Status of Danbury Branch Signalization Project

Trainer wrote:

Ridgefielder wrote:

TCurtin wrote:"Bustitutions" on this line are equivalent to one of Dante's tiers of hell --- unquestionably a horror to endure. Perhaps a suitable punishment for those responsible for the poor engineering is to have to take a daily RT on a bus up and down route 7 (in heavy traffic hours, of course) for the rest of their naural lives.

Actually, I took a bustituted Saturday train to Wilton from South Norwalk the other weekend and was pleasantly surprised.

A suprisingly pleasant bus ride is a much, much bigger threat to MN than is a temporary loss of ridership while the signal project is revamped. Many people have never taken a bus to New York, and they may begin to like it.

I take it you have never driven on US 7 during a weekday rush hour. The bus might be pleasant, albeit slightly slower than the train, at midday on a lazy Saturday in August; at 7:30 in the morning on a Tuesday in October it would be sheer hell. There's a reason some people will take the train from Bethel to Wilton for work rather than driving. This line has less to fear from bustitution than probably any other branchline in all of New England.

Also- the bus isn't going to New York-- just the main at South Norwalk. Getting all the way to Manhattan on a bus would not be pleasant gIven the traffic in Lower Fairfield and Westchester.

Some substantial improvements after work is being wrapped up at Wilton and Branchville. The work came out very nice.

The ride on Rte 7 just got longer with an additional light in Ridgefield near the new luxury condo's on the west side of the road. I don't see how anyone can side with bus service being more fesiable than train service at peak hours on the branch. Going through Wilton and Norwalk is brutal, especially when school is in session or in the summer with the Y in Wilton being in full swing .

Ridgefielder wrote:

Trainer wrote:

Ridgefielder wrote:

TCurtin wrote:"Bustitutions" on this line are equivalent to one of Dante's tiers of hell --- unquestionably a horror to endure. Perhaps a suitable punishment for those responsible for the poor engineering is to have to take a daily RT on a bus up and down route 7 (in heavy traffic hours, of course) for the rest of their naural lives.

Actually, I took a bustituted Saturday train to Wilton from South Norwalk the other weekend and was pleasantly surprised.

A suprisingly pleasant bus ride is a much, much bigger threat to MN than is a temporary loss of ridership while the signal project is revamped. Many people have never taken a bus to New York, and they may begin to like it.

I take it you have never driven on US 7 during a weekday rush hour. The bus might be pleasant, albeit slightly slower than the train, at midday on a lazy Saturday in August; at 7:30 in the morning on a Tuesday in October it would be sheer hell. There's a reason some people will take the train from Bethel to Wilton for work rather than driving. This line has less to fear from bustitution than probably any other branchline in all of New England.

Also- the bus isn't going to New York-- just the main at South Norwalk. Getting all the way to Manhattan on a bus would not be pleasant gIven the traffic in Lower Fairfield and Westchester.

I've driven that route hundreds of time, back and forth to Norwalk Hospital - it's all about timing. Avoid the school buses. But my point wasn't so much about the Danbury guy commuting to Merrit 7, but the vast majority of people going all the way to GCT. I used to ride the Bonanza Bus back and forth from Danbury all the time, and it's exactly the same time as the train from Danbury - 2 hours - during the rush. It's even less time during non-peak (as low as 100 minutes). It followed the path of the Harlem Line, not the New Haven, which I think Peter Pan does now.

The bus is quieter, more private, and always a one-seat ride. Some people grow to like it if they're forced onto it enough times. What it lacks is easy parking and that it dumps you way over on the West side.