“Talking Transportation”
By Jim Cameron
President
CAMERON COMMUNICATIONS INC
Author: “Off The Record: Confessions of a Media Consultant“
Let’s give Metro-North our kudos for some innovative tech to improve passenger comfort: a new QR code in each train bathroom to allow customers to report any problems.
Bathroom dirty? Too stinky? No soap or paper towels? Just open your smartphone, access that bathroom’s unique QR code and send in your report. You can even add pictures. Knowing exactly which bathroom (by train car number) needs attention, a cleaning crew can be swiftly dispatched to make things right.
In the first week of the program Metro-North says they got 34 reports on bathrooms, 16 of them positive. The complaints were “addressed quickly” says the railroad. Mind you, the newish M8 cars on the mainline seem to have many fewer bathroom problems than on the older cars where you’d need a hazmat suit to “go”.
You might even remember the story from 20+ years ago of the commuter who said he lost his cellphone down the John and, when he tried to retrieve it, got his arm stuck up to the elbow. Trains were delayed and it took the jaws of life to set him free. But no phone was ever found… not that you’d want to put that up to your face after it took that dunk.
In other good news… service on Shore Line East (the rail line that runs from New Haven to New London) is slowly returning, as is ridership. With the new fall timetables now in effect; four new trains have been added including through-service to Stamford without a change of trains.
Susan Feaster of the Shore Line East Riders’ Advocacy Group credits the new service to her group’s lobbying of local politicians who fought hard for more funding and scored an additional $5 million in the last session. Still, even with the new trains, this railroad is only at 50% of the service offered pre-COVID.
“Ours is not a ‘seasonal train’ as CDOT Commissioner Eucalitto recently claimed,” she told me. “Shore Line communities deserve full train service and we’re ready to fight for it in the next legislative session.”
Speaking of organized transit lobbying…
We’re in the home stretch of the November election campaigning so now is the time to keep transportation funding top of mind for candidates. As you attend your local League of Women Voters debates, ask questions of those who’d represent you. Get them on the record on how to get mass transit the money it deserves.
Don’t know what to ask? Try one of these questions:
- Whatever happened to Governor Lamont’s promise to speed up the trains, offering 60 min run-times from New Haven to Grand Central?
- Why does Metro-North refuse to restore the popular Quiet Cars?
- Why is there still no Wi-Fi on Metro-North despite $23 million in special funding to CDOT to make it happen?
And when you ask the candidates, listen for specific answers, not platitudes. And then vote accordingly.
Jim Cameron is founder of the Commuter Action Group and advocates for Connecticut rail riders. His weekly column “Talking Transportation” is archived here. You can contact Jim at [email protected].”
