Jim Cameron’s Transportation Column 2022

Violence on Mass Transit: Some Causes and Some Effects

Something Fishy About Bridgeport’s New Dock, Something Airy About It’s Plans for a Ferry

New Grand Central Madison Finally Open, at Quite a Cost

The Politicians and Bureaucrats Running State Transportation Policy Want to Keep Commuters in the Dark

This Proposed Competition on the Rails Might Help Amtrack Get Back on Track

Robert Moses, Let My People Alone — But Get Things Built!

Train Station Bathrooms Liberated in Darien; and a Snow Plowing Problem You Can Help With

Free Bus Rides to Continue Through March, But Expect Rail Fares to Go Up for Years to Come

Why Connecticut’s New Transportation Commissioner May Be the Perfect Guy for the Job

Metro-North Did Better Than Amtrak in Providing Trains This Thanksgiving Holiday

The Walk Bridge in Norwalk Didn’t Have To Be Replaced by Another Swing Bridge

Talking Transportation: Catching Up on This and That

MGM Grand, Hooters Air, Carnival and So Many Other Airlines: Gone With the Wind

Here’s a List of What Remains Wrong on Metro-North

Metro-North Does Some Important Things Right: Here’s What To Be Grateful For

Talking Transportation

By JIM CAMERON | February 27, 2023

Talking Transportation 2023

By JIM CAMERON | February 17, 2023

Cameron on Transportation

By JIM CAMERON | January 29, 2023

Cameron on Transportation

By JIM CAMERON | January 24, 2023

Talking Transportation 2023

By JIM CAMERON | January 19, 2023

Cameron on Transportation 2022

By JIM CAMERON | December 28, 2022

Cameron on Transportation

By JIM CAMERON | December 15, 2022

Cameron on Transportation

By JIM CAMERON | December 5, 2022

Talking Transportation 2022

By JIM CAMERON | November 28, 2022

Cameron on Transportation

By JIM CAMERON | November 24, 2022

Talking Transportation 2022

By JIM CAMERON | November 9, 2022

Talking Transportation 2022

By JIM CAMERON | October 30, 2022

Talking Transportation 2022

By JIM CAMERON | October 23, 2022

Talking Transportation

By JIM CAMERON | October 17, 2022

Cameron on Transportation 2022

By JIM CAMERON | October 10, 2022

TWU Transit Workers Union protestor against violence

“I’m going to cut your throat,” said the man wielding a knife and targeting a SEAT bus driver in New London who’d stepped off her vehicle for a quick break. The female driver jumped back on the bus, closed the doors and called the cops, who, minutes later, arrested the would-be attacker. This incident in late December is just one of many in Connecticut, New York City and nationwide in what is an increasing incidence of violence aimed at our mass transit workers. On Metro-North alone they were targets of 16 assaults and 14 harassments last year. Since 2019, the overall rate of violent crimes — murder, rape, felony assault and robbery — has more than doubled in the New York City subways even as ridership has decreased.

There must be something in the water. How else can we explain Bridgeport, our state’s largest city, and what goes on there? Bridgeport politics are infamous. The fact that they keep re-electing convicted felons to high office should tell you a lot. But on the transportation front the locals’ behavior is equally hard to understand.

Grand Central Madison, the new train station bored into the rock beneath Grand Central Terminal, is finally open. When it’s fully operational it’s expected to serve 160,000 daily Long Island Rail Road riders. And by freeing up space at Penn Station (once dominated by LIRR), some Metro-North trains will be able to terminate there instead of at GCT. As a friend from an engineering consultancy put it in social media, “This new station proves we CAN build great things (in the US).” Yeah … a decade late and 400% over budget. I hate always to be the cynic, but if we don’t understand our mistakes we’ll keep repeating (and over-paying for) them.

Jim Gildea Connecticut Rail Commuter Council

Why do the folks who run our commuter railroads act like their customers are stupid? Though desperate for ridership to return (to fight huge post-COVID deficits), they ignore legitimate commuter feedback and do everything they can to hide their failures. Case in point: the Commuter Rail Council, the independent watchdog group created by the Connecticut legislature almost 40 years ago, on which I served for 19 years. During the Malloy administration we were getting a bit too vocal in our complaints, so a senior Democrat warned me (and another Council member) to cool it or “your little Commuter Council will be written out of existence”. Sure enough, they tried, slipping a bill into the hopper to eliminate our group and its criticism.

In my last column I wrote about the amazing success of high speed rail in Europe based on cheaper fares and more frequent service than anything you’ll find on Amtrak, even on the Northeast Corridor. Another reason for their success is competition: the state-run railroad (SNCF) now competes against an Italian railroad even on its most popular domestic TGV routes. That’s led to a doubling of ridership and fares dropping by 17%. Many ask: why can’t Amtrak get some competition? Sure, they compete against the air shuttles (faster, but more expensive), buses (much cheaper and slower) and, of course, cars (also slower).

With the impending opening of the “new” Grand Central Madison rail station serving the Long Island Rail Road, an important milestone in the region’s transportation history will be made. And, in historical perspective, one man’s name comes to mind: Robert Moses. Awhile back when I gave a guest lecture to a group of urban planning graduate students at UConn, I made reference in the class to Robert Moses and these planners of our future just gave me a blank stare. “You do know who Robert Moses was, don’t you?” I asked. They did not.

Are you ready for winter? Got your supply of salt and sand, the old snow shovel dusted off, the snow blower gassed up and ready for fun? Well, the CDOT. our bus companies and commuter railroads are getting ready too. But there are challenges ahead.

Metro-North ticket machine closeup for square home page

There’s good news and bad news about mass transit fares. The good news is that buses in Connecticut will remain free until the end of March 2023 as part of the “gas tax holiday” extension approved this week by the Legislature. New Haven and Hartford city governments would like to see the free bus rides be made permanent, arguing that economically challenged residents deserve a break. Cost to taxpayers: $2.7 million a month. But for rail riders (who never enjoyed such a deal), you can expect to see fares increase in the years to come.

Garrett Eucalitto CDOT Commissioner close up

The Connecticut Department of Transportation (CDOT) is getting a new commissioner. After four years on the job, Joe Giulietti is retiring. Giulietti has spent more than 50 years in transportation, starting as a brakeman and conductor on the old Penn Central RR while still a student at Southern Connecticut State University. He graduated to road foreman and then assistant manager for operating rules before joining the new Metro-North in 1983 as superintendent of transportation. In 1998 he pulled up stakes and moved to Florida, where, for 14 years, he ran the Tri-Rail commuter rail system.

This week will be the busiest of the year for Amtrak as hundreds of thousands of Americans depend on the nation’s passenger railroad to get them to and from their Thanksgiving plans. If you don’t have train reservations by now, good luck. Every seat on every train will probably be taken, especially in the heavily traveled Northeast corridor and the New Haven to Springfield (and points north) service. You should anticipate delays and maybe even standing-room-only conditions. (By the way — only folding bicycles are allowed on Amtrak this holiday week.)

The question is why.

Imagine having to replace the George Washington Bridge, in-place, while still handling thousands of cars and trucks each day. The railroad equivalent of that is still underway in South Norwalk, replacing what’s known as the Walk Bridge, a vital rail link in the Northeast Corridor for Metro-North, Amtrak and the occasional freight train. We all remember the woes of this 125-year-old swing bridge that sometimes refuses to close, stranding thousands of riders. The 2017 plan to replace it includes $161 million in Federal Sandy relief money. But the total cost has ballooned from $600 million to over $1 billion (thanks to added rail yards and such) and again seems to be climbing… and the old bridge is still there.

It’s time to clean out my in-box of a bunch of transportation news items…

CT BUS RIDERSHIP HITS NEW RECORDS: Congratulations to Greater Bridgeport Transit for hitting a new record for ridership, higher even than pre-COVID: almost a half-million trips were taken in September. Of course, this surge in ridership coincides with free bus fares since April when the “gas tax holiday” went into effect. What happens Dec. 1 when that holiday is over remains to be seen. GBT’s other achievement is better productivity: They’re carrying more passengers per bus per hour than ever before.

Do you remember PEOPLExpress Airlines? How about NorthEast? Or Mohawk? These airlines of the past are what we call “fallen flags,” remembered, perhaps, but no longer in business, at least not under those names. The U.S. domestic airline industry is littered with such baggage of our traveling past and each one brings back memories of a time when flying was fun.

Last week I wrote a column that drew a few raised eyebrows. It was about what Metro-North gets right as a commuter railroad: reliability, improved communications and technology. If I believe in giving credit where it’s due, I also believe in responsibly pointing out the areas where things can still be improved, such as…

TRAINS STILL TOO SLOW: After the derailment in Bridgeport in 2013 the Federal Railroad Administration imposed slow orders for all trains on the New Haven mainline. That has meant a much slower ride, especially for passengers farther to the east. But since then positive train control (PTC) has been installed on all trains, so safety is all but guaranteed.

« October 2025 »

No, I don’t hate Metro-North. Yes, I do spend a lot of time criticizing them, but only to try to make them better. The railroad does have a lot of room for improvement: They botched the mask enforcement rules, have been slow to add more service and could really use some improvement in their on-board enforcement of the Quiet Car rules. But just so you know I’m not a complete grouch, let’s give the railroad credit for what they do right. Overall, especially compared to some other U.S. commuter railroads, Metro-North does a darned good job.