NJCL - more trains / EXPRESSES / HOB-BH service !!

loufah wrote:

Trainlawyer wrote:If the train is going to be run anyway then any revenue should be welcome.

But if the train is the first run of the day, the cost of a deadhead is an engineer, but the cost of a revenue train is engineer plus whatever minimum number of conductors and ticket collectors are required by union rules. If only a couple passengers use this 4:55AM train, it's a net money loser and that train crew could better be used elsewhere.

You still need a conductor and rear brake on a dead head not just an engineer. So the added cost of one or two TC's who also have to be positioned(like the train), is not going to make a huge impact.

philipmartin wrote:

F40 wrote:we've grown very accustomed to getting less and less with our hard earned wages.

Yes, and it will get worse with programmed inflation.

a non-chalant "OK" to fare increases

We have no choice. There is some waste running the railroad and bus lines, but the tax payers are picking up much of the cost.

Will you take up the offer of buying my next train ticket? But in all seriousness, we should not hang our heads on inflation. Inflation at 2% is really not significant from one year to the next. For example, on a $11 ticket, inflation might come out to 22 cents the next year but the 50% Round trip increases have absorbed so much of it that you don't hope for any increases anytime soon.

Cobra:

I do appreciate your two cents and I am not saying (and can't say) everything is NJT's fault. I do agree many times issues are out of their control. My statement was simply that of are we paying more to get less and the sad situation it is for everyone. We are also on the losing end and not just the crew who I am sure most of them work hard to run their shifts.

cobra30689 wrote: Case in point..... had to stop the train yesterday to let someone off who was clearly NOT paying attention to announcements.

Too bad you felt you had to stop the train.

F40 wrote:That being said, I am surprised anyone expressed a non-chalant "OK" to fare increases now (will you pay for my ride?). If it gets worse, people (myself included) will just simply take the train less. No more fumbling around with my Main/Bergen schedules, figuring out a good place to park, and hoping to hit the jackpot at SEC. Does a 50% increase mean 50% more trains or 50% better customer service? Maybe that Lexus commercial is true: we've grown very accustomed to getting less and less with our hard earned wages.

I thought I was the only one that constantly goes from different stations on the line.

This month alone I've hopped around from Wayne Rt.23, Radburn, Mountain View, Glen Rock, Delawanna and Secaucus (once non work related evening opposite Rush).

For the record.... Ridership on WORMS trains during peak hours these days are pretty healthy. 3 Seaters filled up nicely. By the time the train his Montclair Heights everyone is sharing and by the time it hits Bay Street its SRO.

1085 needs more than 4 cars, SRO more times than not out of BNWK.

WORMS Express from Rt. 23 stopping at MSU, BNWK and HOB could do the run to NWK in about 22 minutes and put you in Hoboken in 37 min. With a 7 min connection and a 10 min subway puts you in Lower Manhattan in 55 minutes. The Bus at rush hour can't beat that. Takes at least 45 to PABT. Shaves only 12 minutes but makes it a lot more appealing. I rather see the money used for more BCL service but all of my ideas are just a dream.

I've been in a really good mood recently so I thought I'd jump in here and knock some sense into the less informed patrons.

As always, allow me to add the disclaimer that Jeff Smith rules. That should go without saying seeing as I am the originator of said term but due to my absence I felt that I should include it.

CentralValleyRail wrote:

hovercat wrote:Thank you to a certain someone who directed my attention to this thread. All I have to say is jesus christ. If there's ever any wonder why almost everybody who knows anything about NJT stopped posting here, this thread would be the perfect example. If it weren't for srock being a holdout, this board would be almost devoid of any actual information and my advice to him would be to stop posting here like the rest of us did. This place is a cesspool of stupidity that revolves around the little foamer children or the truly stupid and ignorant adult railfans; CentralValleyRail and SecaucusJunction falling into the latter category. There is a third group and they are the posters here who are truly good and decent people whom I feel bad for because their outlet for learning and sharing information is ruined by the other two groups I mentioned before. For those of you that fall into this third group, I regret that your experience is tarnished by others and I mean no disrespect.

CentralValleyRail and SecaucusJunction, with their b!tching and moaning, have displayed here that they are some of the most simple-minded people that exist on these boards. If you want to give NJT a blank check then you can have all the express trains you want to every single destination running on 15 min intervals. But until CentralValleyRail and SecaucusJunction actually understand all the things that truly go into planning and operating a railroad, their complaining on here will be nothing more than a little child stomping their foot and sulking in the corner because they didn't get the flavor ice cream they wanted.

All I'm going to say about your schtick, extremely unprofessional. All I asked was why does a revenue run have to be run at 5:00am.

Well we already know what I think about your schtick...

That being said, no. You didn't just ask why a revenue train have to be run at 5am. That might have been how it started out but you eventually started to b!tch and moan about everything even when provided with very legitimate answer to your original question. You eventually got to the point of insisting that anyone who works at NJT has no idea what they're doing (obviously drawing upon your vast knowledge of critiquing people from the sidelines with no frame of reference). In addition to being an equipment move which is livened up for revenue service, did you ever give consideration to the fact that people might want to travel into the city during the morning. I know that you are ignorant to this fact, but many eastbound trains get very busy heading into the city in the morning either with people heading in for activities or work (I know, shocking! People work on the weekends?!). You're problem is that your brain is in "get me personally to or from the beach mode" and you fail to comprehend the larger picture, hence why I called you simple-minded.

philipmartin wrote:Gratuitously offensive. This isn't civilized conversation, it's an insult.

hovercat wrote: All I have to say is jesus christ. This place is a cesspool of stupidity that revolves around the little foamer children or the truly stupid and ignorant adult railfans; CentralValleyRail and SecaucusJunction falling into the latter category.
CentralValleyRail and SecaucusJunction, with their b!tching and moaning, have displayed here that they are some of the most simple-minded people that exist on these boards. their complaining on here will be nothing more than a little child stomping their foot
-Cruiser939

What's gratuitously offensive is your inability to accurately quote people in posts here on the message board. Please go back to the only job on the railroad that you haven't been fired from yet due to incompetency and stop butchering my posts.

CNJGeep wrote:

SecaucusJunction wrote:Comets should be fine. No need to have the extra capacity of Multi Levels when you've left out about a third of the state from being able to use the service.

The good news is that since the service is still about 2 hours from end to end, and to bring a group of people, you'd have to take out a second mortgage, the Parkway is still probably the best way to go from most points in the state.

Do you ever stop complaining?

No, he does not. Haven't you realized that by now. This forum allows him an environment to vent without being told to his face how much of a$$ he sounds like.

philipmartin wrote:

CNJGeep wrote: Do you ever stop complaining?

Quit complaining about the post. It's normal observations.

Likewise, some dolt could be telling you to stop complaining about CNJ's post. But there I go playing devil's advocate...

Maybe someone can explain something else to me. Is NJT planning on having dual modes running to Bay Head during the week as well? If not, I am wondering why these Saturday morning "equipment" moves are necessary if the power isn't even stored there. They basically have 2 somewhat relevant trains on the schedule each way to and from the shore. Would make a lot more sense to start 2 sets from Sunnyside and then just run the same sets back in the evening... unless NJT just likes to advertise they are running 4 round trips even though half of them are worthless.

I think monkeys working with typewriters could have come up with a better schedule than this...

SecaucusJunction wrote:Maybe someone can explain something else to me. Is NJT planning on having dual modes running to Bay Head during the week as well? If not, I am wondering why these Saturday morning "equipment" moves are necessary if the power isn't even stored there. They basically have 2 somewhat relevant trains on the schedule each way to and from the shore. Would make a lot more sense to start 2 sets from Sunnyside and then just run the same sets back in the evening... unless NJT just likes to advertise they are running 4 round trips even though half of them are worthless.

I think monkeys working with typewriters could have come up with a better schedule than this...

How do you plan on getting 2 DM consists to layover in Sunnyside? Right now, they (most likely) end their previous night in Bayhead. It costs time and money to deadhead something up to start in SSYD/NYPS which there might not even be slots/crews available for. I really like how people with "all the answers" so easily criticize people who do this for a living, yet don't know all the constraints in play.
Unless you work it, you don't what it's like.

This board has become one big fantasy foaming joke.

I don't believe NJT currently runs ALP45's to Bay Head during the week... which is why I was wondering why an equipment move from Bay Head is needed. They do run on the electrified lines though and I am sure they are probably stored, or could be stored, at Sunnyside overnight. Much less equipment should be needed on weekends than on weekdays.

CentralValleyRail wrote:

F40 wrote:That being said, I am surprised anyone expressed a non-chalant "OK" to fare increases now (will you pay for my ride?). If it gets worse, people (myself included) will just simply take the train less. No more fumbling around with my Main/Bergen schedules, figuring out a good place to park, and hoping to hit the jackpot at SEC. Does a 50% increase mean 50% more trains or 50% better customer service? Maybe that Lexus commercial is true: we've grown very accustomed to getting less and less with our hard earned wages.

I thought I was the only one that constantly goes from different stations on the line.

This month alone I've hopped around from Wayne Rt.23, Radburn, Mountain View, Glen Rock, Delawanna and Secaucus (once non work related evening opposite Rush).

For the record.... Ridership on WORMS trains during peak hours these days are pretty healthy. 3 Seaters filled up nicely. By the time the train his Montclair Heights everyone is sharing and by the time it hits Bay Street its SRO.

1085 needs more than 4 cars, SRO more times than not out of BNWK.

WORMS Express from Rt. 23 stopping at MSU, BNWK and HOB could do the run to NWK in about 22 minutes and put you in Hoboken in 37 min. With a 7 min connection and a 10 min subway puts you in Lower Manhattan in 55 minutes. The Bus at rush hour can't beat that. Takes at least 45 to PABT. Shaves only 12 minutes but makes it a lot more appealing. I rather see the money used for more BCL service but all of my ideas are just a dream.

I no longer commute by train as I moved to north Jersey, but I sometimes take it off-peak (and station-hop) when I go back down to visit friends (etc) in the Edison area (although I cringe at the almost 2-hour trip time door-to-door or $22 round trip: does not make it very appealing compared to driving ($15 - toll/gas/maint and almost always faster)). I am fortunate that many stations here in Bergen usually have free parking during evening and weekends (and sometimes at all times). If it were not the case, I would not even consider the train. More BCL service would help (last I heard they were going to cut a few BCL and/or Main Line trains), but it's really about better connections sometimes at SEC for intra-state travelers.

Anyway. Now as discussed before, trips to NY are what appeal to me as well as other passengers. I am not surprised that rush hour trains are doing well as it is a much better option compared to the Lincoln Tunnel. In addition, commuters often have pre-tax benefits and monthly pass savings as somewhat of a relief to these gigantic increases we have had recently.

To somewhat get it back on topic, I can somewhat picture one of the issues/inefficiencies arising from replacing one of the current peak trains with a ALP45 through train to/from Bay Head. If you have a 12-car set coming from NY (does the coast line run 12 cars?), that's quite a bit of real-estate hunkering down the shore line after Long Branch (at what additional fuel cost, wear & tear etc)?

F40 wrote: To somewhat get it back on topic, I can somewhat picture one of the issues/inefficiencies arising from replacing one of the current peak trains with a ALP45 through train to/from Bay Head. If you have a 12-car set coming from NY (does the coast line run 12 cars?), that's quite a bit of real-estate hunkering down the shore line after Long Branch (at what additional fuel cost, wear & tear etc)?

Not anymore. Most Coast Line sets now are six cars. When I was a kid (pre-LB wire, even pre-Matawan wire) many NJCL trains were as long as 12 cars. I do remember after the GG-1's were retired, many of the 3300's from Bay Head to NY (Comet II's powered by E60's and F40's) were no more than 6, maybe 8 at the most.

hovercat wrote:

philipmartin wrote:Gratuitously offensive. This isn't civilized conversation, it's an insult.

What's gratuitously offensive is your inability to accurately quote people in posts here on the message board. Please go back to the only job on the railroad that you haven't been fired from yet due to incompetency and stop butchering my posts.

You insult people, calling them stupid and simple minded, and when you are called out on it, claim that you were misquoted. Take credit for your words. I cut the offensive remarks out of your posts whole, what you call butchering.
Your repeated personal affronts to me are not pertinent to the discussion and are obnoxious.