[MrGompers]

I just found this on Amtrak's website. I haven't heard it talked about in the media yet which is odd since this is a big deal IMO.

Shuttle service suspended until July 2016 SPG - NHV (vice versa) Monday - Friday

Northeast Regional Springfield Shuttle: Track Work Affects Mid-Day Shuttle Service

Effective Monday through Friday Only, August 3, 2015 through July 2016

To accommodate a long-term track work project, Springfield Shuttle Trains 470, 476, 479, 490, 493 and 495 will be canceled on Monday through Friday from August 3, 2015 through July 2016. Passengers will be provided bus service to and from the following stations:

• New Haven
• Wallingford
• Meriden
• Berlin
• Hartford
• Windsor
• Windsor Locks
• Springfield

Local Southbound Buses Depart Earlier

Buses 2479, 2493 and 2495 destined for New Haven will depart Berlin, Meriden and Wallingford 20 minutes earlier than the respective train schedules. Contact Amtrak for bus schedules. All other buses will operate according to the respective train schedules.
We appreciate your patronage and apologize for any inconvenience. Reservation and train status information is available on Amtrak.com, our free mobile apps and at 1-800-USA-RAIL (1-800-872-7245).
Thank you for traveling with Amtrak.

[FutureTown]

Originally Posted by Wilton2ParkAve

Give me a break Jay--- In Northern Virginia they built 14 miles of new (congestion pricing) lanes in both directions along the Capital Beltway in just 4 years!!!!! In a similar timeframe they also connected the Metro with Tyson's Corner. What environmental review is required for the Route 7 merge into 95? You have got to be kidding me....

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.1080...7i13312!8i6656

http://www.vamegaprojects.com/tasks/...er_11_2010.pdf

You should be aware that town like Wilton don't like constructions in their road. It's why Route 7 and Route 25 are shallow forms of what they should be. Well, a big chunk of it.

Not sure how you can widen I-95 in some areas, however. For example, the Norwalk area over the water?

Anyways, you know what we really need? A Fairfield County Parkway (Along the lines of the Merritt or Taconic) from Newtown to Greenwich. And then Danbury to BPT. That would be wonders. That and invest heavily on railroad. I still propose for a Danbury to Hartford train line. I'd pay extra taxes if it means subsidizing public transportation across the state. Less pollution and less congestion in the morning, too.

[GoHuskies]

Originally Posted by MrGompers

I just found this on Amtrak's website. I haven't heard it talked about in the media yet which is odd since this is a big deal IMO.

Shuttle service suspended until July 2016 SPG - NHV (vice versa) Monday - Friday

Northeast Regional Springfield Shuttle: Track Work Affects Mid-Day Shuttle Service

Effective Monday through Friday Only, August 3, 2015 through July 2016

To accommodate a long-term track work project, Springfield Shuttle Trains 470, 476, 479, 490, 493 and 495 will be canceled on Monday through Friday from August 3, 2015 through July 2016. Passengers will be provided bus service to and from the following stations:

• New Haven
• Wallingford
• Meriden
• Berlin
• Hartford
• Windsor
• Windsor Locks
• Springfield

Local Southbound Buses Depart Earlier

Buses 2479, 2493 and 2495 destined for New Haven will depart Berlin, Meriden and Wallingford 20 minutes earlier than the respective train schedules. Contact Amtrak for bus schedules. All other buses will operate according to the respective train schedules.
We appreciate your patronage and apologize for any inconvenience. Reservation and train status information is available on Amtrak.com, our free mobile apps and at 1-800-USA-RAIL (1-800-872-7245).
Thank you for traveling with Amtrak.

I'll forgive Amtrak for the inconvenience since this means the upgrades to two tracks along most of the Hartford - New Haven route is now well underway

[Wilton2ParkAve]

Originally Posted by FutureTown

You should be aware that town like Wilton don't like constructions in their road. It's why Route 7 and Route 25 are shallow forms of what they should be. Well, a big chunk of it.

Not sure how you can widen I-95 in some areas, however. For example, the Norwalk area over the water?

Anyways, you know what we really need? A Fairfield County Parkway (Along the lines of the Merritt or Taconic) from Newtown to Greenwich. And then Danbury to BPT. That would be wonders. That and invest heavily on railroad. I still propose for a Danbury to Hartford train line. I'd pay extra taxes if it means subsidizing public transportation across the state. Less pollution and less congestion in the morning, too.

Not sure what you talking about with respect to Wilton. No highways run through town. As for Route 7, it's generally a pleasure to drive and a Norwalk to Danbury trip is pretty consistently 30 minutes. Pull up Google Maps at 5:30pm tonight and you will see a plethora of green unlike the Merritt or 95. As for the Virginia project, there were plenty of bridges that required widening (or at least the annaxing of breakdown lanes for the duration of the bridge). In Norwalk the bridges along 95 could easily be widening or a second span could be built. This isn't brain surgery.

[Mr_250]

Originally Posted by GoHuskies

I'll forgive Amtrak for the inconvenience since this means the upgrades to two tracks along most of the Hartford - New Haven route is now well underway

This project scares me. The project is HIGHLY and I mean HIGHLY over budget and DRASTICALLY behind schedule. Work on the large section (mileage wise) hasn't started (planned date is end of this month, first outage). DOT took over management of the project from Amtrak which is causing a pissing contest.

Malloy is actually going to Washington this week to try and get help from the Transportation Board because this thing is so out of control. Malloy wants to still have this completed by the of 2016 which I can tell you WILL NEVER HAPPEN. If a project doesn't get off to a good start the outcome i.e. budget is more than likely going to suffer. I think the estimated cost for this project is around $450m with the Feds kicking in $190 and CT providing the rest. By the end the cost will balloon to around $800m (between engineering, construction and environmental) and it will be open in 2017 early 2018.

[ctguy87]

Originally Posted by ctguy87

It hasn't taken 14,000 cars off the road. Some FASTRAK routes were previously utilizing 84, so 14,000 riders does not equate to 14,000 cars off the road. I guarantee all 14,000 riders do not own vehicles. Also, I do not know how the figures are counted - if a person utilizes a FASTRAK route to and from work, does it count as 2 rides?

Still, I am in favor of it and it's nice to see high ridership numbers. The next step is building little transit nodes with apartments within walking distance to the stations.

CTfastrak Adds Riders, But CT Transit's Figures Fall - Hartford Courant

Just as I said, while FASTRAK numbers are up, numbers on other bus routes are down. 14,000 riders a day does not equal 14,000 NEW transit users, nor does it equal 14,000 less cars on I-84. The key figure in all this is how many NEW transit users are there? Also, has there been any transit oriented development (TOD) even proposed, let alone commenced construction yet?

Another quote:

CTfastrak's distinctive green buses provided 214,635 rides in July, up from 197,149 in June and far above the 182,894 of May, Sanders told the public transportation commission at its monthly meeting.

Am I miscalculating, or does 214,635 divided by 31 days equal 6,923 rides a day, not 14,000?

I'm thinking the high fives were a little premature.

[BPt111]

Waterbury line need improvements to the tracks, signals, wires, train stations. The Valley should better train connections by having two tracks up to Waterbury and one track improve to Torrington there already train tracks from Watebury to Torrington but not in use.


Waterbury to New Haven------Run every 40 mins and 25 min during rush hour
New Haven to Waterbury------Run every 40 mins and 25 min during rush hour
Waterbury to Stamford--------Run every 47 mins and 20 mins during rush hour
Stamford to Waterbury--------Run every 47 mins and 20 mins during rush hour


New Haven to Waterbury: West Haven, Milford, Derby/Shelton, Ansonia, Seymour, Beacon Falls, Naugatuck


Stamford to Waterbury: South Norwalk, Westport, Fairfield , Fairfield Metro, Bridgeport, Stratford then the valley stations.

Waterbury to Torrington is express


Waterbury to Torrington--- Run every 1 hr and 40 mins during rush hour
Torrington to Waterbury---Run every 1 hour and 40 mins during rush hour


Connections at Waterbury for Hartford bond Cttrak stops in Bristol, New Britain etc
Connections at New Haven for Hartford/Springfield, New London, Providence/Boston, NYC/D.C corridor
Connections at Stamford for NYC/D.C corridor

[Mike 75]

Originally Posted by ctguy87

CTfastrak Adds Riders, But CT Transit's Figures Fall - Hartford Courant

Just as I said, while FASTRAK numbers are up, numbers on other bus routes are down. 14,000 riders a day does not equal 14,000 NEW transit users, nor does it equal 14,000 less cars on I-84. The key figure in all this is how many NEW transit users are there? Also, has there been any transit oriented development (TOD) even proposed, let alone commenced construction yet?

Another quote:

CTfastrak's distinctive green buses provided 214,635 rides in July, up from 197,149 in June and far above the 182,894 of May, Sanders told the public transportation commission at its monthly meeting.

Am I miscalculating, or does 214,635 divided by 31 days equal 6,923 rides a day, not 14,000?

I'm thinking the high fives were a little premature.

So basically people who were taking the regular bus are now taking Fastrak. So there is no net gain of ridership.

It will be interesting to see the numbers for September and October once people are back from vacation and back to school.

[NewJeffCT]

Originally Posted by Mike 75

So basically people who were taking the regular bus are now taking Fastrak. So there is no net gain of ridership.

It will be interesting to see the numbers for September and October once people are back from vacation and back to school.

If you read the article, it says total overall ridership has doubled to 14,000/day. So, it was 7,000/day previously.

Also, if you divide 214,635 by 22 business days in the month, you get close to 9,756 riders/day, so maybe they're only counting business day travel? (Figuring Friday July 3 as a holiday for July 4) Or, maybe ridership drops dramatically on weekends and holidays?

[ctguy87]

Originally Posted by NewJeffCT

If you read the article, it says total overall ridership has doubled to 14,000/day. So, it was 7,000/day previously.

Also, if you divide 214,635 by 22 business days in the month, you get close to 9,756 riders/day, so maybe they're only counting business day travel? (Figuring Friday July 3 as a holiday for July 4) Or, maybe ridership drops dramatically on weekends and holidays?

The DOT announced in May that total bus ridership in the corridor was averaging more than 14,000 each weekday, split roughly 50-50 between the new CTfastrak service and the traditional CT Transit routes. It said that was roughly double what existed in the corridor before the busway.

FASTRAK is only 7,000 a day, which actually matches quite well with my calculation. Seems as though we were duped by the initial estimates. If FASTRAK was a raging success, you'd better believe the state would have these numbers out by now.