Darien Library
Jim Cameron Jim Cameron 8-2-16

‘Off the Rails’ — Jim Cameron on CT’s Transportation Future: Online Darien Library Talk at 7 PM, Tuesday

By |
Download PDF

What is the future for transportation in Connecticut post-COVID? Will ridership ever return to Metro-North? How will we pay for our highways with dwindling gasoline tax revenues? What will all of this mean to local property values and taxes? Transportation Guru Jim Cameron will address these questions and more in a virtual talk, “Off The Rails: The Future of Transportation in CT” for the Darien Library on Tuesday Sept 8 at 7 p.m.

Cameron is the author of the weekly newspaper commentary “Getting There” and has served as a commuter advocate for over 25 years.

Cameron on Transportation
Jim Cameron Jim Cameron 8-2-16

What Can You Do With an Empty Parking Lot? — Cameron on Transportation

By |
Download PDF

There’s another part of our transportation network being seriously affected by COVID-19 beyond our roads and rails: parking lots. Parking is something we take for granted, giving us access to rail stations, shopping and offices. It’s hardly glamorous, but the parking industry represents an $11 billion business nationwide, one third of it privately owned. In Connecticut most rail station parking is owned by the Connecticut DOT but administered by the local towns, each of which sets its own rates and terms. The money collected from commuters is supposed to be spent on station upkeep and amenities while the state takes its share. Pre-COVID, the demand for rail station parking was so high that some Fairfield County towns had five-year waiting lists for annual permits.

Cameron on Transportation
Jim Cameron Jim Cameron 8-2-16

The Problem With CT’s Preparation for Massive Storms Goes Way Beyond Eversource: Cameron on Transportation

By |
Download PDF

Welcome to Connecticut, the home of third world infrastructure. Tropical storm Isaias has shown, once again, that we don’t want to invest in our state’s physical plant and we don’t learn from our mistakes. But we are all so ready to blame somebody else when stuff goes wrong. Every time a Metro-North train pulls down old catenary (overhead power lines), commuters scream, “Where are the replacement buses?” as if a fleet of buses is kept on permanent standby waiting for such strandings. If we did better maintenance on the trains and wires, such accidents might not happen.

Cameron on Transportation
Jim Cameron Jim Cameron 8-2-16

How Connecticut Officials Look at Fare Prices for Trains vs Buses: Cameron on Transportation

By |
Download PDF

Ridership on Metro-North is still down 85% from pre-pandemic levels, but in-state bus ridership is coming back — up to 70% of normal from a March low of 40%. Why the difference? Because bus riders and rail riders are very different. Surveys by CDOT and Metro-North showed the average income of a Metro-North rider was about $150,000, given that many were living in affluent Fairfield County towns and commuting to good paying jobs in New York City. Bus riders are predominantly working class, urban dwellers who make less money and, in many cases don’t own cars.

Cameron on Transportation
Jim Cameron Jim Cameron 8-2-16

In Praise of Oz Griebel, Who Successfully Pushed the State to Get M8 Rail Cars: Cameron on Transportation

By |
Download PDF

Every commuter on Metro-North owes a tremendous debt of gratitude to one man: Oz Griebel. He is the reason we can ride the new M8 rail cars. Much has been written since Oz’s passing (at age 71) recently from an auto accident while jogging, especially about his two unsuccessful runs for governor. I remember distinctly in the debates with Bob Stefanowski and Ned Lamont how Griebel would take off his suit jacket, roll up his sleeves and jump into the fray. His energy and passion were electrifying.

Footer Featured Widget
CTtransit bus on Facebook July 1, 2020 post

Electric Buses Coming to CTtransit in This Area, State Announces, But Not Many

By |
Download PDF

The Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) has been awarded a $6.7 million federal grant to modernize the CTtransit bus facility in Stamford. The modernizing project will provide accommodations for battery electric buses, which will soon be used on the system, which covers Stamford, Darien and some other towns. The state is buying a dozen electric buses for CTtransit in the Stamford and New Haven areas. The grant comes from the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Buses and Bus Facilities Program. “Connecticut’s public transit system is long overdue for a modernization, and this grant will help in our transition to an electric bus fleet on the CTtransit system, which will provide both environmental and economic benefits to the region,” Gov. Ned Lamont said.

Cameron on Transportation
Jim Cameron Jim Cameron 8-2-16

China Moving Ahead of U.S. on Roads, Rails, Shipping: Cameron on Transportation

By |
Download PDF

Which is the number one country in the world for transportation? Certainly not the United States. Not even countries in the E.U. No, you have to look farther east, as Marco Polo did in 1271, to find the future — in China. I’m so tired of ignorant Americans chanting “We’re Number 1,” when we are not. Not in healthcare, education and clearly not when it comes to using transportation to bolster our world trade.

Cameron on Transportation
Jim Cameron Jim Cameron 8-2-16

CT Legislature — Not Doing Their Lawmaking Job, But Beware When They Do: Cameron on Transportation

By |
Download PDF

Where the heck has the Connecticut legislature been for the past few months? With so many pressing issues, why haven’t they met? Oh, they’ll tell you it’s because of safety that they couldn’t convene. But we know better. Plenty of state legislatures — even the U.S. House of Representatives — have carried on the people’s business virtually or well-masked while our pols went AWOL.

Cameron on Transportation
Metro-North train railroad cleaning COVID-19 2020 Coronavirus 2020

We’ll Still Need Metro-North, and We’ll Need It To Be Safe: Cameron on Transportation

By |
Download PDF

As New York City businesses reopens it’s expected that one million people will get back to work, some of them from Connecticut. But how they get to those jobs is the big question. While I’ve written for weeks that I expect many Nutmeggers will opt first for their personal automobiles, the resulting traffic mess will soon have them reconsidering a return to Metro-North and the city’s subways. The big issue, of course, is keeping everyone safe by maintaining social distancing and requiring face masks for all riders. More Trains and Subways

Metro-North has already expanded rush hour service by 26% over their scaled-back “essential service” levels.

Opinion
Jim Cameron Jim Cameron 8-2-16

‘I’m Desperate for a Reason To Be Bullish on Mass Transit … I Don’t See Any’: Cameron on Transportation

By |
Download PDF

When coronavirus hit us this spring, more than just our normal rail commuting patterns were disrupted. One young entrepreneur’s business simply imploded, but now he’s coming back, stronger than before. Joe Colangelo is founder and CEO of Boxcar, the New Jersey-based company that bills itself as the “Airbnb of parking,” matching commuters with empty parking spots near train stations in Stamford, Darien, New Canaan and Stratford. Before COVID-19, his business was red hot. But by early March he knew it was doomed as people stopped commuting and demand for parking evaporated.

Transportation
Stand here social distancing Metro-North

Metro-North Increases Train Service as More Passengers Return: Here’s What’s Changed

By |
Download PDF

Effective Monday, June 15, Metro-North Railroad has increased train service on the Hudson, Harlem, and New Haven Lines. The increase in service is due to a steady growth in ridership in response to the Phase 1 reopening in New York state. — an announcement from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority

The new schedule will provide a 115% increase in peak service from the May 27 schedule, with several trains added in the morning and afternoon peak periods. We will continue to provide hourly service during off-peak periods, on middays, evenings, late nights, weekends and holidays. SEE ALSO: ‘I’m Desperate for a Reason To Be Bullish on Mass Transit … I Don’t See Any’: Cameron on Transportation (June 15)

During this special schedule, off-peak fares will continue to be in effect.

Opinion
Jim Cameron Jim Cameron 8-2-16

Is Regular Commuting Into Manhattan Dead? The Governor Thinks So: Cameron on Transportation

By |
Download PDF

Post-coronavirus, Gov. Ned Lamont predicts the end of daily commuting as we know it. Lamont told Bloomberg that his New York business buddies tell him they’re saving so much money by having people work from their homes they may cut office space in the city by 30 percent. “The old idea of the commuter going into New York City five days a week may be an idea that’s behind us,” Lamont said. “Maybe you have a great job that seems to be geographically located in New York City, you can do it two-thirds of the time from your home in Stamford.”
Or maybe you don’t need to ever go into the city. Twitter has told its tech workers they can work from home forever, assuming they can stand it. That means more time with the family and a lot less time and money spent on the train.

Transportation
Metro-North train railroad cleaning COVID-19 2020 Coronavirus 2020

Metro-North Increases Train Service by 26%

By |
Download PDF

Effective Wednesday, May 27, Metro-North is increasing service on the Hudson, Harlem and New Haven Lines as the Mid-Hudson region is expected to begin Phase 1 of reopening. — an announcement from Metro-North (with non-New-Haven-Line information removed)

The expanded service represents an overall increase of 26% in peak train availability since our essential service went into effect on April 13. Metro-North will also have 14 protect trains strategically positioned at major facilities to operate additional service as may be necessary. You can access the amended schedule online at New.MTA.Info. For train times, and real-time arrival and departure times on your phone, download TrainTime.

Opinion
Jim Cameron Jim Cameron 8-2-16

About UPS, Now More Important During the Pandemic: Cameron on Transportation

By |
Download PDF

You know those big brown trucks that are keeping us well-delivered during this time of COVID-19? Well, there’s some interesting history and tech to United Parcel Service, or UPS. Founded as the American Messenger Company in Seattle in 1907, the company made most of its deliveries back then to stores, not customers, and made them on foot or by bicycle. Adding a Model T to their fleet in 1913, the company started serving neighborhoods. By 1930 the company expanded to most cities in the East and Midwest, adding delivery by airline cargo partnerships to their modes of transportation.