Opinion
Jim Cameron Jim Cameron 8-2-16

Metro-North Hasn’t Enforced Quiet Car Rules, But They’re Expanding Quiet Cars

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What happens when a good idea goes bad? Consider Metro-North’s quiet car initiative. Sixteen years ago, a group of regular commuters on Amtrak’s early morning train to D.C. had an idea: Why not designate one car on the train as a “quiet car,” free from cellphone chatter and loud conversations? The railroad agreed, and the experiment proved a great success. Now all Amtrak trains in the Northeast Corridor have a quiet car.

Opinion
Train Winter

For Winter Travel, Stay Safe and Avoid Headaches: Cameron on Transportation

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With the arrival of winter, now is the time to be sure you’re ready to stay mobile, whatever Mother Nature may throw at us. Here are a few tips:
For Your Car
Get your car’s battery checked. If it is weak or the terminals are corroded, you won’t be able to start your car, especially in cold conditions. New batteries are worth the investment, if only for the peace of mind. Check your tires.

Opinion
Jim Cameron Jim Cameron 8-2-16

More M8 Train Cars on the Horizon, But It’ll Take a While — Cameron on Transportation

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Riders on Metro-North just got an early holiday gift from the railroad and the state Department of Transportation — a bright, shiny new train set. It’s not a toy, but real! We’ve been promised 94 more M8 rail cars! And just in time (though they won’t start arriving until 2019). We’ve been enjoying the new M8 cars since their introduction in 2011 and they have proved highly reliable.

Opinion
Jim Cameron Jim Cameron 8-2-16

How to Slow Down Traffic in Residential Neighborhoods: Cameron on Transportation

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You’ve seen the signs in many neighborhoods, “Drive like your kids lived here” or “Slow down in town.” They’re probably as effective as bumper stickers that say “Drive now, Text later,” in other words, not very. In our own neighborhoods we want everyone to chill behind the wheel. But when we are driving in someone else’s area, it’s pedal to the metal, the kids be damned. When the major roads are jammed, quicker shortcuts through the back roads seem attractive, often at higher speeds than may be safe. First of all, why is it that kids are playing in the streets anyway when they have perfectly good lawns and nearby parks?

Opinion
Jim Cameron Jim Cameron 8-2-16

Cameron on Transportation: Pay Your Fare Even When the Conductor Doesn’t Ask — or You’re Shoplifting

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Imagine you’re in a store and you see somebody shoplifting. You’re embarrassed to say anything or to make a scene, but inside you’re ticked-off. You pay for your merchandise, so why should that guy get it for free? And if he’s ripping off the store, doesn’t the merchant actually make you pay more to make up for that loss? It’s morally wrong and it’s just not fair.

Opinion
Jim Cameron Jim Cameron 8-2-16

Don’t Blame the Trucks for I-95 Congestion: Cameron on Transportation

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When it comes to our horrendous traffic, especially on I-95, everybody wants to find blame with someone other than themselves. “Who are these people and why are they driving now, on “my” road?” they ask. The easiest scapegoats are trucks: those behemoths that lumber along in the right and center lanes (because they are not allowed to drive in the left-hand lane). But I suggest that it’s not trucks that are responsible for our traffic. It’s the rest of us in our single-occupancy vehicles (SOVs).

Opinion
Jim Cameron Jim Cameron 8-2-16

Talking Transportation: Bikes on the Train

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Days before the CDOT opens public hearings on proposed 5% fare increase on Metro-North, Governor Malloy held a media event to promote good news about “improved service” on our highest-fares-in-the-nation railroad. What? A return of the bar cars? More seats on crowded trains? No, nothing that monumental: just a new e-ticketing app and word that bike racks have been installed on our trains.

Arts & Entertainment
SoNo Switch Tower Museum 8-15-16

Talking Transportation: Take a Daytrip and Ride Connecticut’s Rail History

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If you’re looking for family fun this summer, consider visiting one of Connecticut’s many living museums celebrating our rail heritage:

The Shore Line Trolley Museum in East Haven was founded in 1945 and now boasts more than one hundred trolley cars in its collection. It still runs excursion trolleys for a short run on tracks once used by The Connecticut Company for its “F Line” from New Haven to Branford. You can walk thru the car barns and watch volunteers painstakingly restoring the old cars. There’s also a small museum exhibit and gift shop. The Connecticut Trolley Museum in East Windsor began in 1940, making it the oldest trolley museum in the U.S. It too was started on an existing right-of-way, the Rockville branch of the Hartford & Springfield Street Railway Company.