Cape Flyer

Here is a link to a Cape Cod Times letter written by my friend last week. In 1958 they did it better on jointed rail!

Speeds were 60 MPH Boston to Braintree, 79 MPH Braintree to Buzzards Bay and59 MPH on the cape.

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs. ... /408060303" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

By way of the CSR at Hyannis this afternoon.
From Boston
Fri night---210
Sat.morn---270

bmvguye39 wrote:Hopefully patronage and service level offerings will continue to grow and improve! Extended service to Woods Hole would be an eventual ideal and maximize point to point connectivity for those going from the city direct to the islands. AND, it will always beat the 8-10 mile backups!

I found it Interesting in that WCVB put up a Facebook post about today's traffic backup (Rte 25 - 6 mi. to the Bourne and Rte 3 - 4 mi. to the Sagamore) one of the comments posted was asking for this.

bmvguye39 wrote:Extended service to Woods Hole would be an eventual ideal and maximize point to point connectivity for those going from the city direct to the islands.

it's not like there will be any fuss about digging up the bikeway between North Falmouth and Woods Hole... eventually

GP40MC #1119 leading South, F40PH-2C #1074 leading North

Saturday Aug.9 ... drive to Cape at 1pm on rt 25 was a 10 mile back up to the Bourne Bridge---the worst I have ever experienced to the Bridge!

Came back on the 630pm Flyer and it was great...... the snack bar flat and one bilevel open were very crowded--so final numbers have to be decent for this Sat return -nice crew and great to see a crowd on a Sat evening. And departure building clean and spacious and welcoming. Train emergency braked at crossing just before Wareham Village as some nitwit was on the tracks illegally---no one hurt and cops there. People are catching on that parking is free and plentiful at Wareham Village since about 25 people got off and into their cars. and the Bike Car ( 221?) had quite a few bikes in it. btw MBB car 502 still sitting in Hyannis yard

Some thoughts/concerns:
-----This service is SOO IN NEED of more publicity./ customer service and an assurance that buses will meet the train or wait for it .Seems like some are skeptical they will have connections missed from around the Cape
-----Keolis needs to address clean trains IMMEDIATELY...bilevel 919 had smudged windows and one filthy bathroom filled with trash on departure after sitting all day in yard and no place to throw trash in car....Not a good impression for riders. Flyer should provide a trash can in each passenger car. Snack car could use some attention and sprucing too in food area ....2 young servers sitting on top the the stand and fridge talking dont give the impression they are eager to serve...better food and beverage signs would help as would some announcements from staff or crew that snack service is ready and what is being served.

-----Maybe someone can comment on why the refurbished MBB 500 cars are not yet in service.??? Keolis holding this up? This train needs its own cars and start establishing an identity

Overall, there was a multi age crowd who really socialized and enjoyed the trip

dowlingm wrote:

bmvguye39 wrote:Extended service to Woods Hole would be an eventual ideal and maximize point to point connectivity for those going from the city direct to the islands.

it's not like there will be any fuss about digging up the bikeway between North Falmouth and Woods Hole... eventually

If a platform was built at the end of the line, where the bikeway starts, people could take the train to Falmouth and ride their bike to Woods Hole. I've mentioned it before: a small platform at Monument Beach. People can jump off the train and they are literally on the beach.

As much of a pipe-dream this may be, and I said it a lot last year.... I can totally see Hyannis's economy sky rocket if they continue to expand rail service, and the Town of Falmouth discuss bringing rail back over the bike path. Service to Woods Hole would really be perfect. I think they are all ready regretting building that bike path watching the success of the Flyer. Whether they will do anything is up to anyone's guess, but I am sure we will see a lot of open-minded discussions in the future regarding Rail vs Bike Path.

I was traveling in MA on the two previous Saturday afternoons 7/26 and 8/2
and the WBZ traffic reports were continually stressing 5 to 6 mile backups on
RT. 25 approaching the Bourne Bridge. The Bourne is as bad as the Sagamore
or worse at times.

I've gotta' be honest..I don't see
the Hyannis economy jumpstart
if they expand it,which isn't going
to happen according to CCRTA...
At best you MIGHT get one more round trip..
One of the attractions to the predominately
50 plus demographic here is low taxes in
comparioson to metro areas...
Towns in general here don't want substantial
economic growth....Hyannis certainly wants
tourist bucks but with all the problems that town
has,especially with crime,you can bet commuter rail
isn't a priority ...Don't get me wrong though,
I love it. It beats sittin' in traffic in either auto
or on P&B,which by the way,is having a terrible summer
service wise...Their on time percentage has plummeted
and they can't keep drivers.

Rob3811 wrote: Some thoughts/concerns:
-----This service is SOO IN NEED of more publicity./ customer service and an assurance that buses will meet the train or wait for it .Seems like some are skeptical they will have connections missed from around the Cape

Looking at the HTC and "Gare Hyannis" on Google Earth, it appears to my (untrained and wearing glasses) eye that they could probably greatly improve access to the HTC and considerably shorten the walk from the train to "ground transportation" for not a lot of money (unless this would invoke something in the ADA or something else I'm not aware of).. I'm thinking that this would help "customer satisfaction" especially among those passengers with mobility issues or those who might be bringing any sort of "luggage" or bags..
Click image to enlarge.

Excellent report and suggestions, Rob. I hope CCRTA is reading it too. Lax behavior by cafe staff and dirty restrooms should not be tolerated. My experience on the train last year had none of that.

with these good passenger numbers , is there any likelihood of the service being extended to Columbus Day like last year? - I've read the working on the CapeFlyer website stating that Labor Day weekend will be the last service this year , but that was the original plan last year as well.

I don't think the Cape Flyer will be extended to Columbus Day again this year. After labor Day last year the ridership dropped sharply. Most times the Friday night train to Hyannis had less than 20 people on board. Keeping the Flyer profitable is essential and running past the summer season puts it into the money losing area, giving it's critics ammunition to call it a failure.

Supaned wrote:with these good passenger numbers , is there any likelihood of the service being extended to Columbus Day like last year? - I've read the working on the CapeFlyer website stating that Labor Day weekend will be the last service this year , but that was the original plan last year as well.

Don't count on it getting extended like Clean Cab typed...that is the talk floating around South Station, last years numbers were a really killer