HOW CT COMMUTERS SUBSIDIZE NYC'S MTA

Heading to New York City?  Take the train, because driving is going to become even more expensive:  the NY plan for “congestion pricing” is back!

As everyone predicted last June when NY Governor Kathy Hochul suspended plans for a $15 toll for driving into midtown Manhattan, she has now reversed her decision.  She is now proposing a $9 charge for passenger cars ($2.25 off-peak, and $14.40 for small trucks).

It seems ironic that New York City doesn’t control its own mass transit system, but that responsibility is left to the state.  While Governor Hochul claimed just months ago that her decision to suspend the toll was a win for commuters (who drive), now she’s added a new twist.

By lowering the toll to just $9 she now claims she will be saving drivers $1500 a year.  That’s an amazing spin, no?

While the MTA is notorious for wasting money on multi-billion projects, there’s no doubt that the funding is badly needed to keep mass transit running.  But that agency’s $15 billion plans were dependent on the higher tolls, not the new reduced tolls to go into effect in January 2025.

New York Governor Hochul says this has nothing to do with President-elect Trump’s plan to kill the congestion pricing scheme, but her timing says otherwise.  Once initiated, these tolls may be difficult to overturn. Difficult but not impossible.

But these are not the only ways that Connecticut residents help subsidize the city’s mass transit.

Most Connecticut residents working in New York City contribute to the Payroll Mobility Tax, which is a significant source of funding for the MTA.  In 2020, this tax was expected to generate $1.1 billion annually for the MTA.

This makes perfect sense, as most Connecticut commuters depend on Metro-North and the city’s subways to get to their destinations. And those who chose to drive to Manhattan should clearly pay for privilege.

While New Jersey Governor Murphy is suing the MTA over its toll plan, Governor Lamont has been only mildly supportive of congestion pricing, but adds "it's a good thing for all if more people took the train".  According to the MTA, 3100 Connecticut drivers travel to the city’s central business district each workday.

Connecticut is dependent on Metro-North for running “our” trains and maintaining the infrastructure: we own the tracks between Greenwich and New Haven but it’s Metro-North that fixes them.  If / when we order new railcars (which also run in New York state), Connecticut pays two-thirds of the cost and New York picks up the rest. 

Meantime, we are enjoying a flood of federal money for our rails as part of President Biden’s infrastructure law… $291 million to be spent on our tracks and power system, bridge replacements, double-tracking of the Hartford Line and relocating Hartford’s Union Station.

Clearly, the rush is on to get as much money as possible invested in mass transit before the Trump team returns to power.  The President-elect seems determined to cut federal spending and prioritize road repairs over transit, pedestrians and cyclists calling the Hochul plan for congestion pricing “a regressive tax”.

NEW LOCOMOTIVES FOR METRO-NORTH

Finally, there’s some good news for Metro-North riders, especially those who take the Danbury, Waterbury and Hartford lines:  new locomotives are coming… eventually.

Meet the Siemens Charger model SC-42DM, the first of its kind in the US.

Being built in Sacramento CA, these new engines are the latest innovation in the long history of this German manufacturer.  It was Siemens that built the first electric tram in the late 1800’s.  They even partnered to build one of the first commercial maglev trains, in Shanghai.

The Charger is a great machine and there are hundreds already in use in the US and abroad, running on railroads ranging from Amtrak and Brightline to commuter lines in Maryland, California and many other states.  They’ve already accumulated 10 million miles of operation.

But our Charger locomotives will be different. 

The DM in their name means they are “dual mode”, operating under diesel power and third rail.  Unlike the older GE-built P32 Genesis locomotives, these new Chargers can “go electric” all the way from Pelham (in Westchester County) to Grand Central.

But they can’t run “under the wire” in Connecticut like our Kawasaki M8 cars (which are also dual-powered, equipped with pantographs and third rail shoes).  That means that when running in Connecticut, the Chargers be using diesel power.

The good news is that, even running diesel, these are some of the cleanest, least polluting fossil-fuel engines available. They are Tier 4 certified, meaning they reduce pollutants by 85%. They also accelerate faster.

Connecticut’s branch lines, especially the meandering Danbury line, will never match the speeds of the mainline.  But with so many stations, on a steep upward grade, if every departure can be quicker, there will be time savings.

The new Chargers are equipped with electronic monitoring and diagnostics to alert the crew to any problems. They’re even quieter, thanks to active noise cancellation technology.  

But all of this innovation comes with a hefty price tag: $15 million per locomotive.

Metro-North has 27 of the new Chargers on order and just received their first two.   If testing on the new Chargers goes well, the railroad has an option to buy dozens more.  CDOT is also buying six of the same model.

Siemens has also built dual-mode Chargers for Amtrak. But in that case they operate “under the wire” on the Northeast Corridor.  Realistically, the third-rail version makes much more sense for Metro-North which has over 100 miles of electrified track (on its Hudson and Harlem lines) where third-rail is the only power source.

The Metro-North locos were ordered in 2020, paid for in part by a grant from the Federal Transit Administration which is pumping $1.5 billion into new rolling stock for mass transit nationwide through 2026.

These first two new Chargers for Metro-North now have to undergo testing, first at the FRA test track in Pueblo CO, then running on Metro-North tracks. 

This first duo of the new model should be in service, they say, by 2025.

 

 

LIFE AS A VAN NOMAD

Lorrie Sarafin is a van nomad in the American Southwest, one of the estimated three million Americans who live on the road.

For three years she has been without a house, but not a home, not just surviving but thriving in the desert and mountains of Arizona and New Mexico, living in her van “LokiMotion”, named after her cat.  Now in her mid-60s, Lorrie is living off her Social Security checks.

Raised in central Connecticut she describes herself as a “small town girl, but not rich”.  Not loving the big city, she moved to Arizona in 1993 and reinvented herself as a self-taught musician and artist, recording two CD’s of native American flute music. She even took extension classes through Julliard.

In 2014 she discovered minimalist and van-lifestyle guru Bob Wells and she started thinking about different housing options.

Unlike the van nomads whose lives were so well documented in the 2021 Oscar winning movie “Nomadland”, Lorrie didn’t lose her job and house, but walked away from both, choosing instead to spend her retirement living on the road.

“I asked myself ‘why am I doing a job just to have money to pay rent?’”.  (Doubtless there are housing-squeezed folks around here who may be asking the same thing.)  “Now I don’t have to pay rent or utilities, just car insurance and van payments.” 

After working all through Covid (without vaccination or getting sick), in 2021 she fitted out her new van’s interior herself complete with a bed, cabinets, shelves, a small refrigerator, Sirius XM radio and lights.  It’s all powered by a 500 watt battery she charges with solar panels for about six hours each day.

Solar cells charge up her battery

She can’t cook in her van but has mastered campfire cuisine.  Her biggest worry is bears so she keeps her bear spray close by and is considering getting a gun.

In the winter she heads to the warm side of the state where overnight lows are in the mid 30’s and daytime highs in the mid 70’s.  In the brutal summer heat she abandons the desert for the mountains.  “Above 8000 feet it stays in the mid 80’s,” says Lorrie. “But when it’s cold and raining, it’s not a lot of fun (being cooped up in the van).”

She can camp for up to 14 days on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) or US Forest Service land, then has to move on.

Sanitation depends on buckets, her laundry being done at a laundromat.  She takes sponge baths in her van and says that daily showers are over-rated.  As for her health, “I haven’t seen a doctor in 20 years but take a lot of supplements and must have a great immune system.”  She swears by Wild Oregano Oil as a preventative.

While she prefers to camp alone or with her friend, she actually likes being out of cellphone range.  She visits a small town PO Box for her snail mail and uses her cellphone for internet and email.

Camping in the mountains

She describes her fellow van nomads as “really nice people” who share her love of being alone. 

“If you’re a curl-up-on-the-couch and watch Netflix kind of person, this life is not for you,” she warns.   “But for me, I just have so much freedom and am in love with nature.”