Shuttles

XS NightClub said:

The airline industry has been running schedules for their sole business purpose for over 60 years and still rarely hits 80%on time, and that’s with experts on staff and unimaginable amounts of government funding.

The best part about this is that if a plane pulls away from the gate it's considered to have left "on time" even if it sits on the runway for a hour before actually taking off. Then airlines usually add in about an hour of "buffer" time in their posted flight schedules to help hit those on time landing statistics and are still only at about 80% or so. So their statistics would actually be a heck of a lot worse if factors weren't in place.

I still think the park has just not seen enough demand to merit guest shuttles on a continuous loop with some sort of schedule. Pointing out how bad traffic can get on the Peninsula is a good point. And mixing guests with employees in just not a good thing from a customer service stand point.

Maybe a solution can be a free CP uber type service done through the CP app. You get an access code as a resort guest and use it during non-peak times when shuttle service may not be as in demand. Now, it wont solve issues like traffic around parameter road. That will always cause delays especially on really busy days. But it could be more flexible than shuttles as the request would be for the requester and only the requester/family and not constantly get pulled back and forth by a poor dispatch service. Then keep shuttles at certain times of day, early mornings say 830-1030am and evenings 9p-1130 (or an hour before to 1,5 hours after close). Having an uber type service could be more flexible than shuttles for non-peak times. Just a thought (that probably won't happen).

^ That service 1000% would not be free

^You get what you pay for.
Like the guests at Breakers and Marina Dockholders get their ‘locked down’ parking lots, they payed for them.

Just imagine how amazingly efficient CPs new highly evolved out-of-the-box thinking upcoming big-world view instant teleportation service will be for those trying to get to dinner reservations anywhere on point. Just think big picture and amazing, they could even include it with free breakfast.

Or Lime could just litter the peninsula with 100 or so scooters. What could go wrong?

LOL Cargo, you just made me spit out my drink

Well at least some are thinking outside the box and not staying up late, at the nightclub. Tough to think and explore solutions when you are tired.

Another thought, maybe the Boardwalk Cruisers could be expanded?

Sooo... they add a "Scooter Only" lane to the edge of perimiter road.

I'm down for that.

Within 7 minutes of its completion there would be invented a "Scooter Fast Lane" for a minor up-charge you could get around 6.27295% faster with the "Super-Scooter Deluxe" (A tamed Honda CR450R Dirt Bike). It should include free dogs and suds... but it won't.

:)

With as high as the water is this year, maybe they should add a jet ski lane along the edge of Perimeter road.
Thinking out of the box and all, they could have preferred parking for jet skis right up on the marina walkway and premium parking right inside the marina store many days.

All this within a short walk to the always open, never locked down, Bay Harbor parking lot.

There's thinking outside of the box about things that won't happen, and there's thinking outside of the box with a firm base in reality.

The causeway was built in the 1950s and was under discussion for decades earlier. It was designed to handle traffic headed to or from a much smaller park than today's Cedar Point. It seems unlikely that the causeway would be expanded. Shuttle buses would become part of the problem, not a solution.

I likely lost track of the thread's tangents or missed a comment within the insecure and caustic comments, but no one (at least not me) was advocating for a shuttle on the causeway.

Then where would the shuttles go?

...space...

:)

noggin said:

Then where would the shuttles go?

My initial idea (which the forum's experts determined to be unrealistic, insensible, and inconceivable) was to have the staff shuttles and guest shuttles currently operating on the island (front gate, marina, campground, breakers) merged into one system with the route shuttling staff from the staff parking lot to the front gate remaining as is.

Do you want to build a snowman?

My initial idea … was to have the staff shuttles and guest shuttles currently operating on the island (front gate, marina, campground, breakers) merged into one system with the route shuttling staff from the staff parking lot to the front gate remaining as is.

Well. it's not an island, it's a peninsula.

So you're only proposing to have shuttles run on the peninsula, not picking up people at Express or Castaway?

correct.

This thread makes my head hurt.

I'm literally about to begin planning and designing a shuttle system. Being a fresh civil engineer that's interested in transportation engineering it would give me practice and something to show off to potential employers.

^Hyperloop around the peninsula??

To be serious for a moment. Another option, that won't happen, but another option could be a monorail around the peninsula. Reason it won't happen? Again probably not enough demand to make the investment worth it. But it would have a start at Breakers > CPS/Camper Village > Marina Gate > Main Gate then either snake thru the park and return to Breakers or just reverse and repeat the stops as it returns to Breakers via the same route it came. There could be more of a "schedule" for people who us it and it could avoid all the traffic by being above or to the side of it. It could be available to all guests not just Resort guests.

There would be some logistic issues to work out like should it be a complete loop, where to snake it through to avoid "ruining" views of the lake, etc. Pros of a complete loop are 2 or 3 trains could be on course at the same time, etc. But I think its a doable option. But again like I mention before, there probably isn't enough demand to merit the investment. Honestly, if done correctly I think it could be wonderful.

So there it is, my idea to solve this problem. I don't think shuttles are the way to do it. My vote is for a monorail that loops the peninsula! lol

Elon Musk’s Boring Co. could build us a nice monorail subway, Could even double as our elusive dark ride.

A complete loop for just shuttles (or maybe regular traffic too) would be of much help, at least one would think. The alternative would be to add an additional lane on the existing Perimeter Rd. I'm not very familiar with the cost of tunneling, but some quick Googling and calculations yielded that it would cost in the ballpark of $10 million to go the roughly 1/4 mile needed to complete a loop of Perimeter Rd. Adding an extra lane to Perimeter Rd for the approximately 2 miles needed would be in the range of $2-$3 million.

Based purely on cost of the new infrastructure, adding a lane would be a better choice. Would it be best to use it for buses only? Would it be best to use it as a flex lane depending on the direction with the highest demand? Could you combine the two and use it as a bus/express toll lane? I think the latter is interesting, and that some people would probably be willing to pay an absurd amount of money to save themselves from sitting in traffic for an hour or longer.

On the other hand, maybe the $10 million would be cheaper when factoring maintenance and fuel costs (probably not in the useful life of a bus, though). Without diving into too much research, I'd like to think the trip times would be much shorter as well. But, you would still have complete traffic jams for roughly 90% of the trip. If you open the road to regular traffic or follow the idea of a toll the amount of usage will probably quickly exceed capacity, thus diverting people back to your existing Perimeter Rd until an equilibrium is reached.

A quick summary of my thoughts: add a lane to Perimeter Rd, overhaul the route network and scheduling of the existing shuttles, determine the best way to use the new lane. Or just leave things as they are, as it seems to have yet to actually hurt business.