Cameron on Transportation 2022
Robert Moses

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

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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.

Cameron on Transportation
Metro-North ticket machine closeup for square home page

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

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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.

Talking Transportation 2022
Garrett Eucalitto CDOT Commissioner close up

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

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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.

Cameron on Transportation
Acela tunnel Amtrak

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

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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.

Talking Transportation 2022
Old Walk Bridge Nancy on Norwalk

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

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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.

Talking Transportation 2022
Greater Bridgeport Transit bus

Talking Transportation: Catching Up on This and That

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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.

Talking Transportation 2022

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

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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.

Talking Transportation
Metro Man Metro-North trains railroad

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

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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.

Cameron on Transportation 2022
Valentine Train flowers

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

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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.

Talking Transportation 2022
Old Saybrook Railroad Station Old Saybrook Train Station

What If You Could Take a Train to Mystic and Make a Quick Connection to the Casinos?

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Imagine taking a train — a one-seat ride — all the way from Grand Central Terminal to the sandy shores of Mystic. Or connecting there for a quick run up to the Indian casinos. Such a thing should be possible and may yet happen — if Shore Line East gets its act together. Shore Line East is the state-owned commuter line from New Haven to Old Saybrook opened in 1990 in anticipation of heavy traffic delays on I-95 during reconstruction of the Q Bridge. Initially it was only rush-hour service, west to New Haven in the morning and back east in the evening.

Talking Transportation 2022

More Deaths and More Aggressive Driving on Our Highways: Something Must Be Done

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What the heck is going on with our highways — and why is nobody talking about it? Did you know that 20,000 Americans died on our roadways in the first half of this year, and that that number has been increasing since the pandemic? Have you noticed how aggressive drivers have become in the past year? Or how much speeding is going on, unchallenged? Why is traffic getting so bad, all day long, on our interstates and parkways?

Cameron on Buses 2022
AAA Mature Driving Course AAA Northeast

Talking Transportation: The Effort to Keep Seniors Mobile When They Stop Driving

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When you think of the AARP, the American Association of Retired Persons, you probably conjure up thoughts of senior discounts, health insurance and retirement. So it might surprise you to learn that they’re also actively engaged in driver safety and promoting access to mass transit. The statistics on these issues they shared with me are quite interesting. By 2025 a quarter of all drivers in the U.S. will be over age 65. And while seniors are involved in more accidents per capita than younger adults, they are far safer than teens.

Cameron on Railroads
Metro-North railroad train car New Haven Line

A Homeowner Describes the Noise Living Close to the Train Tracks

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A couple of weeks ago I wrote a column about NIMBYs, the “Not In My Backyard” crowd that moves to a home near the train, airport or highway and then complains about the noise. I received a very thoughtful reply from one reader which I’d like to share, in edited form, to give us all a different perspective on this issue of housing vs. transportation:

“I write this as someone who lives 500 feet from the Waterbury (train) branch, who gets regularly blasted by the train whistle. The situation is not as simple as someone moved next to the train and then complained about it. Sometimes people make decisions to live somewhere based on what they can afford.

Cameron on Transportation
1908 Easter postcard 3-23-16

If Wishes Were Horses … Maybe We’d Have Better Transportation

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Simple problems require simple solutions. And when it comes to solving our transportation woes, we consumers always wonder whey “they” can’t fix things quickly by doing what seems obvious and simple. Consider the following questions I’m often asked:
OUR TRAINS:
Why can’t they make the bathrooms on the trains stink less? Why can’t we have heat in the winter and AC in the summer, instead of vice versa? Why can’t conductors enforce the MTA’s mask rules instead of hiding from passengers?