Also shout out to the return of @roadsteamer.bsky.social y.social to Boston!

Idk if you can make it, but @transpocampne.bsky.social is also happening the day before APTA TRANSform, next Saturday...I hear at least a couple folks will be heading up from PVD for it!

If you've never been to one, it's an open-format mini-conference that attendees can submit topics for, day-of!

Aaaannnd 17 hours and 51 minutes later, we’re back at South Station, having gone to New York Penn Station without taking Amtrak or going at all through Connecticut one way, and taking the Acela back north.

Time to get some sleep…

Acela vibes. I think my friend put it best—in business class, it’s a marginal step up over the Northeast Regional, and it’s marginally faster.

I appreciated the dim lighting from the Bronx until Providence, though the PA chime and lights coming on are all very jarring. No Menu Shot, sorry.

The original goal: Catching the Acela back to Boston and riding one of the “OldGen” trains for the first time, while I still can. ✅ Back home we go…

Took a few minutes in New York to meet up with a couple friends over a tower of shaved ice, as well as get a new MetroCard (gotta stock up before they become antiques!).

But what was the aim of this whole trip…?

Penn Station, here we are! South Station to Penn Station in exactly 12 hours, 40 minutes.

Decision made: I’m staying through to Penn Station. And what a treat, too, to have this shot ruined by…the “NextGen” Acela!

And now for some @mta.info LIRR appreciation! Diesel train to Babylon, electric semi-express to either Jamaica (for GCT) or NYP, I haven’t yet decided. This also marks the first time I’ve been east of Jamaica on the LIRR (or, by extension, I guess, on Long Island generally…).

The upshot is getting to check out this (I’m assuming, maybe I’m wrong?) typical Long Island town center for a bit. It was abuzz with bars and grills and the like on a Friday summer afternoon. (I grabbed a mediocre slice of pizza.)

There also is or used to be some sort of bikeshare program here…

So inevitably the connection gets missed…had the displeasure of watching the train leave the platform right as the bus approaches our final stop.

So a 17:31 departure from Patchogue now becomes an 18:31 departure.

So the move from here is to hop on the LIRR at Patchogue and be on our way. But this is also the tightest connection of the day—3 minutes as scheduled, and it’s at least a minute walk from the bus berth to the train.

If I miss it, it’s an hour until the next train, but should still make the Acela…

Next leg is Suffolk Transit’s Route 66 toward Patchogue.

(On a side note, I should have packed snacks to pace on throughout the day, the hunger is growing, and it’s not clear that there will an opportunity to stock up before getting to NYC…)

Next stop: Riverhead, at the western tip of SCT Route 92’s bow. This is one of their transfer pulse points, where about 5–6 buses congregated and then departed within a few minutes of each other.

I was hoping to have enough time to grab some food at an adjacent market, but alas the line was long.