Last night was my first Connecticut Rail Commuter Council Meeting, and I apologize to that entity for taking so long to show up for one, because its 100% relevant to Connecticut Metro-North passengers and deserves better exposure from StationStops.

They are very informative, open to the public, interface regularly with ConnDOT and MTA, and I would encourage any Metro-North rider to check them out.

Most importantly, as uncompelling as the meeting photographed above might appear, most of what they discussed were issues totally interesting and relevant to riders – because the board is comprised of riders.

These guys are the real deal. Have a bone to pick with Metro-North? Who doesn’t? Well, you can mutter it to your spouse on your cell phone on the way home from Grand Central, or you could show up for a CRCC meeting. I can personally attest that the latter is more productive.

They save the boring agenda stuff for later, so you can just leave when you lose interest – it can go pretty late.

Last night the council had a special guest – Connecticut DOT Commissioner Joseph F. Marie (far right in my lousy photo), who fielded lots of tough questions from council members.

The minutes from the meeting are not yet available, and I did not take detailed notes, but I wanted to note some of my takeaways from the discussion:

1. The 10% budget-related fare hike is definitely NOT ‘off the table’.

This was the hot topic. The budget has been passed, but the language of the relevant passage is not entirely understood by Commissioner Marie, who will be meeting with state Senators for clarification.

From my understanding there is definitely a gap in transit funding that is unaddressed. How it will be addressed is TBD.

Update: Council Chairman Cameron says this hike, if approved, would likely not be actionable until March or April, like the 1.25% hike mentioned below

2. M8 Fare Hikes Delayed

The 1.25% fare hike scheduled for Jan 2010, to pay for the new railcar infrastructure, most likely will not be implementable until March or April 2010 due to procedural requirements.

3. The M8 Railcar Delivery Schedule

First cars arrive in November 2009, first cars go into service in June 2010, last cars go online sometime in 2012.

However, Marie, a former employee of railcar manufacturer Bombardier, noted in detail that the delivery schedule of the M8 cars was ambitious to the point of it nearly being unprecedented for a US equipment delivery, at the rate of 10 cars a month.

So there’s that.

4. Fare collection rates.

This was my one point of surprise during the meeting – the Commissioner seems satisfied from his information that Metro-North has a low incidence of fare avoidance (specifically, conductors not collecting fares, like when a train is overcrowded and they don’t want to get lip service from passengers).

The daily commuters on the council disagreed vehemently. I am not a regular commuter, and I find this hard to believe as well. Even traveling occasionally on Metro-North, I have had a few incidences when conductors did not collect tickets.

At the very least, I would have to say that Metro-North is worse at collecting money owed than ‘any other entity I pay regularly’ – because almost all of them are 100%. Cablevision doesn’t skip me once in a while and decide 91% collection is ‘good’.

Normally, I’m like ‘cool!’ when tickets aren’t collected, and in the case of a packed train, I like seeing the passengers get ‘guerilla compensation’ for service issues once in a while. Also, I don’t like to see conductors get harassed by passengers for stuff that’s not in their control.

Some council members, being closer to the financial realities of MNR, do not share this view. I think their major concern is that if MNR reliably collected fares, it reduces the need for fare hikes. I appreciate that argument.

Some members even mentioned that they knew of riders who are purchasing two 10-trip tickets rather than a monthly pass, knowing it would probably last the month due to fare avoidance.

The Metro-North rep noted that audits are performed regularly by auditors undercover as riders, and the numbers are good.

5. Stamford Parking

A developer presented some drawings of a Stamford parking station proposal.

There isn’t much to tell about this as its early-stage and to be honest, not having to park at Stamford, it lost my attention.

6. Parking pass hoarding.

Unemployment has resulted in some former Metro-North commuters hoarding their passes in expectation of a new job – can’t blame anyone for that, I say.

So the topic came up of ‘subletting’ parking passes, which may or may not be specifically prohibited from town to town.

There is some discussion about this subletting actually being a workable solution to pass hoarding.

One attendeee noted that Greenwich had actually gone so fare as to arrest drivers for this activity.

7. Metro-North dropping Fall Customer Satisfaction Survey

Metro-North is not doing its fall survey, much to the chagrin of the council.

In my opinion, this needs to be conducted by a third party anyway. I don’t trust MNR to measure themselves, especially when they just decide not to measure at all once in a while.

8. MTA Data Scheduling

I presented StationStops case against MTA to the council. I was glad to hear that the commissioner and other attendees already had some awareness of the conflict through the media.

Overall, the council was supportive and passed a motion that it supported schedule data be ‘distributed as widely as possible’, which I appreciated.

The next meeting of the CT Rail Commuter Council will be Wednesday October 21st at 6pm in the vicinity of Grand Central Terminal in New York City.

For more information about the CT Rail Commuter Council visit www.trainweb.org/ct

Originally appeared on: StationStops - Metro-North Train Schedules and NYC Commuting Blog See the original post here: CRCC Meeting: Fare Hikes, M8 Railcars, Parking, Fare Collection

Wording in a document from the state Department of Transportation has rail commuters concerned about an impending fare hike — and a local analyst and a state legislator believe that is true.

According to Department of Transportation — HB 6802 (DOT 57000), line item 6000, “Reduction in subsidy is equivalent to a 10 (percent) fare increase effective October 1, 2009.”

Jim Cameron from the Connecticut Rail Commuter Council says this is NOT the same fare increase to pay for the newly DELAYED M-8 Railcars – that’s right, there is ANOTHER fare increase on track for that starting January 1! It starts at 1.25% and slowly grows at 1% a year to 7.25%!

If you thought that was the punchline to ConnDOT‘s joke, sadly you are mistaken.

Despite BOTH fare hikes, bus and rail subsidies still come up $15 MILLION short!

The Hour quotes State Representative Larrence Cafero (R-142) as saying:

“Where’s that other $15 million coming from? I asked the author of the budget that very same question, and he didn’t have an answer.”

Jim Cameron also told StationStops that due to the amount of political procedure needed to legally implement a fare hike, his sources have expressed doubt on whether it would even be technically feasible to enact the 10% hike by Oct 1.

Read more in Tom Evan’s story in The Hour Online.

Originally appeared on: StationStops - Metro-North Train Schedules and NYC Commuting Blog See the original post here: Stealth 10% Metro-North Fare Hike In CT Budget Effective Oct. 1st?

(Connecticut Rail Commuter Council Spokesman Jim) Cameron cites statements by Rell in her February 2005 budget address addressing her surcharge proposal and the new rail cars, stating that commuters would not pay fare increases until the cars were in service.

“Our commuters have suffered long enough with unreliable, outdated train cars that should have been replaced long ago,” Rell said. “They deserve quality service, clean stations, and adequate parking. And they should not be asked to pay for improvements until they actually see them, sit in them or park in them.”

But when queried about the fact that delivery delays will mean fare hikes taking effect months before the railcars are in service:

Adam Liegeot, a spokesman for Rell, said that the administration was unable to comment whether Rell might consider delaying the fare increase.

“This surcharge has been set in statute and is due to take effect on Jan. 1,” Liegeot said. “Soon, thanks to Gov. Rell, Connecticut will have world-class, modern rail cars that will be a model for the rest of the nation.”

This is inexcusable – production and delivery delays are a way of life in our transit system and Governor Rell knows it – if she wants to make rally cry promises for commuters, she needed to be prepared to move the effective data of that hike to coincide with the actual delivery date.

No one should be standing up and beating their chest that New Haven Line railcars are a model for the rest of the nation, because for over a decade they have been the standard-bearer of irresponsibly maintained commuter rail equipment.

I’ve seen the interior demo unit and they really they’re nothing special – they’re just new and have a controversial red color scheme. Light years ahead of what we have now, for sure – but it’s not like were getting a Shinkasa bullet train or anything. I actually think the newest M7′s look more austere.

The railcars are only half the problem with Metro-Norths lack of modernity and maintenance. The other half is the antiquated rail system it runs on, most of which looks like it was personally designed and installed by Nicola Tesla.

So let’s all pat ourselves on the back later and get back to work on making a better New Haven Line while there is finally a modicum of momentum.

The Advocate story also mentions that some station platforms will need to be extended to accept the M-8. We were supposed to get our first cars for testing this month – why is this just being brought up now, and why aren’t the platforms already being prepared?

Read the rest of Martin Cassidy’s Story in The Stamford Advocate.

Originally appeared on: StationStops - Metro-North Train Schedules and NYC Commuting Blog See the original post here: New Haven Line Fare Hikes Seem Likely to Beat M-8 Railcare Delivery – Now Platforms Need Retrofitting

While negotiating with MTA on the phone regarding license terms, I was expressly told by their departments that they could not negotiate any license terms, as if they did, they would have to go back and change the terms for all licensees.

This does not appear to be the case, however, as Google gets their data from MTA entirely for free:

After checking with their business development manager and MTA, Google’s Elaine Filadelfo confirmed for the record that Google does not pay MTA any fees under their agreement.

In addition to the specific denial about the MTA, Google Business Development Manager Tom Sly said, “I personally worked on many of our agreement with our transit partners over the last three years (including the MTA), and I am not aware of any instance of Google paying a transit agency for data.”

MTA has insisted that they own the intellectual property rights on their schedule data and insist that I pay them $5000 up front for their data in order to implement it into my iPhone application.

However, Google, who will easily earn FAR more money in advertising dollars serving up train schedule information than I ever will in iPhone app sales, has not been asked for any money by MTA whatsoever – neither has any transit agency.

So, why give this data to Google for free, and shake down lesser small businesses?

My opinion is that MTA knows they would never get a dime out of Google in a million years. Google has its own legal department and is undoubtedly on the cutting edge of internet and intellectual property law. They are not going to get nickled and dimed.

Also, MTA does not want to embarrass itself by being the only transit agency not cooperating with Google on its outstanding transit initiatives. It really has no choice but to work with Google.

Independent developers like myself, however, do not have those resources. MTA feels that through intimidation and litigation, they can easily get money out of small businesses like me, or put them out of business trying, by asserting copyrights they do not own.

Originally appeared on: StationStops - Metro-North Train Schedules and NYC Commuting Blog See the original post here: Google: We Don’t Pay MTA For Data

Jim Cameron of the Connecticut Rail Commuter Council reports on his blog, Talking Transportation, that the long overdue new M8 railcar equipment for Metro-North’s New Haven Line will not be delivered on schedule.

To add insult to injury, it looks like Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell is going to break her promise not to raise fares until passengers get their new equipment.

Cameron quotes Rell from 2005:

(commuters) “should not be asked to pay for improvements until they actually see them, sit in them or park in them.”

But Cameron predicts that with the delays, fare hikes will be in effect for 3-5 months prior to any passengers using the new cars.

Read the full story at Talking Transportation before I digress into my familiar rant about the New Haven Line.

As I have reiterated many times, the main reason I started this blog is because when I first rode the New Haven Line, I was appalled at the condition of the equipment serving the ‘Greatest City In The World’.

I have ridden commuter rail in cities in the US and Europe 14 years ago which make today’s New Haven Line cars seem third-worldly.

Dirty cars.
Lack of seating due to lack of working cars.
Smelly restroom cars with no vacuum toilets.
No overhead LED signs for schedule information – neither in the cars nor on most station platforms.
Ancient HVAC systems resulting in frequently overheated and overcooled cars.

Nothing in that list is anything a commuter to NYC should feel ashamed to expect in their commuter rail system. It’s fundamental public transportation service lesser cities take for granted – but this is NYC, not only should we not be trailing so badly, we should be the leading edge.

Most of these complaints will be addressed when the new cars are in service, but Cameron says that’s not going to be until next summer at the earliest, and even then, the cars will be slowly integrated into the existing fleet through 2012!

Originally appeared on: StationStops - Metro-North Train Schedules and NYC Commuting Blog See the original post here: Inexcusable: New Haven Line M8 Cars Late, But Fare Hike Right On Time!

Overheard on twitter this morning:

Once again, I had good intentions on taking early train to work but #MetroNorth failed me again. Not enough seats.

and

Metro North no longer apologises for trains that are too short. It’s just normal now.

Well, get used to it! (if you aren’t already).

Despite earlier reports and hopes, the new M-8 Rail Cars purchased by Connecticut DOT to replace the failing M-2 fleet are not going to see any service in 2009. In fact, by this time next year, if all goes according to plan, there will only be a whopping 8 new M-8 cars in service, and its unclear whether these 8 will be put onto Shoreline East or the Metro-North New Haven Line.

Note: The M-8 cars will not be attached to M-2 cars except under an emergency situation, so the 8 cars will likely be all on a single train.

Probably even more disheartening is how slowly the M-2 cars are planned to be phased out. By this time TWO years from now, the entire existing M-2 fleet is expected to still be in service, just as it is today. It won’t be until the last quarter of 2012 until the last M-2 car is expected to be retired from regular service. Even then, 30 or so M-2′s will be retained for dealing with capacity situations.

So, if you love faux-wood panelling, smelly toilets, and standing in a poorly air-conditioned overcrowded train car for a couple hours a day, take heart – your favorite ride won’t be upgraded anytime soon.

Originally appeared on: StationStops - Metro-North Train Schedules and NYC Commuting Blog See the original post here: Why You Probably Will Still Be Riding the Old M-2 New Haven Line Cars in 2011

To date, I really haven’t had any contact with the Connecticut Rail Commuter Council, so I was looking forward to attending their event this morning “Meet The Railroad – Meet The Commuter” at the South Norwalk Metro-North Station, which was widely advertised in every news article I could find as being from 6 AM – 10 AM (I couldn’t find any mention of it on their website, their last posted press release was from October 2004).

I was unable to get to the event until 9:20, and could not find the event in the waiting room and platforms as advertised. A friendly MTA employee in the Information Booth told me that they wrapped up and left at 9 AM.

You might see something on the (cable-only) Channel 12 news tonight as their truck was leaving when I arrived.

BTW, Trainjotting - no HD video for you today, but I would like to report that not only did the security guard in front of South Norwalk Station NOT give me so much as the stinkeye for taking this photo, but he also helped and elderly man in a walker cross the street.

Originally appeared on: StationStops - Metro-North Train Schedules and NYC Commuting Blog See the original post here: Connecticut Commuter Rail Council Event Ends An Hour Early