Memoirs of a Metro-North Conductor

Did you ever wonder what it would be like to work for the railroad? 

That’s what Paul Holland did for 39 years, first with Amtrak, later with Conrail and finally as a conductor on Metro-North.  His self-published “My Life As A Rear End” pays tribute to his time in cabooses, but it’s his commuter rail stories that kept me laughing.

Like the colorful crowd from the psychiatric hospital on the Harlem line who’d escape, often in their pajamas, and ride his trains, obviously unable to pay.  Or the many times he was assaulted by knife-wielding thugs only to be rescued by his six foot seven inch cross-dressing frequent rider, “Rocky”.

Over the years Holland collected his stories, often scribbling them on seat-checks. Upon his retirement it took him less than a year to pen his “memoirs”, many of which are far too racy to mention in this column.  Let’s just say that the diminutive conductor was very popular with the ladies.  It must have been the uniform.

Because he truly loved his job, and had three kids bound for college, Holland worked six or seven days a week.  Railroad conductors can work split shifts of up to 16 hours a day, and with his OT Holland averaged about 80 hours a week.

Some passengers would ask him the stupidest questions, like the riders who would congregate in the front car for a fast exit at Grand Central.  A common query:  why can’t you add more cars to the front of the train?

Occasionally Holland would work the last train to depart GCT, the 1 am train making all local stops to New Haven, affectionately known as “The Vomit Comet”.  It was a quiet run, though getting inebriated passengers off at their correct stop was always a challenge.

He also tells the story of the German tourist who had parked his friend’s borrowed car at a remote station, returning late at night to find it had been stripped of all four wheels.  He thought it was the local cops penalizing him for parking without a permit.

Enforcing the rules in The Quiet Car was a thankless job, like the time a passenger kevtched about another rider eating a smelly egg salad sandwich.  Not a violation ruled Holland. 

Or the passenger angry about the woman in the Quiet Car talking, albeit quietly, on her cellphone.  “Tell her to shut the F up,” said the vigilante.  As Holland approached the woman he heard her say “Have a blessed Easter” before hanging up.  Holland returned to the complainant and said “She’s a nun, but I’ll relay your message.”  As he turned to approach the woman again the now-penitent passenger raced after him to say “never mind”.  Holland said “He must have gone to Catholic school.”

Holland insists all his stories are true.  “I have witnesses,” he told me.

Retired and living in New Milford, Holland obviously misses his job and his passengers, some of whom he still keeps in touch with.  He says that over the years passengers have changed.  “These days they don’t seem to show any respect (for authority), especially the kids.”

As “the face of the railroad” Holland says he never minded facing angry passengers, upset about delays.  “I just always told them the truth and treated them the way I’d want to be treated.”

Posted with permission of Hearst CT Media

Micro-Transit Alternatives

You can’t beat the convenience of on-demand ride services like Uber and Lyft.  But wouldn’t it be great if a similar ridesharing service was available locally… and for free.

We’re not talking about existing ParaTransit services for the disabled or even senior transport services like At Home in Darien’s driver service.  No, the newest “microtransit” services are much more for the masses.

Just such a service has met tremendous success in Norwalk and is soon to launch in Westport and several other eastern Connecticut towns.

The Norwalk program is called Wheels2U and is run by the Norwalk Transit District using the agency’s paratransit minibus fleet.  You download the app of the same name and when you’re ready to roll, you summon a rideshare.

The service began in the fall of 2018 with about 300 trips per month.  They’re now up to 2200 rides per month.  Available Thursday through Sunday evenings, you can ride anywhere in a three square mile area (about 25% of the city), from the train stations to Merritt Seven, from the old downtown to the new (Washington St.).

So far the service is free though they may convert in April to a flat rate of $2 per passenger per ride with a discount for groups.  Because it’s a ride sharing service you may have to wait anywhere from 10 to 12 minutes for your pickup and a make a few stops before yours, but it’s a lot cheaper than driving or taking a cab.

The service has been so popular they’re testing an expansion to Westport this summer, replacing existing commuter shuttles with an on-demand service to the train stations. Subsidized by the Town, rides would cost $1.75.

The Stonington microtransit service is branded as SEAT HOP and requires the free TransLoc app.  Replacing the current Route 10 bus, SEAT HOP will run from 6:30 am to 6 pm Monday through Friday in the Mystic to Pawcatuck area of the coastal community.

For the first month rides will be free.  After that the fares will be the same as the SEAT bus:  $2 per ride, $1 for seniors and the disabled.  The bus route it replaces had less than 600 riders a month.

In Old Saybrook and Essex, the Estuary Transit District ran a successful test of their Xtramile service last summer, averaging 30 – 40 riders per day, running six days a week.

Ride services are especially popular with young people who don’t want the hassle and cost of car ownership.

While many riders use these services to run errands, others use it for what transit planners call “the last mile”, getting them to and from the train station.

Critics of the low ridership of Metro-North’s branch lines go so far as to suggest that the trains be parked and similar ride-sharing apps take their place for commuters.  

Because of the high fixed costs of running a railroad, the per-rider subsidy on non-mainline trains is pretty high… on the Danbury branch $17, Waterbury $24, Shore Line East $50 and on the new Hartford Line $56.  Cynics suggest it would be cheaper to give each rail rider a microtransit voucher… assuming, of course, there’s room on the roadways for those added vehicles.

Of course it’s also easy to cut those train subsidies:  just increase ridership!  Add more trains, make them faster and more reliable and ridership should increase.

Posted with permission of Hearst CT Media

Maybe NoTollsCT is Right Afterall

Maybe the NoTollsCT folks (and the recent Hearst editorial) are right:  the current toll proposal should be scrapped.

Mind you, I’m still pro-tolls and have been for years.  But the Governor’s latest plan is so insipid and compromised as to be a waste of time.  It raises too little money, doesn’t toll millions of out-of-state cars and most importantly… it seems that most people don’t want it. Nor do they trust it will be limited to trucks.

I once described NoTollsCT founder Patrick Sasser as a “bully” because he threatened to oust any legislator that voted for tolls.  Remember “Vote for Tolls, Lose at the Polls”?

I was wrong.  Sasser is mostly an activist and advocate.  And he has done an amazing job at organizing opposition to tolling on a shoestring budget of about $10,000 in small donations.  Compare that to the million dollars spent in tolls lobbying by the construction industry to little result.

Did you see the January 31^st public hearing held at the Capitol on the Governor’s latest tolls bill? The Transportation Committee heard almost ten hours of testimony, most of it in opposition to the plan.  I watched it all (thanks to CT-N).

In his testimony Sasser cited his group’s 40 anti-toll rallies, 110,000 petition signatures and 29 towns (representing one million residents) which passed resolutions against tolls and asked lawmakers “what more will it take” to stop tolls.

Sasser isn’t a political professional, just a Stamford firefighter with a side job in construction.  But what he has built is amazing.  Some say he should run for the legislature.

I’m jealous of what he’s done and wish someone, anyone, had similarly galvanized those who support tolls.  In December when a handful of pro-tolls folks showed up at the State Capitol a Senate Democrat staffer greeted them with “Where have you been?”  Nice.

I fundamentally disagree with Sasser that there’s enough waste in CDOT spending to finance repairs of all that’s wrong with our roads and rails.  And it’s disingenuous of him to tap into the “no more taxes on anything” sentiment abroad in the land.   

For weeks we’ve been promised that a tolls vote was imminent in the legislature.  And for weeks that vote has been postponed.  Why?  Not because of alleged “scheduling issues” but because the Governor clearly doesn’t have the votes he needs to pass his plan.

Remember in May of 2019 when naïve Ned took the media with him into a House Democratic caucus seeking lawmakers’ support on tolls?  Lamont admitted to his party members that he’d put them “into a pickle” but promised if they’d support him on tolls he’d help them raise money for their re-election fights.

Now he’s delivering on that promise, adding an extra $300 million to the state’s bonding package to entice needed votes.  So much for his “debt diet”.  At least lawmakers who vote yes on tolls can tell constituents they “brought home the bacon”.

To many that’s just good ol’ politics.  But it’s unbecoming of a Governor who promised us better.  The end does not justify the means. 

It’s time to scrap the Governor’s anemic tolling bill and find an effective way to raise the money we need for transportation… like raising the gas or sales tax.  Let’s see how popular that will be.

Posted with permission of Hearst CT Media

Avoiding Air Turbulence

“Buckle up folks.  There’s some bumpy air ahead”, said the pilot on a recent flight.  No need to remind me; my seatbelt is always fastened as “bumpy air”… a euphemism for air turbulence… is my worst fear in flying. It’s the whole “fear of death” thing.

Intellectually I know that modern aircraft can survive all manner of stress from changing or violent winds, but can I?  I’ve been on flights where our aircraft plummeted hundreds of feet without notice, sending passengers, their drinks and laptops flying.  There’s not much you can do in a situation like that except, hang on,  breathe deeply and pray.

Thanks to climate change there are dire predictions that in-flight turbulence is getting worse, increasing by several hundred percent in some areas.  Even today severe air turbulence is thought to cost airlines $200 million a year and is the single biggest cause of passenger injuries.

According to the FAA there were 27 passengers and crew injured by turbulence in 2015.  In 2016 that number was 42.  And with more and more people flying those numbers will climb.

Only a few years ago United Airlines offered passengers an in-flight audio channel where they could listen to air traffic control handling their and other flights.  That was my favorite channel as I heard our flight being cleared to higher altitudes, warned about other aircraft and being guided across the country. It was reassuring to hear the professionalism of the flight crew and ATC.  But the channel was only available at the pilot’s discretion. And when it was turned off mid-flight I always knew something nasty was coming our way.

Pilots regularly ask ATC for “ride reports” from other aircraft at the same altitude and flight path, always seeking the smoothest flight.  But sometimes the turbulence is unexpected, the so-called “clear air turbulence”.  You can be cruising along at 35,000 feet when, without notice, you get slammed. 

On a Turkish Airlines flight to JFK last March the 777 jetliner encountered clear air turbulence over Maine that sent everything flying.  The terror lasted about ten minutes and when the plane finally landed, 30 passengers were taken to the hospital.

That’s why you should always keep your seatbelt fastened so if the plane drops, you don’t crash into the ceiling.

Now there’s new technology that may help us all have a smoother flight.

The IATA, the International Air Transport Association, is testing an automatic tracking and reporting system to warn flights of “bumpy air”.  So far 15 major airlines are sharing data in the test phase of the program.

Their planes are equipped with a black box measuring changes in the flight’s speed and tilt eight times each second.  That data is transmitted to the ground and within 30 seconds flights in the area can be warned of trouble ahead.

So far the participating airlines are generating 115,000 reports a day to the IATA Turbulence Aware system.  The system will be most valuable on long, overseas routes where there are fewer aircraft flying the same corridor.

The Turbulence Aware system should be fully operational this year when airlines will have installed the gear on most of their planes.  American Airlines alone hopes to have 800 airliners gathering and reporting data in the coming months.

Meantime… buckle up, friends!  There’s bumpy air ahead.

Posted with permission of Hearst CT Media

TRAIN HORN NOISE

Trains make noise, especially when they blow their horns entering stations and at grade crossings.  But for folks who live near the railroad branch lines, which have dozens of such crossings, the noise is too much.

Those neighbors crammed a Stamford meeting this week seeking solutions.  What they got was an education… and maybe some hope.

The New Canaan Branch has seven grade crossings in a two-mile stretch, each requiring (under Federal Railroad Administration safety regulations) ten seconds of horn blasts at 110 decibels.  That’s louder than a jet taking off and almost as loud as a clap of thunder. The horn must be hit 20 seconds before going through the crossing, so the faster the train the sooner it must start and the farther away from the crossing.

Do some engineers blow longer than required?  That’s now easily tracked using on-train black boxes and TV cameras watching the crew and the track ahead.  If engineers hit the horn for too short a time they risk losing their license.

Even on the main line of Metro-North where there are no grade crossings, the horns must be used entering each station to warn distracted riders to stand back. But between 9 pm and 6 am those blasts are optional.

Full disclosure:  I live about a half mile from the mainline and I can hear the trains, day and night.  I’m also about two miles from the New Canaan branch, and I can hear those trains’ horns as well.  But I hear planes and traffic on I-95 too.  It’s part of living in suburbia.

For more immediate neighbors on the branch this noise is a real problem.  It wakes up their kids and stresses their lives.  They want a solution.

Some said the horns on the M8s are louder than before.  They’re not.  They’ve been tested.  And the older the horn, the less the volume.  Some asked why we even need night time trains… at the same time as others complained about a lack of train service.

Remember folks:  the railroad came first and residential investment followed.  You chose to live there and you can’t have it both ways:  enjoying close proximity to the trains and then complaining about the noise.  Or can you?

One solution may be “Wayside Horns”, putting the horns at the crossings instead of on the trains.  They still have to blow as long and as loud, but where that’s been tried complaints actually went up from nearby neighbors.

The better solution may be creating an FRA-designated Quiet Zone.  That would require the towns to petition the feds and probably install “quad gates” stopping all traffic in both directions at a crossing at a cost of $2 million per set… and paid for by the towns, not CDOT or Metro-North.

In Quiet Zones there would be no train horns.  But would it compromise safety?

The one thing not really discussed at the noise-stressed neighbors meeting was why horns are needed at all:  because idiots ignore the gates and cause accidents getting themselves and / or passengers injured or killed.

One cynic in the crowd called that “natural selection”, taking such ignorant and self-centered motorists out of the gene pool.  Another lady said she missed the good old days of crossing accidents and being able to ogle the wreckage.

That’s just cold and misses the point: there are no easy solutions and even the difficult ones are really expensive.

Posted with permission of Hearst CT Media

The Waterbury Branch

​Remember Rodney Dangerfield, the comedian always complaining that he “gets no respect”?  That’s how Waterbury line commuters (and local officials) feel.  Their little branch line gets no respect.

In fact, the Waterbury branch of Metro-North is the longest of three branch lines:  27 miles from the mainline (at Devon) to Waterbury.  It carries about 1000 passengers a day… the same as a single ten-car train on the mainline.

The service on the branch is abysmal:  only two rush hour trains in the morning and three at night.  If you miss the 6:03 pm train from Bridgeport you have to wait 2 ½ hours for the next train.  The diesel locomotives are old and hard to maintain, breaking down often so riders must take buses.

And the on-time performance has been as low as an underwhelming 75% in recent months.  The stations lack any amenities, are old, decrepit and hardly attractive.  And they’ve been that way for years, despite local mayors’, developers and activists’ cries for improvement.

That’s why I wanted to attend a recent “Rail Conference” in Naugatuck, bringing together everyone interested in improving the trains to face off with local State Rep’s and Senators who can make it happen.  It was a real eye-opener.

The venue was an old UniRoyal building on Rubber Ave, a sad looking structure next to a potholed parking lot.  My GPS said I was in the right place, but there was no signage aside from the women’s clothing sale going on in the first floor.  Heading upstairs I found the meeting room… complete with a bar.

Inside the pols were gathering, the mayors on one side of the table, the state elected officials on the other.  Across the state these meetings happen before the legislature comes into session, giving the lawmakers their marching orders.

Two years ago, the same meeting was held and the same cries were heard to “fix our trains”.  But little has happened.

Rail sidings are being built and a signal system installed, but ‘til then only one train can operate on the line, in either direction, at one time.

The mayors speechified that the Naugatuck Valley was ripe for development.  In Ansonia alone there are 40 empty acres in downtown… never mind that much of the entire valley land is polluted from factories of the past, scaring off developers.

Still, people are flocking to the Valley for the affordable homes and good schools, but they can’t get to work because train service is so poor.  Why no progress on new cars and better service?  The mayors blame the legislature while the state elected officials blame the Governor.

With limited funding the CDOT prioritizes the mainline, Shore Line East and the new Hartford Line for investment.

One veteran observed that in the good old days, the Democrats and Republicans in Hartford would work together on common issues like transportation.  But today, not even House minority leader Themis Klarides, representing Derby, can get her fellow lawmakers to achieve consensus.

“She seems more interested in fighting over tolls and taxes than delivering for her district,” said one observer to me on the sidelines.

The potential for the Valley is huge, both for commuters and freight.  But the legislators keep making excuses instead of making deals.  Will things be any different this year?  Stay tuned.

​Posted with permission of Hearst CT Media

VW's Dieselgate Helps Fund Electric Buses in CT

The new year will bring some big changes at Greater Bridgeport Transit (GBT):  the introduction of two new, all-electric buses to the fleet.

GBT current runs 57 buses, 35 of them diesel-powered and 22 of them hybrids.  The diesels get 3.2 mpg and the hybrids just 4.5 mpg, which means the busy transit agency must buy over a half-million gallons of diesel fuel a year.

It’s a very busy transit agency carrying over 5 million passengers a year (about 17,000 a day).  Fares have been steady since 2010:  $1.75 for 90 minutes on any route, $4 a day or $70 for a monthly pass.  And ten percent of their riders are students, many of whom wouldn’t be able to go to school if it weren’t for their bus passes.

Why electric buses?  “We want to reduce our use of fossil fuels and cut pollution,” says GBT General Manager Doug Holcomb. “It’s just the right thing to do.”  But finding the best electric bus hasn’t been easy.

The transit agency needed to do a lot of modeling looking at the length of their routes, the passenger loads and recharging times.  While GBT’s average bus drives about 250 miles in its 16 hour workday, there was no electric bus which could reach that range in local conditions.

Finally, they settled on a new 40 foot bus built by Proterra.  To be assembled in South Carolina and made with 75% US built parts, the first two buses should arrive by this spring, with three more coming later in the year. But they won’t be cheap.

Each electric bus, kitted out the way GBT wants them, will cost $970,000.  That compares to $630,000 for a hybrid bus and $460,000 for a traditional diesel.  The good news is that 80% of the cost will be paid by a Federal grant with the other 20% coming from the state.

Aside from being much quieter, these new electric buses will be an environmentalist’s delight.  Even factoring in the emissions from the additional utility generation of electricity to charge these buses, just two electric buses in the GBTA fleet will mean almost a half-million pounds less of CO2 in the environment.

The transit agency will also be buying less diesel fuel and expects to reduce its maintenance costs given the simplicity of the motors.  To handle the overnight charging the agency has had to make a significant upgrade in its Cross Street garage.  But that too is mostly being covered by Federal funds.

What will riders see in the new electric buses?  Comfy seats (but without padding to make cleaning them easier), a security surveillance system, USB charging ports at every seat and the all the ADA bells and whistles.

Even non-riders will benefit from the move to electric buses as diesel fumes have been linked to asthma and any reduction in that pollution is a positive.

CT Transit is also looking at electric buses for their New Haven and Stamford systems.  They have an RFP on the street now and with any luck will start approving bids for 12 buses by March.

Fittingly, the federal funds for these new CTtransit buses come from Connecticut's slice of the “Dieselgate” settlement with Volkswagen after the German carmaker was caught cheating on the emissions standards of its “clean diesel” cars." The state reportedly received $55.7 million and planned to spend $7.5 million on upgrading public services fleets.

Posted with permission of Hearst CT Media