THE LONGEST COMMUTE – METRO-NORTH ON 9-11-2001

No single event in my lifetime had a greater impact than 9-11.  And for veteran commuters it is still fresh in their minds.  So I asked them to share some of those memories, excerpted below (longer remembrances can be found here).

“I was just entering my office at 48th and Madison Avenue when building security told me that a plane had struck the World Trade Center. At first, I thought he must have been referring to a Cessna or some other small plane hitting a tower by accident.  It was only when I got upstairs to my office that I could see down Madison Avenue to the smoke rising from one of the towers”, wrote one commuter.

After the attack, subway and train service was suspended, leaving commuters to get home via Grand Central on their own.

“When we were finally able to leave the building I headed directly to GCT. It was still locked down and a crowd of people were waiting to get in to take a train out of the city. When they did let the crowd in I went to the front car. I remember the car had police in the front of the car and when we started to move through the tunnel to exit GCT the police and engineer were looking at the tracks.  Didn’t understand why until later when it was explained to me that there were concerns that bombs had been placed I the tunnel. The train was so quiet and my last memory was a man in the car in a suit covered in grayish/ white dust.” wrote one commuter.

And from another rider… “As the trains filled up, they left GCT.  I remember sitting across the aisle on the train back home from a guy who was wearing suit pants and an undershirt covered in soot, dirt, and smoke. He must have started the day with a jacket and tie, but lost them along the way. He talked a little about his experience trying to get out of the Wall Street area and said how many people were in distress and how he had stopped to help some as he made his way uptown. There were so many unsung heroes from that day who simply stopped to help others in need. I think that’s how he lost his jacket, shirt, and tie.”

And from a Stamford commuter…

“The commute back from Manhattan to Stamford that day was quite eerie. Although business had immediately shut down, it took a while for GCT to be secured and reopened. Once it did, the walk to GCT was eerily quiet. When we pulled in to Stamford Station, the taxi staging area was filled with ambulances.”

Retired Captain Thom Lombard from the Stamford Police Department remembers:

“On September 11 I was the Emergency Management Director for Stamford.

We were notified that remain of victims would be brought to Stamford.  I made arrangements for the use of refrigerated trucks and enlisted the assistance of local funeral directors to store remains in their facilities.  All but one agreed to assist.  No bodies were recovered (that day).”

But the pain of 9-11 didn’t end that day, as David Parent of Wallingford recounts:

“What I remember most was what I never saw: the family and friends who had to go to the train station parking lots to retrieve the cars of loved ones who were never coming home.”

“Connecticut Explored” magazine’s Fall 2026 issue contains photos of some of the memorials to 9-11 in our state, including a discreet plaque at the Glenbrook Station honoring Sean Rooney who died in the south tower after climbing stairs to try to reach the roof hoping for rescue, which never came.  

Sean Rooney Memorial  Photo by Luke G Boyd

And in Westport at Sherwood Island State Park is a more impressive, black granite memorial with 161 names, many of them commuters.

Westport 9/11 Memorial  -  Photo by Luke G Boyd

It seems only fitting on this, the 25^th anniversary of the attacks, that we remember those Connecticut commuters who perished.  Let’s keep them and all of their loved ones in our thoughts this week.

Special thanks to Connecticut Explored magazine and photographer Luke G Boyd.

COMMUTERS’ MEMORIES OF 9-11-2001

 

I asked rail commuters for their recollections… and here is what they shared:

######

I was just entering my office at 48th and Madison Avenue when building security told me that a plane had struck the World Trade Center. At first, I thought he must have been referring to a Cessna or some other small plane hitting a tower by accident. It was only when I got upstairs to my office that I could see down Madison Avenue to the smoke rising from one of the towers. I didn’t see the second plane hit, but I have a vivid memory of helicopters circling over the two towers as smoke rose from them. My hope was that they were there to rescue people on the roof, but that was not to be.

 

Later that morning, as we learned what had happened, cars stopped driving uptown on Madison Avenue and were replaced by a stream of bewildered people walking north away from downtown Manhattan and the Towers. They were literally streaming up the avenue. At that point, all subways had stopped and the commuter railroads were suspended. And so the people just kept coming for hours. Many looked exhausted and confused. Some were covered in soot, indicating that they had already walked up from the Trade Center area. The scene was surreal and post-apocalyptic. It’s one I’ll never forget.

 

Finally, Metro-North started up again in the afternoon, taking people out of—but not into—New York City. My recollection is that, like New Year’s Eve, there was no schedule. As the trains filled up, they left GCT.  I remember sitting across the aisle on the train back to Darien from a guy who was wearing suit pants and an undershirt covered in soot, dirt, and smoke. He must have started the day with a jacket and tie, but lost them along the way. He talked a little about his experience trying to get out of the Wall Street area and said how many people were in distress and how he had stopped to help some as he made his way uptown. There were so many unsung heroes from that day who simply stopped to help others in need. I think that’s how he lost his jacket, shirt, and tie.

 

When I got home to Darien, I learned that one of our neighbors had been in the second Tower that morning. I’ll close with his story. My neighbor, whose name I won’t share because it’s not my story to tell—and yet I suppose I’m doing that anyway—was on one of the top floors of the second Tower when the first plane hit Tower One. Warnings were broadcast over the building’s intercom to shelter in place and not attempt to leave because it was dangerous to go outside with debris falling from Tower One. My friend’s secretary, however, decided to take matters into her own hands and told my friend and the others in their office that they had to leave, and had to leave NOW. They did, and she saved their lives. They not only took the elevator down—why not, there was no problem in Tower Two—but my neighbor also got a subway up to Midtown before the subways were shut down. That secretary saved a few lives that day and was another unsung hero.

 

In the aftermath of 9/11, the eeriest thing was the quiet in the skies. All air traffic was stopped for a week or two—maybe more—in the United States, and the ubiquitous jet trails in the skies were gone, as were the ever-present planes beginning their descent over Darien and Long Island Sound into LaGuardia. It was the quiet skies for weeks after 9/11 that really brought home to me how much the world had irrevocably changed on a gorgeous, blue-sky day in September.

DAVID BAYNE / NOROTON HTS

######

 

On 9/11 I wasn't a commuter per se, having bought a pied-a-terre there. I'd spent Monday night the 10th there. Walking to work that morning, I passed the Pan Am/Met Life building, which was being cleaned at the time. It really needed it, and they were doing a wonderful job. I lingered for a few minutes marveling at the difference between the dirty black and bright, nearly white portions. That delayed me just enough that when I got to 5th Ave a tad later than usual, it was only 2-3 minutes after the strike and I could see the smoke pouring out. I later saw the 2nd plane's explosion out of the 2nd tower, but was at the wrong angle to see it hit. I thought at the time that maybe the first plane's engine had carried beyond the first tower into the 2nd and we were seeing a secondary explosion.

None of this, or the rest of my day was that different from anyone else's. Before it came to be called "9/11" though, I referred to it in typical British style as "the unpleasantness last Tuesday."  There's power in understatement but it didn't catch on! 

A friend of mine was one of the dozen or so people whose fiancees perished. My girlfriend lost a childhood friend. 

One thing, though. In the ensuing years, I heard people say, "I watched the whole thing." No. They watched it on TV. I watched it with my eyes, nothing between them at the WTC but air. There's a difference.

I'll ask my wife if she wants to send you anything. I suspect not, she's still a little PTSDed by it. She worked on Wall Street, lost a number of friends. She was a commuter then, however. She and her first husband caught the last train out of GCT.

I just remembered something I thought back in the immediate aftermath. I thought there would be two changes in US domestic policy that would happen. First (and I'm not trying to be political) I assumed we'd exert tighter control over our borders, because when your country is attacked, you close the gates. Didn't happen (at least in any rational way).

“DAVID”

######

 

Had an early morning meeting in the Equitable (now Axa) building (7^th Ave @ 51^st Street). Remember leaving the meeting a little after 9am and walked by the receptionist’s desk. She was white as a ghost. She looked at me and said we were under attack - I was confused.  I was on the 17th floor looked downtown and saw black smoke billowing from downtown. The building went into lock down mode no one in or out. Tried to reach my wife on my mobile which was not working. However AOL instant messenger worked on my firms computer for a while so we were able to correspond for a while. Told her I was fine and she was able to fill in details of what was going on. When we were finally able to leave the building I headed directly to GCT. It was still locked down and a crowd of people were waiting to get in to take a train out of the city. When they did let the crowd in I went to the front car. I remember the car had police in the front of the car and when we started to move through the tunnel to exit GCT the police and engineer were looking at the tracks. Didn’t understand why until later when it was explained to me that there were concerns that bombs had been placed I the tunnel. The train was so quiet and my last memory was a man in the car in a suit covered in grayish/ white dust. Then the weeks and months of memorials. Very sad. 

 

“Barry” / Darien

######

On September 11th I was the Emergency Management Director for Stamford.

We were notified that remain of victims would be brought to Stamford.  I made arrangements for the use of refrigerated trucks and enlisted the assistance of local funeral directors to store remains in their facilities.  All but one agreed to assist.  No bodies were recovered.  That was the most immediate issue.   Others - coordinating with State and Federal Officials kept our office quite busy until midnight

 

Capt Thomas Lombardo  / Stamford Police  (Ret)

######

I commute from Stamford.

The commute back from Manhattan to Stamford that day was quite eerie. Although business had immediately shut down,  it took a while from GCT to be  secured and reopened. Once it did, the walk to GCT was eerily quiet. There was no  car traffic on Fifth Avenue and as one headed from Rockefeller Center toward GCT, looming right in front of you was the smoke rising from the World Trade Center 5 miles south. When we pulled in to Stamford Station, the taxi staging area was filled with ambulances. There was an expectation of an overflow of injured - that couldn't be handled by NY hospitals. Unfortunately, there were few, if any, injured survivors.

Anonymous

######

On 9/11, I was chatting with a friend outside of New Haven City Hall when someone came out and said a plane had flown into the World Trade Center. I went inside, where someone had set up a television, and eventually watched both towers collapse. In Connecticut, local hospitals went to full mobilization to prepare for the wounded expected from the city. Sadly, none ever came.

What I remember most was what I never saw;: the family and friends who had to go to the station parking lots to retrieve the cars of loved ones who were never coming home. Experienced rail commuters know there are two parts to the commute: the round trip  train ride and the drive between the station and home. Getting off the train in the afternoon and stepping into the car to head home to family and dinner is usually the most enjoyable part of the day.

It is difficult to think of that day without tears.

For background, I was one of your earliest rail commuters, riding the Hartford Line from Wallingford to Hartford in the waning days of the New Haven Railroad, when we still had American Express cars hitched to the train  Amtrak forced us off by changing  the schedule in 1979.

David Parent / Wallingford

######

Add your memories of 9-11-2001 as a “Reply” to this column.

FLORIDA'S FAILING FOR-PROFIT RAILROAD

Should Connecticut’s commuter railroads be privatized? 

That’s a suggestion I often receive from commuters hoping that railroads who treat riders like customers instead of cattle are incentivized to offer better service.  Sounds good in theory but, as the finance bros ask, “does it pencil?”

Well you don’t have to look further than Florida for some answers… and they are not encouraging.

Brightline is the privately funded and operated passenger rail line in Florida launched in 2018 with such promise:  shiny, clean new cars, fancy stations with amenities, and on-board food service. Trains are comfortable with two-by-two seating and free Wi-fi.  They even offered a free first-mile / last-mile solution promising free rides to and from nearby stations.

Riders were gobsmacked. Initial service was between Miami and West Palm Beach, recently expanding to Orlando and with dreams of eventually pushing further west to Tampa.

Ridership by 2025 was projected to be 6.6 million annually.  In fact it wasn’t even half that amount.  That year they lost $127 million, not counting an additional $114 million in interest payments on construction loans.

The railroad is also tied to over 180 deaths… most of them pedestrians and cyclists at grade crossings, of which there are 156 between Miami and West Palm Beach.  Brightline’s trains hurtle along at 80 mph (eat your hearts out, Connecticut rail users), leaving no margin of error for impatient people at crossing gates who think they can just zip around the barriers.

On-time performance is about 94%.  And fares are reasonable… Miami to West Palm is about $30 one way for the 66 mile trip.  Compare that to Metro-North’s 72 mile run from New Haven to Grand Central which costs about $23.50.  Both railroads offer peak and off-peak fares and commutation discounts.  But Brightline has something Metro-North doesn’t:  Premium (First) Class seats.

Even with 23 times the ridership as compared to Brightline, Metro-North still requires an annual subsidy of over one billion million, 26% paid by CDOT.   As a private railroad, Brightline (which is owned by freight carrier Florida East Coast Railway) has no subsidy, just a lot of debt.

While the farebox revenue is much lower than expectations (and doesn’t cover operating costs), Brightline is still trying to pay off its huge construction costs. This is what threatens its survival, not a lack of good train service.

Brightline borrowed $5.5 billion to prove what Wall Street never wants to admit: you can't run trains like a retail franchise. Twenty-year bonds at five percent interest? That math worked fine until it didn't.  Now the vultures are circling with fears of a Chapter 11 filing in early 2027.

If that happens, the trains will probably keep running but fares may go up and dreams of westward expansion to Tampa could evaporate.  Some pieces of real estate may get liquidated and Brightline’s creditors will take control.

To be honest, comparing Brightline to Metro-North isn’t a fair:  a brand new railroad constructed at huge costs versus an existing rail line operating far more trains with a much larger ridership.

And the lessons in all this for publicly-funded passenger railroads like those in Connecticut?  Be thankful for what we’ve got: a multi-billion dollar, century-old railroad on valuable real estate with a captive ridership that’s able, if not thrilled, to pay ever-rising fares.

 

 

THE TRAFFIC CALMING ILLUSION

You've seen the bumper stickers: Slow down in town. They're a nice thought. Completely useless, but nice.  Apparently, the theory is that shame, printed on vinyl, will penetrate the skull of someone doing 45 mph in a 25 zone while texting.

I wouldn’t exactly call it road rage, but why is it that when we’re behind the wheel our goal is to get on down the road as fast as traffic will allow, the speed limit be damned?  But, once in our own neighborhood, we transform into traffic calming zealots.  It's remarkable how quickly self-interest masquerades as public safety.

Increasingly, local neighborhoods are serving as shortcuts for GPS apps like WAZE offering drivers routes around clogged arterial streets, spreading out the traffic into our gated suburbs of the mind.  But there is a way to enforce the speed limit without radar traps.  It’s what traffic engineers call “traffic calming”.

More than just “speed bumps”, engineers now have a slew of street re-designs in their repertoire that can force us to reduce our speed.  Among them…

SPEED TABLES: Think of these as extended speed bumps with a six foot long ramp up, a ten foot long flat table and a six foot long ramp down.  Slow down or lose your muffler.

Speed Table:  slow down, or else!

ROUNDABOUTS:  Small traffic circles with landscaping in the center make us slow down as we go around, eventually taking a right turn to continue our journey… assuming our fellow motorists know how to maneuver these rounded roadways without circling endlessly.

CHICANES:  A traffic chicane is a series of alternating curves or S-shaped shifts built into a roadway.  It forces drivers to steer back and forth instead of driving in a straight line. This design interrupts sight lines, narrows the travel path, and naturally forces motorists to slow down.

Chicanes

BULB-OUTS or NECK-DOWNS: These are extensions of the sidewalk into car parking areas at corner crossings. Again, you got to slow down… or else.

SIDEWALKS:  It’s amazing how many of our communities lack these pedestrian amenities, forcing hoofers to compete for space on the asphalt with cars. Sidewalks get pedestrians out of the traffic and encourage us to walk and leave the car at home.  And PS:  sidewalks are NOT for bikes.

CROSSWALKS:  What a concept!  A place where pedestrians have the right of way over cars, sometimes even mid-block and without the need for stop signs or red lights.  Good concept, if it’s observed by motorists.  Otherwise, pedestrians beware!

ROADBLOCKS and MAZES: These were inspired by anti-crime efforts in drug dealing neighborhoods (“crime calming”), making it hard for drive-through drug buyers to find their way in and out of a neighborhood.  Local residents know how to maneuver the maze, but casual short-cutters won’t try it again.

Of course, all of these traffic calming techniques assume that the major traffic arterials, where the cars belong, can be kept flowing with their own traffic tricks.

Otherwise, we're just playing whack-a-mole with traffic. We beat it back from the arterials into the neighborhoods, feel virtuous, then act shocked when the neighborhoods become cut-through nightmares. Turns out you can't engineer your way out of bad urban planning.  You can only shuffle the misery around.

 

THE HIGH-SPEED RAILROAD NEVER BUILT… 120 YEARS AGO

What happens when a great transportation idea gets ahead of itself?  Consider the story of the greatest American railroad that never got built.

We are all familiar with The Twentieth Century Limited and The Broadway Limited, the crack trains of the New York Central and Pennsylvania Railroads that ran for decades between New York and Chicago.

Those daily trains defined deluxe, pampering passengers with plush Pullman cars, fine dining and even an on-train barber shop.  But they each took up to 20 hours to make the run because they took different, circuitous routes.  The NY Central followed the “water level route” north to Albany, then across upstate New York and down the coast of Lake Erie.  The Pennsylvania RR’s “Broadway Limited” (which would start in 1912) journeyed south to Philadelphia, then west to Pittsburgh and beyond.

But way back in 1905, inventor Alexander Miller had a better idea:  build a brand new, flat and straight interurban railroad that would run directly between the two cities, The Chicago – New York Electric Air Line Railroad.

When building a high speed railroad, straight is better

Even over 120 years ago Miller knew the importance of straight-running tracks to achieve and hold high speeds, a lesson we in Connecticut wish they’d learned before building the New Haven RR along our winding coastline.

Miller’s train would be “faster than the limited” and make the run between NYC and Chicago in just 10 hours for $10 a ticket (worth about $380 today).  Powered by the new marvel of electricity, the train could operate at a third the cost of steam engines.  And by running in a straight line the 743 mile route would be 168 to 237 miles shorter than its competitors.  In principal, it was brilliant.  And the timing was perfect.

Mind you, this railroad’s interurban cars (think trolley cars on steroids) might not be as plush, but they would average 70+ mph thanks to the almost flat grade of one percent and no pesky grade crossings.  There would also be few stops as the route would bypass all major cities.  And this train would be fast… 100 mph on the straight-aways!

The electric rail cars that could do 100+ mph

Two million dollars worth of stock was issued with shareholders promised first priority for thousands of potential jobs.  Railroads were the dot-coms of the era, and people rushed to invest.  With no bonded debt, the company’s prospectus promised stock dividends of 14% on top of the shares’ appreciation. You just couldn’t lose!

Construction began from west to east, as the railroad would open in stages to help pay for itself and further building toward New York.  A mighty four track railroad, akin to Metro-North, was envisioned and it was hoped that the project would be completed in just ten years.  Spur lines would be constructed to serve the cities by-passed by the “air line”.

Then, reality set in with the depression of 1907 – 1908.  Construction got as far as Chesterton IN, about 50 miles east of Chicago, when the money started to run out.  The engineering of this mighty railroad was just too expensive.

Shareholders revolted when news came that the railroad’s officers were getting fat paychecks as the coffers were drained.  A hoped-for bailout by British banks never happened.  Those shareholders lost everything.  And the impending arrival of automobiles might have doomed the line anyway.  Even The Twentieth Century and Broadway Ltd eventually succumbed to the competition of true “air lines”.

But for a brief moment, a century ago, a dream almost became a reality in the greatest railroad that never was.

 

CT'S $1.6 BILLION RAIL PROMISE

The Governor and the CDOT tried to make some “big news” about our trains last week.  Here’s how most media summarized the story:  “Connecticut has broken ground on the $1.6 billion TIME-1 upgrade of the New Haven Line, targeting speeds of up to 90 mph, improving service by 2035.”

Maybe you saw the media coverage and said “Wow.  Great news”.  Or maybe you had a sense of déjà vu and asked yourself two questions:  “Haven’t I heard this promise before?” (yes) and “Should I believe this promise, delivered in an election year?” (no).

As a journalist I was disappointed (but not surprised) that almost no media asked those same questions, instead just regurgitating the press release.  So let me try to separate the facts from the hype.

TIME FOR CT PROJECT:           Your sense of déjà vu was correct as the Governor and CDOT made this same announcement five years ago.  And their promises then have yet to be delivered. 

In fact it was in 2019 that Governor Lamont promised us a 30 minute train ride from New Haven to Stamford. The fastest trains today are the early morning super-expresses which run non-stop in 45 minutes.  Better, but not what was promised.

WILL THIS REALLY COST $1.6 BILLION ?:    Yes, and it’s not yet fully funded.  There’s money so far only for Phase One, just $340 million, to rebuild the catenary, fix one bridge and upgrade tracks and signaling.  And this Phase One covers merely three miles of track.  

Stratford RR Station

Phases Two and Three, which bring the biggest improvements, are not yet funded.  Transportation money from the current White House is drying up so the prospect of the additional $1.3 billion that’s needed seems to me like wishful thinking.  In the tech world they call such claims “vapor-ware”.

So why announce a project that won’t be finished for nine years when funding is still uncertain?  Because it’s an election year.

Don’t get me wrong.  This work is necessary and decades overdue.  It will make the railroad safer and maybe even faster… assuming the money is found and the work gets done.  But I predict it will all cost more and take longer than they hope… or are willing to admit.

FINISHED BY 2035 ?:       This will really take nine years?  Yes, and probably longer.  Consider projects like the Walk Bridge in Norwalk, first announced by then-Governor Malloy in 2014, with construction finally beginning in 2023 with an expected completion now in 2029.  Initial cost estimates of $465 million have since doubled.  I’ve been calling it “the billion dollar bridge” since first writing about it 12 years ago. 

Rebuilding a working railroad is expensive and slow.  If Metro-North could shut down the railroad completely, work would go faster… but that is impossible.  So expect a lot of delays for the next decade.

SPEEDS OF 90 MPH ?:    This is the promise that most angers me because it’s just not true. It’s just like Amtrak’s claim that its new Acela NextGen runs 165 mph.  Yes… for about 10 miles in New Jersey and a few more in Rhode Island, but not the full trip from Boston to Washington.

And Connecticut’s supposed “90 mph” trains… they’ll achieve that for a three mile straight stretch between Stratford and Bridgeport, but almost nowhere else.  And by the way, the promised improved average speed of 70 mph on Metro-North will be the same speed limit before the Bridgeport and Spuyten Duyvil derailments prompted the FRA (Federal Railroad Administration) to lower the speed limits.  And that was 13 years ago.

DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE:      This project is important and I hope it gets built even if it takes longer and costs more than what’s being promised now.  But as I’ve said for years in my CT Rail Commuter Council days, “Our train service will get worse before it gets better”. 

There will be delays, just as we’ve seen on other CDOT projects (like the Darien train station, now 15 months behind schedule) or the never ending work on I-95, I-91 and I-84.

But can’t the CDOT and their pol bosses at least be honest with us and not over-promise and consistently under-deliver? 

And to my fellow journalists… please stop being stenographers.  Our job isn't to parrot press releases.  It's to ask the question on every commuter’s mind: 'Will this actually happen?'  

 

IS IT TIME TO TAX EVs?

Why do electric vehicles (EVs) get a free ride on our highways? 

Why do traditional ICE (internal combustion engine) car owners pay about 43 cents per gallon in gas taxes while EV owners pay nothing… and yet their cars are thought to cause more wear and tear on our highways because they’re so heavy (due to their batteries)?  Is that fair?

Those were the questions posed last spring when the legislature considered a bill to make EV (and hybrid) owners pay their fair share.  But HB 5568 never got out of the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee after a single public hearing brought unanimous, vocal opposition:  54 testified against, zero in favor…  not even close.

As of December 2025, there were more than 73,156 electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles registered in Connecticut, a 20% increase over the previous year.  But while those numbers are climbing, EVs and hybrids still represent less than three percent of all vehicles registered in the state.  Still, it seems that you see (but often don’t hear) them all the time, whooshing around almost silently, their drivers wearing that smile of money-saving satisfaction. 

If you’re the hypothetical “average driver” in CT and you drive about 12,000 miles a year you’ll end up paying about $209 a year in gas tax.  Drive 15,000 miles and that number jumps to about $250 a year.  And that assumes your car gets about 24.5 mpg.

Those gasoline taxes flow into the Special Transportation Fund  paying for road repairs, the DMV, and mass transit that many drivers never ride but benefit from anyway (more people taking mass transit = fewer on the roads).

Opponents of a tax on EV’s and hybrids fear it would discourage their adoption, running counter to Connecticut’s state policy of reducing auto emissions.

Connecticut is one of only eight states that don’t  tax EVs.  In Pennsylvania the fee is $250 a year for EV owners and $62.50 for plug-in hybrids.  In Vermont it’s $89 and $44.50, respectively.

The Connecticut bill, if it hadn’t died in committee, would have raised registration fees for battery electric vehicles to $345 every three years and for plug-in hybrids to $233 every three years, with standard gas vehicles remaining at $120. 

Right now EV’s only pay $57 registration fees every three years, further incentivizing their adoption.

Lawmakers (and the CDOT) argue that the Special Transportation Fund is in trouble if EV adoption rates continue and gas tax revenues continue to fall.

Why did the bill die in Committee?  Why didn’t it have the name of any lawmaker(s) as its sponsor?  Because it’s an election year and nobody wanted their fingerprints on a bill that hurts affluent EV drivers… or the environment. “Bad optics”, as they say.

Never mind that CDOT recently replaced new, electric trains on Shore Line East with diesel locomotives belching exhaust as they run between New London and New Haven.  I guess that saying you’re ‘green' is easier when you ignore the obvious.

We used to think of the necessary reform of our Social Security system as the “third rail of politics.”   Maybe taxing electric vehicles is the same thing?  Or there’s always the idea of tolls.

 

 

 

 

PT BARNUM’S BRIDGEPORT WAS NO CIRCUS

When you think of P.T. Barnum your first thought is probably about his circus, or maybe his museum of oddities in 1840’s New York City.  

What you may not know was that Barnum lived in Bridgeport and was once a State Representative in Hartford and, in 1875, Bridgeport’s mayor.  His real genius wasn't just in filling circus tents.  It was understanding logistics…how to move goods, people and opportunity efficiently.

Barnum was truly a city builder, especially because he understood that Bridgeport's future depended on its railroads.

When the New York and New Haven Railroad reached Bridgeport in 1849, most people saw a passenger line.  Barnum saw the foundation of an industrial empire. He invested accordingly, donating land for Seaside Park, backing Bridgeport Hospital and subdividing his 30-acre Waldemere estate into neighborhoods that attracted Bridgeport's industrial elite.  But most importantly he knew those civic amenities couldn't survive without an economic engine.

That “engine” was the New Haven and Housatonic Railroads.

The railroads gave Bridgeport something neither Hartford nor New Haven could match: direct coastal access plus rail connectivity to New York, Massachusetts, and the entire Northeast.  Manufacturers could ship south to New York markets, north to New England, and worldwide via Long Island Sound.

Bridgeport manufactured everything: sewing machines, buggies, machine tools, munitions, every product imaginable.  But by the 1880s, there was a problem.

Bridgeport’s railroad tracks used to run at street level right through downtown… trains competing with pedestrians, horses, carriages.  It was constant gridlock.  For local factories trying to move freight 24/7, those grade crossings were a productivity killer.

As mayor in 1875-1876, Barnum pushed hard for grade separation, elevating the tracks above street level.  Though he didn't live to see it completed, the New Haven Railroad spent $5 million in the 1890s ($183 million in today’s inflated dollars) to build that viaduct.

Think a kind thought of Barnum the next time you ride Metro-North through Bridgeport, high above the streets.

Once those tracks were elevated, something remarkable happened. The Railroad Avenue industrial district exploded.  No more street-level bottlenecks.  Freight trains moved around the clock. Factories adjacent to the viaduct could load and unload directly onto rail cars.  

Bridgeport boomed, eventually becoming one of Connecticut's largest cities, filled with skilled immigrants making good money.

What Barnum understood better than most modern planners was that you can't build a thriving city on civic projects alone.  Parks and hospitals matter.  But they're all built on an economic foundation.

Today we've got it backwards. We debate roundabouts and bike lanes while underinvesting in regional rail connectivity.  The New Haven Line still runs through Bridgeport.  It still carries passengers and could still be an economic engine… carrying freight.  

Why no freight trains today along the coast?  Stay tuned.

HOT & BOTHERED – Summer’s Transportation Meltdown

Last week’s heat wave was neither the worst nor the last we’ll see this summer. But its effects on our trains, planes and automobiles are worth remembering, and planning for, because this kind of weather will return.  Heat can take a serious toll on our travels.  Just consider…

WILDFIRE SMOKE:          Fueled by hot and tinder-dry conditions in Canada, last week’s smoky skies contributed to flight delays and travel disruptions.  Drivers were warned to keep their windows closed, switch the ventilation system to recirculate, and make sure the cabin air filter was clean.

TRAINS:       Heat can make railroad tracks lengthen by an inch (in an 1800-foot piece of track) for every ten degrees of temperature.  Because much of the track in the Northeast is welded rail (without many expansion joints) that can lead to buckling, known in the biz as “sun kinks”, where tracks get seriously out of alignment.  That can force the railroads to slow their trains down, in Amtrak’s case to just 80 mph in extreme cases, to avoid derailments. 

Sun Kinks caused by heat

Heat can also cause older fixed-tension catenary wires to expand and sag.  Much of Metro-North’s original overhead power system was more than 100 years old before Connecticut replaced it with modern constant-tension equipment.  But when the old wires sagged, a passing train’s pantograph could snag them, bringing down the power system and halting service.

You may remember just such an incident in 2011 on the then-hottest day of the summer with Manhattan pavement heating to 147 degrees.  A train near Westport got its pantograph tangled in the sagging power lines, stranding over 200 passengers onboard with no AC and no windows that could open.  The passengers, understandably,  panicked and called 911 seeking rescue by local first responders.  One positive outcome was improved emergency planning, including provisions for supplying water to passengers on stranded trains.

PLANES:      Aviation also has trouble with the heat, in some cases because it’s just too hot to fly.

Hot air is lighter than cold air, right?  Add higher elevation to the mix (think Denver, where the air is already thinner) and the physics of flying just doesn’t work.

In 2017 Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport had to cancel dozens of flights when the air temps hit 120 degrees.  Where runways are shorter some aircraft, particularly smaller regional jets, may not be able to operate safely without reducing their weight or waiting for cooler conditions.

AUTOMOBILES:    Your car is not immune to heat, either, especially its tires. Sustained high temperatures can accelerate tire deterioration, while an underinflated tire flexes and builds up even more heat as it rolls, increasing the risk of tread separation or a blowout.  Check tire pressures when they are cold and use the recommended pressure printed on the driver’s-door.

But it’s your car’s cooling system that’s strained the most, working overtime to keep the engine temperature stable.  If the temperature gauge starts climbing, turning off the AC can reduce the load on the engine.  But if the car is actually overheating, pull over safely and shut it down.

And the road itself is also under attack:  concrete can buckle (from expansion) and asphalt can soften and start rutting.  As with the trains, the safest solution is to slow down and watch for trouble ahead.

We like to think of Connecticut summers as reliably hot.  What we’re not prepared for is heat this intense… or wildfire smoke this frequent.  Our trains, planes and roads weren’t designed for heat this extreme and this persistent.  Neither were we. The heat is coming again. The only question is whether we’ll be ready.

AIRLINES’ WINDOWLESS WINDOW SEATS

 

Let’s be honest.  Flying is no fun anymore.  Traveling, yes.  Flying, no.  Again this summer the airports are crowded, the TSA lines are long, the flights delayed (and sometimes cancelled) due to weather and the fares have soared because of the Iran War.

But the airlines seem finally to be raking it in.  Estimates are this summer may be one of their best in many years as demand far exceeds supply.  People want that long-wished-for summer vacation, the price be damned.

One of the ways the airlines are draining our pocketbooks is through “unbundling”… charging for a basic seat and them upselling us for perks like checking our luggage, those sumptuous in-flight meals, a tiny bit more legroom and, yes, the choice of our favorite seat.

Mine has always been the window seat.

I’m somewhat of a white knuckles flyer and looking out the window gives me some peace of mind.  So I’ll pay that (2023 industry average) of $31 extra charge to get my ‘view’.  But imagine paying that surcharge for a window seat, boarding the plane and finding there’s no window at my seat, just a blank wall.

A "window" seat with no window

Depending on the type of aircraft, as many as five window seats per plane can lack windows.  It’s just the way the plane is built and the seats placed.  But why would the airlines sell you a “window” seat with no window?  Because they could.  Until now.

As I wrote last November, United Airlines alone pulled in $1.3 billion last year for selling assigned seats.  But now a pair of class action suits is pursuing millions of United and Delta airlines passengers’ claims that, having paid for window seats and ending up with no window, they were duped.

Last week one of those lawsuits was allowed to proceed when the judge rejected United’s claim that they never promises a window at a window seat… that the description referred more to the location of the seat, not the amenity.  As United’s lawyers tried to argue… “the use of the word ‘window’ in reference to a particular seat cannot reasonably be interpreted as a promise that the seat will have an exterior window view.”   Don’t you just love lawyers?

Can you imagine an aisle seat that’s not on the aisle?  I can’t.  And they’re as pricey as the window seats.  Some people get nauseous when flying or claustrophobic and seeing out that window helps them chill.  I get that.

But whatever the reason, simple logic says if I pay for a window seat I should get a window.  Other airlines, like American and Alaskan, have added a warning to online bookers that some window seats don’t offer a real window.  That’s at least honest.

If you go to a Broadway show you’re warned when choosing seats that there may be “an obstructed view”.  Fair enough, and probably priced accordingly.  So why can’t airlines do the same sort of disclosure.

If they lose these suits it may cost them tens of millions in refunds and possible penalties.  And the cost to their reputation?  That’s already left the gate.