METRO-NORTH COMMUTERS ARE HAPPIER

There’s just too much news.  Trying to keep up with everything that’s happening is like drinking out of a firehose.

But I’m not going to write about the horrific plane crash last week in Washington DC.  Unlike President Trump,  I’ll wait to hear from the experts on what happened and why.

Nor am I going to write about the President’s threats to cut funding for already-approved transportation projects in Connecticut, tying that money to immigration enforcement, marriage and birth rates, vaccination and mask rules.  My colleagues at CTMirror have already covered that well.

No, instead this week I want to remind you of some good news that got lost in the flood of developments in Washington.

CONGESTION PRICING IS WORKING:          Yes, the MTA’s tolling plan for vehicles entering midtown Manhattan is having the desired effects:  traffic is down 7.5% and moving up to 30% faster.  On Metro-North weekday ridership is up 13.5%, due in part to bosses ordering employees back to the office five days a week.  That means almost a quarter million riders per day.

The MTA has yet to tell us how much revenue their tolls are bringing in.  And, of course, we will have to see if President Trump holds true to his promise to kill the Congestion Pricing plan completely.

METRO-NORTH RIDERS ARE HAPPIER:       Kudos to Metro-North for scoring the highest passenger satisfaction scores (85%) in their latest rider survey… higher than the LIRR (76%) and much higher than the 49% tallied by subway riders.

Why the improving scores for Metro-North riders?  Reliability, frequency of trains, availability of seats, cleanliness and, most importantly, on-time performance.

For the full year, passengers enjoyed 98% of their trains arriving and departing “on time”.  That’s impressive.  But…

Keep in mind that the railroad defines “on time” as being within six minutes of the posted schedule.  That’s quite a margin of error.  Assuming an average 90 minute trip, that’s an almost 7% fudge factor.

To achieve these on-time numbers the railroad doesn’t run the trains faster.  It just stretches the timetable.  I’ve often seen a train running express from Grand Central will arrive five minutes early at its first stop, Stamford.  It then must sit there and depart according to the timetable.  So faster running times are possible.

OUR TRAINS SHOULD RUN FASTER:           Why are our trains running slower today than decades ago?  Why do they average just 45 mph when they used to run, at least in some stretches, up to 80 mph? 

Blame it on continuing maintenance issues, an aging signal system and, most of all, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).  They imposed onerous speed restrictions on Metro-North after the 2013 derailments in Bridgeport and Spuyten Duyvil.  And those are still in effect, even though the railroad spent hundreds of millions of dollars installing Positive Train Control to prevent human errors in operations.

It's been six years since Governor Lamont proclaimed his “30-30-30” ambitions:  promising a 60 minute trip from New Haven to GCT.  Today the fastest express (departing at 5:06 am) takes 90 minutes.

So thumbs up to Metro-North for improved service, even if our Governor’s unrealistic promise remains unfulfilled.