How to fix weekend service on the New Haven

[7express]

Let me know what you think of these ideas in regards to the upper portion which is still horrendous.

1) break up into 3 segments. This has been talked about during the week too, but think it would thrive on the weekends. The first train starts in New Haven, makes local stops to Bridgeport then stops at South Norwalk, Stamford, 125th and GCT.
Train 2 starts in Bridgeport makes local stops to South Norwalk, then Stamford, 125 and GCT.
Train 3 is the local which "cleans up" for the other 2.
This way people at Fairfield and Westport can get a seat on a train, people from Bridgeport won't have to walk back 5 cars to find a seat like I did today and folks from New Haven going to SoNo and Stamford get 2 direct trains.
2) this has been talked about as well, but just scrap off peak fares and just go with 1 price pricing like NJ Transit. All the 10 trips I but now are peaks anyway, so I wouldn't have a problem with this and would support that idea of 1 ticket price throughout.
3) get rid of those useless stops at Greenwich on the :34 semi expresses to New Haven. Anyone that's working on a Saturday probably A) have already left by the time the first train gets in (about 4:10 or so) and B) drive in on the weekends. People going to Greenwich are more then capable of taking the Stamford locals twice an hour and just adds more people to an already overcrowded New Haven train.
4) add the shoppers specials year round. I've been saying this the last 4 years. To sweeten the deal make the shoppers specials train 1 in item 1 but add Fairfield as a stop. I think there's been talk of this as well, and likewise think this would thrive year round.

3 has best chance of happening and with equipment shortages 1 and 4 aren't happening, but you only need a couple extra sets for 3. Item 2 brings in the most money. They need to do something however because even with the M8's it's still struggling mightily.

[DutchRailnut]

Show me the MONEY, Ct is broke so no MONEY for changes.

[SouthernRailway]

Elimination of off-peak pricing drove off riders from NJ Transit. I didn't care for the change.

[runningwithscalpels]

7, did they have bridgeplates up at Bridgeport? I ride the Waterbury branch every weekend and normally I don't have to walk too far to find a seat at Bridgeport unless they have bridgeplates up because people refuse to walk back.

[Amtrak7]

LIRR/MNRR pricing needs an adjustment. Several board members brought this up at the last fare increase, the percentage based increases to one way fares every 2 years aren't the best way to raise the revenue needed because it drives away the discretionary travelers.

Perhaps the monthlies should be 30 one way peak fares instead of 21ish?

[7express]

7, did they have bridgeplates up at Bridgeport? I ride the Waterbury branch every weekend and normally I don't have to walk too far to find a seat at Bridgeport unless they have bridgeplates up because people refuse to walk back.

No, they're gone. Not sure when it was but know it was sometime between June 29 and today, July 13.

[7express]

I forgot to mention this as well:
Make Stamford a discharge only Westbound (NY bound) and a stop that receives passengers only Eastbound (New Haven bound). Back on the weekends when I used to drive to Stamford if I ever wanted to get home fast I NEVER took the express for a couple reasons. The first being the :03 local only gets in like 20 minutes after the express does anyways and second of all, no seats. Coming back is the same story: Stamford people already have the :37 train which gets in around 10 minutes before the :07 express and another local at :10 that gets in around 20 or 25 minutes after the express does. I don't know how they'd enforce the discharge/receiving passengers only, but it seems to work at Fordham, and hopefully someone can say what if any penalties are levied against people that take a NH bound train to/from Fordham to GCT. This along with cutting Greenwich out of the :34 expresses won't seem like much, but would definitely be better then what we have and all it needs is a minor tweak of the schedule. No new equipment, no funding, just a couple changes in the schedule.

[7express]

7, did they have bridgeplates up at Bridgeport? I ride the Waterbury branch every weekend and normally I don't have to walk too far to find a seat at Bridgeport unless they have bridgeplates up because people refuse to walk back.

The 1 thing I don't like about the M8's is that the doors are pretty hard to open. I've seen people struggle with then the last 2 days. People who refuse to walk back in the Budd Cars however should be kicked.

Also, I'm probably in that "don't walk back" when it comes to the M8. I still won't ever sit in the middle seat, but at least I can sit in the aisle seat of a 3 seater on the M8's unlike the aisle midget seat on the 2/4and 6 which I also could never sit in. So if I get on in Bridgeport can't find any single seats I may walk back, but 1 car only. If I still can't find any in that car I'm gonna sit in the aisle seat of a 3 seater.

[runningwithscalpels]

I was referring to mainline trains when I said that, not the crappy Waterbury bomb - there's not enough people to ride that to warrant getting angry at people not walking back - my rage at that train is purely dependent upon passenger decorum or lack thereof

I'm pretty picky about where I sit too - if I have a choice, no three seaters and no riding backwards, and if it's the facing seats or the folding seat on the M8's, I'd rather stand... - but really the only time I ever have an issue with finding a seat without having to walk half the train is transferring at Bridgeport is if there's bridgeplates - otherwise I just put myself on the platform towards the back, because I've found people just like to cram in the first couple cars, regardless of what equipment they're running.

I have been taking the 7:15 out of Waterbury which connects with the 8:14 at Bridgeport, ridership is thinner then compared to when I take the 10:15 from Waterbury and whatever that connects with.

As for the bridgeplates - I haven't seen them up in a while, and the last time I did, which was maybe a month or so ago - they discharged us on the NH platform and boarded us there for the connection. There was a stretch where they'd have them up, gone the next weekend, and back the following after that, which is why I asked.

[Noel Weaver]

Pretty fussy here, I won't sit in the middle seat, I won't walk back. I want a non stop express from my station at all times, I want, I want, I want. I trust you want to pay the increased taxes for all of your wants too. The service today from any station between New Haven and New York is the best it has ever been in terms of seating (I'll bet there are few if any standees on a regular basis), frequency of service and comfort of service as well. In order for service to increase higher fares would have to be charged and higher taxes would have to be imposed on the residents in the area. I suspect the folks in Fairfield County would yell BLOODY MURDER if this were to happen.
Noel Weaver

[Bill D]

I travel from New Haven to Grand Central weekends on a regular basis, and have been happy with the service. I usually take the 7:23 am train in, which operates with a Genesis - bomb set. Although the train is pretty full by Stamford, there are still seats available. There was an issue yesterday, as the lead (cab) car was throwing heat instead of AC. The conductors passed though several times telling passengers that even though the other cars were crowded, there were seats available if they wanted to move back. (I chose to stay where I was and tolerate the heat - when we switched over to the 3rd rail just before the tunnel, the AC started working.) I return on the 6:34 or 7:07 pm trains and seats are never an issue. Frequently, the 7:07 train has the first 3 or 4 cars closed off. I rode the 6:34 yesterday, and I noticed that the train fills from the rear first, and if you walk to one of the lead cars there are plenty of seats. All things considered, the New Haven line has a good level of weekend service, and seems to work well as is. Funding is always an issue, and what money there is needs to be spent wisely. I don't think that the weekend service needs to be changed.


Bill

[runningwithscalpels]

I know I'm picky - but I won't hold my personal preferences against the railroad and say I can't find a seat when I just refuse to sit there.

If they were financially able to, perhaps splitting the NHL into 3 might be a good idea worth trying, however as Dutch originally said, where's the $$$.

I have my own opinions about what should be done, but that'd require the state to not be crying broke. As it stands, service frequency seems sufficient on the weekends, save for Waterbury, but I've expressed my opinions regarding that in the pertinent thread.

[lirr42]

LIRR/MNRR pricing needs an adjustment. Several board members brought this up at the last fare increase, the percentage based increases to one way fares every 2 years aren't the best way to raise the revenue needed because it drives away the discretionary travelers.

Perhaps the monthlies should be 30 one way peak fares instead of 21ish?

That would make my monthly $810! I think that might drive away the regular commuters too!

[runningwithscalpels]

Yeah, I really don't think completely reconfiguring the pricing for monthlies is going to be helpful.

As it is right now, New Haven-GCT monthly is $436, under the above mentioned scheme, it would be $615. That much of a difference would definitely drive people away.

Last time they hiked the fares was the bump in price to a monthly the same percent as standard one-way/round trips? I mean maybe if you hike regular tickets 1% but monthlies 1.5% or something along those lines, like a half a percent more than regular tickets, that might work, you could give discretionary riders a *bit* of a break, but if those discretionary riders are that irritated by the hikes affecting them more, then they should be incentivized to buy a 10 trip and save a little bit if they travel off-peak. (Says the girl who should be buying 10 trips but doesn't...but I digress...)

[pnaw10]

Perhaps the monthlies should be 30 one way peak fares instead of 21ish?

Although monthlies provide unlimited rides for the month, the MTA website explains the pricing is based on 50% off the regular one-way peak fare for 42 rides a month. Why such a seemingly random number? Most monthly holders are assumed to be riding to and from work. Most full-time jobs are 5 days a week, and there are four weeks in a month. That's 20 workdays X 2 one-way trips = 40. They figure 2 more trips since some months have 31 days (so there might be an extra workday before the new month begins).

To say the price is based on 42 trips is already in the railroad's favor, as some months have only 30 days, and February only has 28 or 29 days.... but you don't see the price reduced for the shorter months. On the other hand, it is like getting "free" rides if you happen to ride more than 42 times a month, and if you have a monthly between GCT and the farthest-outlying station on the line, you basically have an all-access pass for trips between any two stations on that line.

But while many of us railfans would love to ride the train every day if we could, most commuters only ride because they need to... and likely aren't making "recreational" trips on the weekends very often. To increase the price of a monthly, based on people making round trips all 30 days per month, would only create outrage.

And as someone else commented, having lower fares on weekends can make a difference for discretionary travel. The cost of parking in the city can be very expensive; for just one person, it's almost always cheaper to take the train. But if you have a family of 4 or 5 (or even a group of 4-5 adults) going into the city for leisure, there comes a point where that expensive parking winds up being cheaper than the train fare (and any parking fees at the station). The railroad almost "needs" to keep weekend off-peak fares lower to remain competitive with the costs of self-driving.

Example: Yankee Stadium. Current parking rates range from $25 to $48. A one-way off-peak ticket from New Haven to GCT is $16.50. With just two people, you already come out ahead by parking at the game, rather than taking the train. At that point, it's up to people to decide whether the mileage, gas and time spent driving is worth it, or if they'd rather take the train. But if you have four adults going, you come out ahead splitting the $48 for valet parking, rather than the train. If the NHL charged peak fares all the time, you're now talking $21.75 for one adult from New Haven to the stadium... you'd definitely have a lot more people driving than using the train, except for the fans who plan on getting absolutely plastered at the ballpark and need that train ride to sober up.