March 15, 2024

LICENSE PLATE READERS

We all know how bad the traffic is despite the State Police’s recent ticketing blitz on reckless drivers.  On the Merritt and Wilbur Cross Parkways, in just one week, they made 170 traffic stops and issued 150 tickets (including 51 commercial vehicles) totaling $8,000 in fines

That includes the arrest of a Norwalk cop accused of a road rage incident when he tried to run another car off the road.  When even the cops are acting out, you know things are bad.

Aside from radar, red light and speed cameras, some of the best tech being employed by cops these days is license plate readers (LPRs)… special cameras mounted on vehicles scanning license plates on passing cars.  The system recognizes the plate number and sends the data to a national crime database, immediately alerting the officer to violations.


Have an outstanding arrest warrant?  Registration expired?  No insurance?  The LPR will know and you’ll probably get pulled over.

A few years ago when my town was testing the technology, I did a ride-along with a local officer and watched it in action.  The system flashed red so often, notifying the officer, that she couldn’t decide which violator to pull over.

Just last week an LPR in Glastonbury pinged a stolen vehicle leading to a stop where the cop found the out-of-town driver not only had committed a larceny but had no driver’s license.

Some police departments are finding the technology so valuable they’re mounting LPR’s in permanent locations scanning every car entering their community.  They argue that LPRs are no different than having officers’ eyeballs looking for violators, just faster.

Civil libertarians worry about the implications of all this… not, perhaps, the legit arrests but the data that gets stored and can later be reviewed.  Were you driving in town X on date Y?  The database can let them know.

Of course, if you have an E-ZPass to handle your out-of-state tolls, that data is also being collected.  And your driving is also being tracked by your cellphone, equipped with GPS.

But LPRs only work if they can read the cars’ license plates.  So bad guys are now looking to obscure the tech’s vision with plastic covers over their plates.  Some even have a gizmo that, on activation,  pulls a shutter down over the plate so nobody can read it.


This is leading to what NYC cops call “ghost cars” that can evade electronic tolls or the city’s pending congestion pricing toll system.  A recent crackdown against these scofflaws has led to eight arrests, 200+ summons and 73 cars being impounded for toll violations and other fines.

Darien’s police chief Don Anderson tells me he’s got standing orders for his officers to pull over anyone with an obscured plate. 

“I want my officers to have a conversation with that driver… on their body camera… asking them ‘Why do you have these shrouds over your license plates?’… and are you aware they’re illegal (in Connecticut)?  I know why (they have them)… they want to avoid the tolls and speed cameras and drive with impunity.”

 

 

March 08, 2024

NYC SUBWAYS ARE NOT SAFE

It’s not safe to ride the subways in New York City.

Not that the subways aren’t operated safely, it’s just that the people riding them are victimizing each other as well as MTA personnel.  Hardly a day passes without another report of incidents like these:

·       A man is slashed with a box cutter by an assailant spewing anti-LGBTQ remarks, who then runs off.

·       In another incident a 64 year old postal worker is kicked down off the platform, falling onto the tracks.  He was rescued by bystanders before the subway train entered the station.  NYPD has surveillance video but they are still looking for the assailant.

·       An MTA conductor, leaning out of his cab, is slashed in his head and neck requiring 34 stitches.  Again, no arrest.

In January subway crime was up 45%.  The NYPD then sent an additional 1000 cops into the subway. Last week NY Governor Hochul called out a thousand members of the National Guard and instituted random bag checks of passengers entering the system, looking for weapons.  Will that result in weapons arrests or just send the bad guys to another station not staffed with cops?  What’s next… metal detectors?


This is unsustainable and very expensive, especially at a time when the MTA estimates they lost a half-billion dollars due to fare evasion last year, with 12% of all riders skipping the turnstiles.

Clearly, there are too many guns and knives being carried by people in NYC.  Though undoubtedly discriminatory, I wonder if a return to former Mayor Bloomberg’s old policy of “stop and frisk” might not reduce this arms race.

Mind you, these aren’t just one-off crimes.  Thirty-eight people who were arrested in the subways for assault last year were responsible for 1100 additional crimes in the city, according to Mayor Adams.  

The homeless woman who was seen on video attacking a cello player with a metal bottle was arrested in mid-February and set free without bail.  Days later she was arrested again, this time for shoplifting a $235 baseball cap.  This time her bail was $500 (though prosecutors had sought $10,000), but that was enough to keep her in jail… for now.

So the issue is more than just attacks:  it’s about our judicial system which spits people back onto the streets without bail, even when they commit violence.

This lawlessness in New York City is out of control and literal armies of cops and camo-dressed Guardsmen aren’t much of a deterrent.  Even without guns or knives, the crazy (sorry… “mentally unstable”) people roaming the streets and subways are making everyone feel nervous.

What does this mean for Connecticut commuters?  They’re probably safe on Metro-North but when they get to Grand Central they’re understandably reluctant to take the subway to their office. 

It’s just another reason for commuters to persuade their bosses they’re better off working from home, further reducing fare revenue for the cash-strapped Metro-North division of the MTA.

 

 

 

 

 


March 01, 2024

COPS CRACKDOWN, NEW STAMFORD RR GARAGE

Forget what the calendar says, I say it’s Spring!  And with this hopeful season comes good news on the Connecticut’s transportation front.

A reader recently told me my weekly screed comes off sounding like I’m a “cranky old man”.  Guilty, on both counts.  So let’s celebrate these rare glimmers of hope for our roads and rails.

INCREASED TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT:        The CT State Police has announced a new crackdown on reckless drivers to, as one pol put it, “take back the highways”.  Special patrols will be working the interstates and parkways and writing a lot of tickets.


The problem is that this State Police traffic unit is only a quarter the size of what it once was, and the overall force is still only 75% of what it should be.  But even spread this thin, any enforcement may help stop the speeding, red-light-running and impaired driving that has seen death tolls soar in the last few years.

The question is:  why the increased enforcement now?  Why wasn’t this begun months ago? 

The trend in fatalities has been obvious as has the lack of police enforcement.  The more people see others behaving badly on the roads the more they’re likely to do the same thing.

But, it’s Spring!  So let’s take this as good news, albeit it late.

DRUNK DRIVING:            As I wrote last May, Connecticut has a serious drunk / drugged driving problem.  Last year a state lawmakers died in a wrong-way crash and, in another case, a pol flipped her car in front of the Capitol and was arrested for DWI.  Meanwhile, lawmakers have been encouraging more boozing… allowing “to go” purchases from bars while Connecticut is one of only nine states not banning open containers while driving.

Well, this year the Transportation Committee is reportedly considering lowering the blood alcohol limit defining drunk driving from .08% to .05%.  That’s good news… if it passes and there are enough cops to enforce it.

STAMFORD STATION GARAGE:          Lastly, we celebrate the long overdue opening of the massive new garage at the Stamford train station:   914 parking spaces, 92 electric vehicle charging stations, and 120 spots for bicycles.

Rendering of new garage


The structure is beautiful, inside and out, adorned with 200,000 color LED lights you can’t miss while driving by on I-95.  Like the old garage, it’s connected by a covered pedestrian walkway directly into the station.

The $100 million garage was months late in opening and years later than planned. It was back in 2006 that CDOT decided that it would be cheaper to replace than to repair the 1985 garage, crumbling from neglect.  A planned PPP (Public Private Partnership) to do the work got embroiled in political intrigue and a zoning fight with the city and went nowhere.

With the new, larger garage now open for business the old garage will be torn down, a messy project that will take about six months.  The space will then be home to a massive TOD (Transit Oriented Development) project.

Another reason for hope, so Think Spring!

February 23, 2024

RED SEA SHIPPING

What do 15,000 sheep, 7000 US sailors, that order for your new patio furniture and your recent “TEMU haul” have in common?   They’re all affected by the shipping bottleneck in the Red Sea caused by the Houthis.

You may not know or care about the Yemen-based Sunni Islamist Houthis, but their attacks on shipping on its way to and from the Suez Canal are affecting your life and pocketbook.  As they attempt to control the 14-mile wide seaway known as the Bab el-Mandeb (also known, appropriately, as “The Gate of Grief”), the Houthis have recently fired ballistic missiles and drones at 45 ships, including US warships.

Houthi Brigadier General

So dangerous has become this passage, traversed by 15% of global shipping worth $1 trillion a year, that container-ship owners are now diverting their vessels around the tip of Africa, adding 3-4 weeks of sailing time from China to Europe and adding almost $1 million to each vessel’s shipping costs.

It used to cost $2500 to ship one container from China to the US East coast.  Now it costs $6500.  Maritime insurance rates have also soared.  But worst of all, the added delivery delays mean there are about six million shipping containers tied up at sea that should have been emptied and sent back from the next load.

Remember those 15,000 sheep I mentioned?  They were on a ship that sailed from Australia on January 5th, headed for Israel.  But, unable to get through the Suez canal, the vessel turned back after a month at sea with the animals sweltering in a heatwave.

While you can switch from shipping by sea to air freight for some cargos, the price difference can be substantial.  Containers on ships pay a flat rate, regardless of weight.  But air freight costs about $2 per pound.

China’s answer to Amazon, TEMU, ships about 4000 tons of stuff each day, enough to fill 40 777 jet freighters.  TEMU had converted from air freight to shipping by sea last fall, but TEMU is now back in the skies to keep deliveries to about a week instead of a month.

There’s a coalition of 20 nations (10 of them helping anonymously) that is trying to keep the Red Sea open to shipping though most of the work is being done by the US Navy.  The task force is known as “Operation Prosperity Guardian” which explains the mission well.

Until recently the Houthis had only targeted Israeli ships, but more recently they’ve gone after French, Chinese and EU-owned vessels… and the US Navy.

The Houthi’s Iranian-supplied drones have a range of 1100 miles and their ballistic missiles come at their targets at 3000 mph.  This is the first time in history that anti-ship missiles have been fired in conflict. 



So far the Navy has fired about $400 million worth of defensive missiles to stop the attacks, one of which was halted about one minute before it would have hit a US destroyer.

Logistics expert Michael Giambrone from the OEC Group says shipping delays may get worse.  “It’s not a question of if but when” a US Navy ship gets hit by a missile, he told me. 

When American lives are lost on this mission, watch out.  You do remember the Gulf of Tonkin, I hope.

 

 

February 16, 2024

ADDING ONE MORE LANE SHOULD FIX IT

I love doing radio interviews, literally “talking transportation”.  Of course, having worked in radio for 15 years and then spent 40 years teaching people how to survive media encounters, I’m at something of an advantage.  But I do love to turn naïve questions into learning opportunities.

Case in point, this recent exchange:

“So Jim… How do we solve the traffic problem on our interstates and parkways?”, asked the radio talk show host.  “Is there room for adding another lane?”

“That’s not the answer,” I said. “Adding lanes to crowded highways just makes them more crowded.  Maybe not immediately, but within a matter of weeks or months.”  The radio host didn’t believe me, but history proves my point:  if you build it, more cars and trucks will come.

Planners and economists call it “induced demand”.  By increasing the supply of something (in this case highway lanes) you in effect lower the price (time spent driving) and up goes the demand (bringing more traffic, more delays).

Consider this analogy:

A local store is giving away free food.  The crowds soon swarm the establishment, muscling out those really in need.  If the store is our highways and accessing them is free (no tolls), it’s no surprise they’re jammed.  The only real cost involved in driving is fuel and time:  the hours you waste in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

I-95 in Miami

Building highways is also really expensive, especially here in Connecticut.  CDOT’s plans to rebuild the I-84 / Route 8 “Mixmaster” in Waterbury came in at between $7 and $8 billion.  Now certainly, maintaining existing roads and bridges in the proverbial “state of good repair” is a must.  But expanding the highways isn’t the solution to handling more traffic. 

There are two answers:  tolls and trains.

Driving on our freeways at rush hour shouldn’t be free.  Charge for the privilege and you’ll moderate the demand.  Some may chose to time-shift their travel, but others may take alternatives, like our trains.

Interstates 95 and 91 are both parallelled by robust train lines priced to encourage ridership.  Intrastate fares are kept deliberately low (Bridgeport to Stamford is just $5 one way and New Haven to Hartford is only $8.25, not factoring in multi-trip commuter discounts.)

The billions of dollars not spent to widen those crowded highways would subsidize a lot of train rides.  But getting to your home station and from your destination station to work / school (the “first mile / last mile” challenge) is an additional expense that should also be underwritten.

That’s how New York City’s impending “congestion pricing” revenue will keep funding the bus and subways.  Those willing to pay the price for driving in midtown should see less traffic and a faster trip.  Nobody is suggesting widening NYC’s highways.

So, sorry all you talk show experts out there, the solution to our crowded highways isn’t wider highways.  The simple mantra “adding one more lane should solve our problems” is just a never ending race to carmageddon.

 

 

 

February 10, 2024

STUDENT TRANSPORTATION

In our small town we call it “The SUV Parade”, the weekday ritual-like procession homing in on a handful of targets, carrying that most precious of cargos:  our kids, heading to school.

But why the private car parade when the town already spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on school buses?  Why aren’t the kids on the yellow buses?

Sure, sometimes they have early activities or don’t want to shlep their tuba on the bus.  But often its because the kids don’t think its cool to “bus” when mom (or increasingly, work-from-home dads) can drive them?  Safety is another big concern, especially where there are inadequate sidewalks or kids would have to walk through a sketchy neighborhood. 


Even riding the school bus can be fraught with danger when motorists ignore the flashing lights and decide to pass a stopped bus. First offense for that is $475 and in a construction, utility, traffic or fire zone that move will cost you $925.  There’s even a call for equipping school buses with cameras to catch offenders.

According to the Federal Highway Administration there has been a sea-change in student transportation in the last 50 years, especially since COVID.  Today private cars carry more than half of all students with school buses carrying about 35%.

Interestingly, the parents with the highest education levels themselves are the ones most likely to drive their kids instead of putting them on the bus.  Of course the former group is more likely to be a stay-at-home parent while the less educated are probably headed to jobs themselves.

In a time of tight budgets, “right sizing” school bus routes may be a more attractive source of cost savings than cutting teachers.

But what’s wrong with walking?  When I was a kid, I used to walk a mile each day to and from school… up hill, both ways!  Today bike and foot transport is just 11%.  And those taking public transit is about 4%.

But in some cities, like Hartford, the CT Transit bus system is so disjointed as to make a two-mile trip a 50 min ordeal.  Proponents call student transport a matter of social justice.  They want students to have free bus passes, just like in NYC where school buses are a rarity.

For college students that option is already there: U-Pass.  For just $20 a semester full-time college and university students can ride for free anywhere in Connecticut, even on Metro-North and The Hartford Line (but not on the Amtrak-run trains).  For cash-strapped students this free transportation option often makes it possible for them to attend a school otherwise out of reach.  Plus, they get to use transit to go shopping or attend social events.


U-Pass was the brainchild of then-CDOT Commissioner Jim Redeker back in 2017.  Not only does it fill empty seats on mass transit, U-pass is training the next generation about the value of taking the state’s trains and buses… even if their parents started them out by being chauffeured.

February 02, 2024

THE TRANSPORTATION SUMMIT

It was billed as a “Transportation Summit”.  But the gathering last week in Stamford was more of a PR event than anything else as Governor Lamont, the leaders of CDOT, the FRA, Amtrak, Metro-North and the ever-smiling Stamford Mayor Caroline Simmons sounded mostly like cheerleaders for the multi-billion dollar spending to come for our rail system.

Sponsored by the Northeast Corridor Commission, the invitation-only confab attracted about 60 people, most from the business community.  Noticeably absent: anyone representing commuters.  Needless to say, I was not invited, but neither was the Commuter Council.  Fortunately, you can watch the entire hour-long event thanks to CT-N.

When you attract such a prestigious panel, you’d expect more than just a lot of self-congratulations.  But after the event, the panelists just hopped back on their trains and headed home… no luncheon discussion or closed-door huddle on the long still-to-do list.

Saddest of all, there was no real news that came out of the event so even the sought-after media coverage was pretty bland.

Oh, Mayor Simmons did ballyhoo the fact that Stamford ridership is back to pre-COVID levels of 28,000 riders a day… but failed to mention that the station’s new $82 million, 930-space parking garage that was supposed to have opened last summer is delayed yet again.  When it finally opens demolition of the old garage will take about six months, creating a huge traffic mess around the station.

New Stamford Rail Garage


And Governor Lamont did say that Metro-North would be running trains to Penn Station in NYC in “three or four years”, an optimistic promise that caught some transportation experts in attendance by surprise.

Metro-North President Catherine Rinaldi said ridership is up to 73% of pre-COVID levels and climbing (especially on Mondays).  But just after the Summit the MTA’s own Customer Satisfaction Survey results showed a 5% reduction in MNRR riders’ happiness with (lack of) reliability and seat availability leading the decline.

If they’re trying to attract riders back on trains, why then the recent cuts in service?  And why do they refuse to reinstate the Quiet Cars?  And where’s the Wi-Fi on trains promised by the state’s $23 million investment?

With all the discussion of faster, more frequent service why was there zero mention of the devastating service cuts on Shore Line East… the New Haven to New London line that saw a $32 million cut in a time of budget surpluses?

And why didn’t the FRA say anything about the “slow orders” on Metro-North that are still in place after ten years, making every trip longer?  Does that means they still think the line isn’t safe?

Amtrak President Stephen Gardner said his ridership is at 110% of pre-COVID but admitted that he doesn’t have enough seats to meet demand.  The new Acela 2.0 trains, dubbed “Avelia”, are years late and plagued with defects. 

Amtrak's Acela "Avelia Liberty"


Gardner note that in Europe they’ve spent one trillion dollars in the last 20 years on their trains, and it shows.  Even with the new flood of Infrastructure Bill funding, Amtrak’s only spending $150 billion, what Gardner said is just “a down payment”. 

Lack of seats and Amtrak’s dynamic pricing means a walk-up Acela ticket from Stamford to Boston (just 156 miles) can cost $190 while a 244 mile trip from Paris to Lyon on the TGV costs $38.  European railroads offer competition with multiple companies vying for riders.  Amtrak is our only choice though some have suggested private competitors.

One thing that everyone on the panel made clear:  it’s going to be many years before we see the Fed’s billions make for a better train ride.  And the necessary construction coming up will disrupt service making for grumpy, delayed riders.

As I’ve said for over 20 years now, “it’s going to get worse before it gets better.”

 

LICENSE PLATE READERS

We all know how bad the traffic is despite the State Police’s recent ticketing blitz on reckless drivers.  On the Merritt and Wilbur Cross ...