Jim Cameron 2017

Overnight ‘Sleeper’ Bus Service Has Started in California — Is It Coming to the East Coast?

Bring the Kids and See Railroad History Come Alive at Several CT Rail Museums: Cameron on Transportation

Adventures in Toll Collecting: From Woodstock’s Zonked to the Malodorous Chicken Truck

Trump Admin Cancels Plan to Test Truck Drivers, RR Engineers for Sleep Apnea: Cameron on Transportation

NJ’s No-Customer-Pumps-Gas Regulation and Other States’ — Cameron on Transportation

Relocate Rail Lines Next to I-95? Wrong, Wrong, Wrong: Cameron on Transportation

Ongoing Mess at Metro-North: Bad and Getting Worse: Cameron on Transportation

Check Out This Airline If You’re Going to France: Cameron on Transportation

Connecticut: Getting There and Back for Ages: Cameron on Transportation

It’s an Old Story: Owners of Transportation vs the Public Good: Cameron on Transportation

Public Private Parnerships: Care Needed, or the Public Gets Snookered: Cameron on Transportation

The Little-Changed Merritt: ‘Queen of the Parkways’ — Cameron on Transportation

What You Can Learn by Riding with a State Trooper on I-95: Cameron on Transportation

A Vehicle Miles Tax Is Needed to Maintain CT Roads: Cameron on Transportation

Avoid the Carnival of Errors When Replacing the Stamford Station Garage: Cameron on Transportation

Opinion

By JIM CAMERON | September 18, 2017

Opinion

By JIM CAMERON | September 10, 2017

News

By JIM CAMERON | September 3, 2017

Opinion

By JIM CAMERON | August 27, 2017

Opinion

By JIM CAMERON | August 20, 2017

Opinion

By JIM CAMERON | August 4, 2017

Opinion

By JIM CAMERON | July 30, 2017

Opinion

By JIM CAMERON | July 28, 2017

Transportation

By JIM CAMERON | July 14, 2017

Transportation

By JIM CAMERON | July 7, 2017

Transportation

By JIM CAMERON | July 1, 2017

Transportation

By JIM CAMERON | June 23, 2017

Opinion

By JIM CAMERON | June 18, 2017

Transportation

By JIM CAMERON | June 16, 2017

Opinion

By JIM CAMERON | May 30, 2017

We’ve all enjoyed a nap on Metro-North. The swaying action seems to induce a nodding-off, especially on the way home after a long day in the city. But it’s sleeping comfortably during long distance travel that seems like the holy grail for travelers. On overnight flights to Europe we’re envious of those business class folks with their lie-flat seats. And on Amtrak, even the comfiest reclining coach seat can’t compare with the beds in the sleeper — be it a one-person roomette or a deluxe bedroom.

If you’re looking for family fun before the summer ends, consider visiting one of Connecticut’s many museums celebrating our state’s rail heritage. — Darienite.com editor’s notes on current museum days of operation are in italics and within brackets below. The Shore Line Trolley Museum in East Haven was founded in 1945 and now boasts more than 100 trolley cars in its collection. It’s on the National Registry and is the oldest continuously operating trolley line in the U.S., still running excursion trolleys for three miles on tracks once used by the Connecticut Co. for its “F Line” from New Haven to Branford.

The new $3.9 billion Tappan Zee Bridge is now open to traffic. But already demolished is the site of my favorite summer job. For three summers during my college years in the 1960s, I worked as a toll collector for the New York State Thruway on the Tappan Zee Bridge and later at the New Rochelle toll barrier. It wasn’t the sexiest of gigs, but the pay was good and I sure learned a lot about people on the road. An elderly couple once stopped at my Tarrytown booth and asked: “which exit is Niagara Falls?” I reviewed my official NY Thruway Map (remember those?) and said, “That’s exit 50, sir.” Reassured they were heading in the right direction, they then asked, “Is that exit on the right or left?” I responded, “Bear right for 389 miles.

Your daily commute just became more dangerous, thanks to the president. In his zeal to kill unnecessary federal regulations, President Donald Trump has ordered the cancellation of a plan to require mandatory sleep apnea testing for truck drivers and railroad engineers. The Federal Railroad Administration and its sister agency covering truckers said they would still recommend testing but would not require it. Why? Perhaps it is the Trump administration’s campaign promise to cut two regulations for each new one imposed.

Did you ever wonder why you can’t pump your own gasoline in New Jersey? Self-serve has been the rule nationwide since the first pump-your-own gas station opened in 1947 in California. All gas stations had previously been full-service. In addition to filling your tank, “pump jockeys” checked your oil, water levels in your radiator and washed your windows — and maybe even gave you a set of free steak knives for your 35-cent-a-gallon purchase. Remember those good ol’ days?

It takes about four hours to travel nearly 820 miles in China by high-speed rail — averaging 200 mph — between Beijing and Shanghai. A 230-mile Amtrak ride from New York to Boston — averaging 65 mph — will take at least three and a half hours. Why the difference? The U.S. is a third-world nation when it comes to railroading. The tracks are old and full of curves compared to China’s modern, straight rail beds.

It’s not just the summer heat that’s causing an operational meltdown at the MTA, parent agency of Metro-North and the NYC subways. It’s the years of neglect, under-funding and misplaced priorities that are taking a toll on our vital transit infrastructure. And it’s only going to get worse, as the president of Metro-North has chosen to retire, long before his work is done. Hardly a day goes by without delays on Metro-North caused by “wires down,” signal problems, stuck bridges, poor track conditions or even the occasional “minor derailment.” The work crews just can’t keep up with the aging equipment and commuters are justifiably angry about paying high fares for worsening service. The New York city subway system is in such crisis that Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently declared a state of emergency, finding $1 billion in investment and even offering a $1 million “genius prize” to anyone who can come up with a solution to improve service.

I hate to fly. It’s crowded, uncomfortable, stressful and inhuman. But my perspective has changed since a recent round-trip flight on La Compagnie — an all business-class “boutique” airline — for a vacation in France. Founded as “Dreamjet” in 2013, this French-owned airline has only two planes and flies twice a day to Paris from Newark, N.J. But its 757s are unlike any you’ve ever flown, carrying only 74 passengers on planes usually crammed with 200-plus coach seats. As an all business-class operation, each seat on La Compagnie is 26 inches wide with 60 inches — five feet — of leg room.

You think commuting is a modern phenomenon? Guess again. “Getting there” (to work) is as old as our state. As early as 1699, Connecticut had roads laid out on routes we still use today. While the roads are now lined with trees, most of southern Fairfield County was cleared during the mid-1700s for farming.

What do Connecticut’s P.T. Barnum and The Commuter Action Group have in common? Both have been rail activists, fighting for the interests of commuters. This amazing piece of news about Barnum, a man better known for his circus and menageries, came to me while watching a speech at the Old State House in Hartford. The speaker was Kathy Maher, executive director and curator of the Barnum Museum. She explained Barnum was more than a showman.

Overshadowed by the James Comey commotion, President Donald Trump has finally released his plans for a trillion-dollar infrastructure initiative. And it’s as disappointing as it is confusing. There is no doubt the nation needs to spend to repair its roads, bridges, airports and railways. But where is the money? With a Republican-dominated Congress reluctant to spend any new funds, there are few options for the government to find the money.

Remaining unchanged is sometimes a good thing. After all, Connecticut is the “land of steady habits.”

Those were my thoughts one day driving through the spring foliage on The Merritt — “Queen of the Parkways.” What an amazing road. A century ago, Route 1 — Post Road — was the only way to drive between New York and Boston. If you think traffic is bad now, imagine that journey. So in 1936, two thousand men began working on the state’s largest public works project — the $21 million four-lane parkway starting in Greenwich and running to the Housatonic River in Stratford.

Shawn Mansfield drives Interstate 95 for a living, occasionally at 120 miles an hour. Five days a week, you’ll find him in his super-charged muscle car, sipping a coffee and listening to his FM radio, driving up and down the highway starting at 5:30 a.m.

Mansfield is a Connecticut state trooper. “I love my job,” he told me during a recent ride-along in his unmarked car as I was squeezed next to his on-board computer and wearing an under-sized bullet-proof vest. Mansfield has been a trooper for nearly three years following a stint as a corrections officer and six years in the U.S. Navy, including a deployment to Afghanistan. “Six years in the Navy and I was never on a ship,” he said as we raced down the interstate en route to an accident.

This late in the General Assembly’s calendar, the Legislature seems as dysfunctional as ever. Rome is burning and our leaders are just fiddling around. Only seven bills have passed and been signed into law compared to an average 275 in recent years. Lawmakers debate such crucial issues as bear hunting, playground surfacing and dairy cows, while our roads and rail repairs remain unfunded. While it looks like long-debated reinstatement of tolls may happen this session, another potential funding mechanism has been killed before it was even studied, let alone debated.

« August 2022 »

The state Department of Transportation is back again with another proposal to demolish the old parking garage at Stamford’s train station and replace it with a new facility. After the embarrassment of the first transit-oriented development (TOD) effort, which languished for more than three years before being killed, let’s hope they learned their lessons. Commuters want a new garage where the existing one stands, right across the street from the train station, not a quarter-mile away. But the state DOT insists the land is “too valuable” and should be developed for public gain. Ignoring the public and city officials

There was zero public input last time on state DOT proposals.