amtrak is that their trains are rarely less than a half hour late departing and almost never arrive on time. In fact the train runs to Rochester already. You don't need a new $100 million train station to hop on and fulfill your dream. All aboard!!

[grump]

And I can't even address the comments in the bird cage liner by high talker Higgins. Every time I think about it I laugh uncontrollably and can't type accurately.

[grump]

To make this whole train thing successful we need to come up with a way to give a train trip to Buffalo a real "Buffalo" feel. While watching an old western about a train robbery it hit me...make arriving in and leaving Buffalo a real unique experience. Make sure there's a 2 or 3 mile stretch of road paralleling the train track. Have the train chased into and out of town by a beat up Cadillac full of east side "gangstas" firing AK-47's and Glocs that they bought from the Arab "convenience stores" on the east side. Those who survive to get into the train station can be welcomed by a flashing video display "Welcome to Buffalo, Murder Capital of New York". Any thoughts?

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

To make this whole train thing successful we need to come up with a way to give a train trip to Buffalo a real "Buffalo" feel. While watching an old western about a train robbery it hit me...make arriving in and leaving Buffalo a real unique experience. Make sure there's a 2 or 3 mile stretch of road paralleling the train track. Have the train chased into and out of town by a beat up Cadillac full of east side "gangstas" firing AK-47's and Glocs that they bought from the Arab "convenience stores" on the east side. Those who survive to get into the train station can be welcomed by a flashing video display "Welcome to Buffalo, Murder Capital of New York". Any thoughts?

Gotta say...I laughed out loud reading this. HAHA

[WNYresident]

So the station will be downtown.



Higgins said 65% of the USA won't have access to the terminal downtown. How can that be?

[grump]

So the station will be downtown.



Higgins said 65% of the USA won't have access to the terminal downtown. How can that be?

How can it be? Because the high talker is an ignoramus who doesn't know what he's high talking about! And Leftie, Rochester has professional sports just not at the major league level. I've ridden Amtrak enough to know that you'd better pack a meal and a bottle. The club cars have always been notoriously under supplied and the staff are rude beyond all belief. And you'll need that meal because invariably you'll be at least an hour late for your destination. The notion that people are going to flock here by train if we build a train station is foolish. The station isn't the destination, the city is. All our alleged attractions exist; people can already get here to see them if they want to. So far precious few want to. Saying will people will suddenly flock to the destination because of a new train station is a bit like saying people will suddenly flock to see my house because of a new front door.

[WNYresident]

Panel OKs downtown train station in 11-4 vote

A new Buffalo train station should be located downtown, a site selection committee concluded Thursday.

The vote was 11 in favor of downtown, 4 in favor of the Central Terminal, with one abstention.

The Buffalo Train Station Selection Committee, led by Mayor Byron W. Brown, reached its decision after listening for about two hours to a presentation by an engineering consultant, meeting the six-month timetable imposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

All of the six criteria — including construction costs, readiness, and environmental factors — that committee members were asked to consider favored a downtown station.

http://buffalonews.com/2017/04/20/pu...ation-meeting/