[BobNJ1960]

Originally Posted by JayCT

What??? I’m sure most of the current riders of SLE will disagree with you, as do I.

Most commuters on the line are going westbound in the morning (into New Haven) and eastbound in the evening (out of New Haven). That’s how the trains are scheduled. The other directions have few, if any riders. Jay

There are many non GCT bound lines going to/from Harlem, Jay. I rode one 3 years to Yankee Stadium (The Croton Harmon) and it was no busier at morning rush than the SLE, but it leaves 125th twice/hr throughout BOTH rush hours, plus once/hr rest of day. On average, PRE covid, at 7:40am and 440pm, my car would have 2-4 people on it, and it was usually about an 8 car train. The other lines at 125th, other than GCT line, were no more packed.

NJ rail has several lines w/o much volume, but all run in both directions at rush hour.

We are the tri-state outlier in not taking service seriously, and understanding volume takes many years to build, and in some cases, modest levels will be its peak.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by BobNJ1960

There are many non GCT bound lines going to/from Harlem, Jay. I rode one 3 years to Yankee Stadium (The Croton Harmon) and it was no busier at morning rush than the SLE, but it leaves 125th twice/hr throughout BOTH rush hours, plus once/hr rest of day. On average, PRE covid, at 7:40am and 440pm, my car would have 2-4 people on it, and it was usually about an 8 car train. The other lines at 125th, other than GCT line, were no more packed.

NJ rail has several lines w/o much volume, but all run in both directions at rush hour.

We are the tri-state outlier in not taking service seriously, and understanding volume takes many years to build, and in some cases, modest levels will be its peak.

You are comparing service in our country’s largest and most mass transit oriented cities to New Haven and SLE??? You do realize how ridiculous that is? They are nothing alike.

New York City has almost 19 million people in its metro area. New Haven has less than 900,000. A big city transit system can afford trains with few passengers. It costs them little to move trains around.

Shoreline East serves the shoreline towns east of New Haven. They are quiet and small. They don’t really have the blocks of employment and density of people to support such intensive service. That’s why it’s being reviewed by CTDOT. Something’s got to give. Jay

[BobNJ1960]

Originally Posted by JayCT

Shoreline East serves the shoreline towns east of New Haven. They are quiet and small. . Jay

The lines leaving NY from Harlem are going to small towns, just like Shoreline East.

Croton Harmon is not NYC. It has 9,270 people. Less than Old Saybrook! Every stop after Yankee Stadium on the line is in the middle of nowhere. The line that ends at Poughkeepsie is similar. Population: 31,580 There are 5 lines going north from 125th, all to the middle of nowhere.

There are no major employment center stops amongst them, north of NYC. NY heavily subsidizes these lines. Croton-Harmon train is quaint to be on, btw, as even the conductors are laid back on such a lightly traveled line.

[BobNJ1960]

Pleasure to read how hostile the crowd was at CT DOT meetings!!

[SteveM85]

Originally Posted by BobNJ1960

Pleasure to read how hostile the crowd was at CT DOT meetings!!

When? Where?
Scheduling repaving work on Sunday evenings during busy travel home summer weekends was a travesty beyond any all realms of comprehension. Head scratchers. Others have said it as well.
Then you have the never ending fiasco on the Merritt still going. Bring in some Dubai laborers or something, anything, just get it done.
CT really needs to get its act together on transportation infrastructure. It’s future depends on it.

[BobNJ1960]

Originally Posted by SteveM85

When? Where?
Scheduling repaving work on Sunday evenings during busy travel home summer weekends was a travesty beyond any all realms of comprehension. Head scratchers. Others have said it as well.
Then you have the never ending fiasco on the Merritt still going. Bring in some Dubai laborers or something, anything, just get it done.
CT really needs to get its act together on transportation infrastructure. It’s future depends on it.

10/4 meetings were covered by our local newspapers.

[mdovell]

Originally Posted by JayCT

You have it completely backwards. Connecticut has been investing heavily in mass transit for DECADES. Certainly long before Massachusetts has outside of greater Boston. That’s why we have Shoreline East and CTrail. Massachusetts is only now looking into extending rail service beyond greater Boston.

Also note that the past several Commissioners of Transportation at CTDOT have come from rail backgrounds. That was deliberate. It’s why we have invested billions in improved rail service around the state and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

That said we can’t ignore our highways either. Remember much of the money for mass transit comes from the gas tax. Drivers would not tolerate the state spending all that revenue on mass transit. Jay

Eh. Subway service in boston kept expanding outward until the 1980's. In 1994 commutter rail service started to worcester. That's nearly 30 year ago. By 1997 the commuter rails were put into place in the south shore so yes they have been invested for decades. I know because I saw it and road it on a frequent basis for years. Property values shot up exponentially. So you can't really say "only now". The other aspect is frankly those against the rail expansion are gone. It's well known in the springfield area that Picknelly of Peter Pan lobbied strongly against it. His sons got more into the restaurant and property management industry and are fine with it.

A fair amount of transit employees have left CT. You have to keep in mind that many organizations are dependent on key performance indicators and if they don't have growth they'll leave. Shandra Sheehan left the Greater Hartford Transit District after 13 years.
https://www.masslive.com/business-ne...new_admin.html I've met her a few times, she knows her stuff. Recently WRTA hired Joshua Rickman
https://therta.com/worcester-regiona...joshua-rickman who was CT Transit as the Assistant General Manager of Planning and Marketing. Of course there is also planning involved and CT lost a fair amount when the consolation happened about eight years ago.

I'm not doubting investment, CT rail clearly is evidence of this but like I said it's a regional system. The more loops are closed it makes it easier to go from one area to another.

Also the reason I don't drive to worcester is to be frank the traffic is pretty high. Generally I try to avoid the pike if I don't have to. Granted I don't go to mass via RI, RI roads are horrific.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by mdovell

Eh. Subway service in boston kept expanding outward until the 1980's. In 1994 commutter rail service started to worcester. That's nearly 30 year ago. By 1997 the commuter rails were put into place in the south shore so yes they have been invested for decades. I know because I saw it and road it on a frequent basis for years. Property values shot up exponentially. So you can't really say "only now". The other aspect is frankly those against the rail expansion are gone. It's well known in the springfield area that Picknelly of Peter Pan lobbied strongly against it. His sons got more into the restaurant and property management industry and are fine with it.

A fair amount of transit employees have left CT. You have to keep in mind that many organizations are dependent on key performance indicators and if they don't have growth they'll leave. Shandra Sheehan left the Greater Hartford Transit District after 13 years.
https://www.masslive.com/business-ne...new_admin.html I've met her a few times, she knows her stuff. Recently WRTA hired Joshua Rickman
https://therta.com/worcester-regiona...joshua-rickman who was CT Transit as the Assistant General Manager of Planning and Marketing. Of course there is also planning involved and CT lost a fair amount when the consolation happened about eight years ago.

I'm not doubting investment, CT rail clearly is evidence of this but like I said it's a regional system. The more loops are closed it makes it easier to go from one area to another.

Also the reason I don't drive to worcester is to be frank the traffic is pretty high. Generally I try to avoid the pike if I don't have to. Granted I don't go to mass via RI, RI roads are horrific.

The subway IN Boston itself hasn’t been improved in decades. It has not kept up with the growth in the city and it shows.

In the 80’s the city and MassDOT focused on the Central Artery project rather than mass transit. The service to Worcester and the South Shore were years overdue for a metropolitan city the size of Boston.

I’m not sure what personnel resigning shows. Plenty of MBTA managers have left over the years. I’ve even worked with a few in the private sector. The MBTA’s Chief Safety Officer just left after three years there. He came from Chicago. What does that show?

https://www.wbur.org/news/2023/08/15...-ester-resigns

You don’t have to drive on the Mass Pike to get to Worcester from the Quiet Corner. You’d take I-395 north which turns into I-290. It’s only about 20 miles from the Connecticut state line. It’s up to you but it just seems a lot out of your way to go to New London. Jay

[JayCT]

Jim Cameron summarizes some of the testimony given at last weeks hearing on train service cuts planned by CTDOT. All are very valid points. Jay

https://ctmirror.org/2023/10/08/talk...r-10-7-23-jim/

[BobNJ1960]

We need Charlie Baker to move here and be our next governor.