Should appear in iTunes App Store within a couple of days.

Originally appeared on: StationStops - Metro-North Train Schedules and NYC Commuting Blog See the original post here: StationStops for iPhone v 2.9 Submitted to Apple with Winter Service Changes

We are actively working on the new schedule database for StationStops, but
it is likely to be approved prior to the change. In the meantime, use the
‘Links’ section to check your trains by clicking the link to the official
Metro-North schedule form.

Also, don’t forget to check the Metro-North Train Time link in the same
section so you are aware of any related delays.

Originally appeared on: StationStops - Metro-North Train Schedules and NYC Commuting Blog See the original post here: NEW HAVEN LINE REDUCED WINTER SERVICE CHANGES

Connecticut Commuter Rail Council Chairman Jim Cameron was interviewed by NYT Transit Reporter Michael Grynbaum for the story, and felt that the Times had misrepresented the status of the cars, which he says aren’t going away anytime soon.

I was confused about this, so I emailed Jim this morning to help clarify.

My confusion stems from the following:

1. New Haven Line is going to start receiving new M8 cars ‘real soon now’.
2. The new M8 rail cars cannot be attached to the older (current) cars – like Bar Cars.
3. Non of the new M8 cars on order are Bar Cars.

Jim confirmed my suspicion – if you regularly ride a train which has a Bar Car attached – you are NOT going to be getting the new M8 railcars anytime soon. It’s one or the other.

Jim assured me that Bar Car supporters won’t care – they will want the Bar Car over the new railcar.

However, I reminded him that the Bar Car is just one car on the whole train – everyone else on the train who doesn’t use the bar car will want a new railcar.

But I’m sure that won’t stir up any conflict

Originally appeared on: StationStops - Metro-North Train Schedules and NYC Commuting Blog See the original post here: The Bar Car Controversy Isn’t Over Just Yet

(sad trombone)

I would link to the Channel 12 story on their website, except that it’s surrounded by the most laughable subscription pay wall in the industry and I have no interest whatsoever in deadheading my readers there. You know how to find it.

I mean, how does a local cable news station insist either users pull their cable bill out of the trash and enter their account number to access their website, or pay money to see it? have they unlocked some publishing magic trick only WSJ has ever gotten to remotely work, or do they simply not do metrics?

I have cable and I think I did the recycling can dive exactly once – that was enough for me.

I have nothing against their 80s-news-meets-LodgeNet TV loop, I just wonder how the hell they get enough traffic into their website past that barbed wire to make it worth even having.

BTW This was my first post authored on WordPress for iPad – relatively painless….

Originally appeared on: StationStops - Metro-North Train Schedules and NYC Commuting Blog See the original post here: Metro-North Mixup Confuses Yankee Game with Bomb Threat

I am working feverishly to push out a new version of StationStops for iPhone with the new schedule – hang in there!

Chris

Originally appeared on: StationStops - Metro-North Train Schedules and NYC Commuting Blog See the original post here: Metro-North Releases Schedule Changes, StationStops Update Coming Soon

Train Time uses sensors at stations to attempt to locate trains and determine their on-time status.

Accuracy has reportedly also been improved, and changes have been made to avoid confusion as to when a station’s arrivals appear and fall off of the schedule.

Originally appeared on: StationStops - Metro-North Train Schedules and NYC Commuting Blog See the original post here: MTA Metro-North Train Time App Adds 28 Stations, Improves Accuracy

“Metro-North Spokesperson Dan Brucker said a train that left the Danbury station at 6:19 a.m killed the “trespasser”. The trespasser appears to be a woman, Brucker said.”

From The Republican-American, November 11th, 2005:

“…was the eighth “trespasser death” in 2005 on the Metro-North system, which is made up of the Hudson, Harlem and New Haven lines, Bruckner said. …”

Connecticut Post, April 12, 2008:

“The train struck a trespasser east of Stratford” at 4:40 pm, said Karina Romero, an Amtrak spokeswoman.”

January 12, 2009 Star-Ledger:

A man was struck and killed by an eastbound NJ Transit train at the Linden station late this afternoon, and transit officials are calling it a “trespasser fatality.”

NJ Transit spokesman Dan Stessel said the man had apparently “put himself into the side of the train,”

Listen, MTA, we know that you have rightfully have legal liability concerns with one of your trains striking and killing a human being.

As such, we also understand why you would want to make it abundantly and immediately clear that the victim was not supposed to be where they were at the time. I mean, we ALL know that, and we know how much you want to assert that to the victim’s survivors.

But let’s show a little more respect to the victim, family, and community by not referring to them primarily as ‘trespassers’. Seriously, this is in VERY bad taste, and its not like its purpose or insensitivity is lost on the reader of any paper.

Everytime I hear this, I picture a cartoon of an Old West farmer, standing over the dead body of some chicken thief with a smoking shotgun.

I think I speak for most people when I say its an egregiously offensive piece of CYA.

Not to mention unnecessary. If the victim trespassed, well, she trespassed. If a lawsuit were to arise, that fact would not change one way or the other depending on your press department’s assertion to local papers.

It’s really just a sad Jedi mind trick to dispel any notion of liability in the minds of the victim’s survivors.

Today a woman deliberately ‘trespassed’ on MTA property and laid her body down before a moving train in South Norwalk, much to the horror of witnesses, riders, emergency responders, and the engineer, I am sure.

That woman is a ‘victim’. I know it pains you to characterize her as such, to avoid the unwarranted deduction that she was a victim of MTA. She wasn’t. She was likely a victim of her own actions, and whatever unfortunate circumstances led her to those tracks.

How you choose to characterize that woman in the press release is important.

Granted, you aren’t the only culprit, and its seems pretty much the industry norm to put the trespass status of train accident victims up front. But its still a choice, and its one you continue to make.

Next time, let’s release a statement which primarily reflects on the unfortunate and solemn mood such occasions present, and not let ‘calling shotgun’ on your legal defense define the moment.

PS – As an aside, I don’t want to specifically call out Dan Brucker or any other press spokesman for this behavior, because I am absolutely certain it is in no way their personal preference to use that word, but instead an unfortunate requirement of their employer. I understand that press spokespeople are human beings too.

Originally appeared on: StationStops - Metro-North Train Schedules and NYC Commuting Blog See the original post here: MTA, Other Train Operators Need To Back Off Calling Track Fatality Victims ‘Trespassers’