Replace the Dinky with a bus? Not so fast

A proposal to replace Princeton’s beloved Dinky train with a rapid-transit bus on a dedicated lane has stalled. After a three-hour meeting that resembled a pep rally more than a dry governmental hearing — with cheers, Save the Dinky buttons, and even orange and black pompoms — the Princeton Regional Planning Board Sept. 30 referred the bus plan back to a subcommittee for further study.  

“The most likely outcome of the Planning Board discussion is that the Dinky will remain in place, and we will join with the community in seeking more reliable and more frequent service,” said Robert K. Durkee ’69, Princeton’s vice president and secretary. “Our design for the proposed arts and transit neighborhood will assume continuation of Dinky service, but it will be adaptable should there be a need to convert to BRT [bus rapid transit] in the future.”  

But the buttons and pompoms may come out again: The University’s plan for an arts neighborhood envisions moving the Dinky station several hundred feet to the south — an idea that also riles Princeton commuters.