Jim Cameron 2018

Strategies for Getting the Right Airline Seat, or Any Seat on Metro-North: Cameron on Transportation

Jim Cameron Speaks to Greenwich Audience About CT’s Transportation Funding Crisis

How Uber and Lyft Are Disrupting the Taxi Industry in CT and NYC: Cameron on Transportation

State Legislators Hold Ultimate Responsibility for Funding, Improving Roads and Rails: Cameron on Transportation

Big Brother Looking Over Your Shoulder as You Travel — Cameron on Transportation

Where an American Railroad Is Making a Profit: Cameron on Transportation

Buses Popular with College Students and Not Just for the Poor: Cameron on Transportation

No Free Ride: Connecticut Needs Tolls and Gas Taxes: Cameron on Transportation

Hudson River Rail Tunnels Shoulda, Coulda Been Done By Now: Cameron on Transportation

Don’t Blame Gov for Transport Project Delays, Blame the Legislature: Cameron on Transportation

Predictions for Roads, Rails and Air Transport in 2018: Cameron on Transportation

Look! Up in the Air!! And on the Train!!! Another Disruptive Passenger!!!! — Cameron on Transportation

How My Transportation Predictions for 2017 Worked Out: Cameron on Transportation

CT’s Prospects Get Ever Darker for Transport Funding, Even for Maintenance and Plowing: Cameron on Transportation

Opinion

By JIM CAMERON | April 19, 2018

Government & Politics

By JOSHUA LITTMAN | March 31, 2018

Opinion

By JIM CAMERON | March 28, 2018

Opinion

By JIM CAMERON | March 21, 2018

Opinion

By JIM CAMERON | March 19, 2018

Opinion

By JIM CAMERON | March 15, 2018

Opinion

By JIM CAMERON | March 9, 2018

Government & Politics

By JIM CAMERON | February 25, 2018

Opinion

By David Gurliacci | February 11, 2018

Opinion

By JIM CAMERON | February 7, 2018

Opinion

By JIM CAMERON | January 21, 2018

Opinion

By JIM CAMERON | January 14, 2018

Opinion

By JIM CAMERON | January 7, 2018

Opinion

By JIM CAMERON | January 2, 2018

It was the British folks at the Cunard cruise line who said: “Getting there is half the fun.”

Crossing the Atlantic in style on an ocean liner certainly was great, but whatever your mode of transportation, getting the right seat can make for an enjoyable or miserable trip. On Metro-North, I usually go for a window seat. However, on crowded trains, any seat is better than none. But I can still get an “upgrade” if I pay attention. Heading into New York, I watch for people getting off the train in Stamford.

The transportation in Connecticut is, to be blunt, in dire straits, commuter advocate Jim Cameron of Darien recently told a Greenwich audience. He also discussed possible solutions. Transportation costs in Connecticut are funded by the state government’s Special Transportation Fund, Cameron said in a talk given at Riverside Yacht Club on Wednesday in a presentation sponsored by the League of Women Voters in Greenwich. Like everything else in the Connecticut government, however, the STF is running out of money. — This article, in slightly different form, originally was published by Greenwich Free Press.

Many people these days love Uber (and other ride-sharing services like Lyft). But what’s the real cost of this business-disrupting technology? Connecticut’s taxis have long been regulated by the state Department of Transportation. Now they are on a more level playing field with ride-sharing companies, thanks to new regulations. Insurance is required, passengers must be picked up and delivered anywhere without discrimination, drivers undergo mandatory background checks, there’s a limit on “surge pricing,” and drivers must collect 25 cents per ride, which goes into the nearly bankrupt Special Transportation Fund.

I’ve been criss-crossing the state for weeks, talking to folks about our transportation crisis: The proposed fare hikes on trains and buses coupled with service cuts on the branch lines, and the state Department of Transportation’s multi-billion dollar spending cuts. I call it the “winter of our discontent” magical misery tour. From Woodbridge to New Canaan, and Old Lyme to West Haven, I’ve talked to crowds large and small, explaining what’s going to happen on July 1. Most folks knew something about our impending doom, but they all left unhappy about the cuts’ specific impact on their lives. Like the first selectwoman from Old Lyme who said taxpayers were going to have to spend $600,000 repairing a local bridge because, for the third year in a row, the state DOT doesn’t have enough money to share with municipalities.

Don’t look now, but someone is joining your travels: Big Brother. You assume you’re alone, traveling in your car to and from work, but you are actually being watched. All along Interstate 95, there are TV cameras are looking for accidents and slowdowns. Though there are specific state laws prohibiting the use of those cameras to write speeding tickets, they can follow your car by model, color and license plate number. Many local police cruisers have license plate readers, scanning every plate and sending its information to a national database that can alert the officer of outstanding warrants, lack of insurance and other stoppable offenses.

Cropped brightline BBT609 on Flickr via Wcommons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BrightLine_Inaugural_Run.jpg

There has not been a profitable passenger railroad in the United States. Amtrak and commuter lines like Metro-North operate at a loss as a public service, their deficits borne by tax dollars. But that changed last month with the launch of Brightline, a privately owned, for-profit passenger railroad in Florida. Running between Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, the railroad is owned by Fortress Investment Group. The group has ties to Florida East Coast Railways, which owns the freight tracks that the new passenger trains will use.

It might not be the most glamorous means of mass transit, but Connecticut’s 12,000-plus local and commuter buses form a vital link in our transportation network. “We’re not just a service for the needy few,” said Greater Bridgeport Transit’s CEO Doug Holcomb, the feisty young leader of one of the state’s largest and most successful bus systems.

In other words, single-occupancy car drivers’ perceptions notwithstanding, it’s not just poor folks and the car-less who rely on the bus. According to Holcomb, 90 percent of GBT’s ridership is either going to school or work. Like rail commuters, some bus passengers own cars, but prefer to take the bus for various reasons. Each of GBT’s 40-foot buses average 30 passengers an hour, an impressive number when you consider it includes rush hour and lower-ridership times.

Am I the only person in the state who thinks Gov. Dannel Malloy’s plan for tolls and gas taxes makes sense? Probably. But let me try once again to overcome the usual objections and myths and explain why Malloy’s plan is fair and necessary. Tolls are taxes

No, tolls are user fees. Train fares aren’t taxes, are they?

It should have been done by now: 2018 was the expected completion year of the new railroad tunnels under the Hudson River. When it was proposed in 2009, the $9 billion project was the biggest infrastructure initiative in the country. Now it’s just a footnote to history. Why do rail tunnels from New York’s Penn Station to New Jersey matter to us here in Connecticut? Because they are the weakest but most crucial link in the Northeast corridor, the $50 billion heart of the U.S. economy.

Fare hikes, rail service cuts and a freeze on transportation projects. As he promised in December, Gov. Dannel Malloy announced them all last month. Rail commuters and highway drivers are understandably outraged, but they should direct their anger not at the governor or the state Department of Transportation, but instead at the Legislature. Why now? This funding crisis has been years in the making, exacerbated 20 years ago when lawmakers’ political pandering saw them lower the gasoline tax.

I recently reviewed my transportation predictions for 2017 and gave myself a B+ for a final grade. Not bad for a guy who doesn’t even own a crystal ball. This week, I’m doubling down on some predictions and offering a few new ones. So tuck this column away and give me a prognostication grade this time next year. Metro-North

Commutes: You’re not going to like this one.

We’ve seen a number of reports lately about “disruptive passengers” forcing a plane to divert after exhibiting some sort of frightening behavior. Imagine being along for the ride when something like this happens:

—An Air Canada flight to Tel Aviv lands in London after a female passenger starts randomly choking people on board. She is restrained in-flight and arrested upon landing. —A Southwest Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Houston detours to Corpus Christi, Texas, after a woman tries to open the emergency exit door mid-flight. Seen before departure screaming at people in the terminal, passengers wondered why she was allowed to board the plane.

This is the time of year when some commentators kick back and do end-of-the-year wrap up stories, as if you haven’t been paying attention for the past 12 months. Bah, humbug. I don’t review the past… I predict the future! So let’s review my prognostications as published one year ago and see how good my crystal ball really was. Metro-North

I said the new M8 cars would perform well, which they did.

« August 2022 »

Fare increases, reduced train service, less highway snowing plowing, postponed construction. All of these and more are on the horizon, say Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and the Connecticut DOT because our Special Transportation Fund is running dry. I hate to say I told you so, but …

We’ve been talking about this issue for years and our lawmakers have done nothing. In fact, they’ve hastened this transportation Armageddon by their own short-sighted political pandering. Remember in 1997 when the Legislature lowered the gasoline tax by 14 cents a gallon?