New Canaan Branch Discussion

it seems to be all there in the MTA web site
Harrison and Crestwood anre losing the ticket agent also with trductions on the rest of the lines.

The last I heard Hartford was telling us that we would not see any cuts in trains for this state.

Well Red Sox a Ticket office is not a train, right, so their keeping their word so far.

New Canaan is loaded with wealthy, influential people and always has been. I wouldn't be surprise to see any move to close the ticket office get quietly quashed. (Please note, I'm only pointing out what "is")

Tom Curtin wrote:New Canaan is loaded with wealthy, influential people and always has been. I wouldn't be surprise to see any move to close the ticket office get quietly quashed. (Please note, I'm only pointing out what "is")

Similar to when The New Haven Line got to keep there coveted bar cars when the rest of the lines had to give them up?

I won't be surprised. Since ticketing machines were introduced about 7 years ago, a long list of stations have lost their agents: Dobbs Ferry, Hastings, Tuckahoe, Mount Kisco, Pelham, Mamaroneck, Old Greenwich, Noroton Heights, Green Farms, Wilton, Danbury. And most of the outlying manned stations are now closed weekends with the exceptions of several major points (many of them were open 7 days for a while).

Anyway, this is a bit sad, as the 1868 New Canaan station is among the oldest of its kind and a official landmark.

It is much more important to maintain train service than to have a ticket office.
I predict in the future on Metro-North and probably most of the other commuter railroads too there were be very few
ticket offices and only in the major, major stations. I think the New Haven Line could be down someday to just New Haven
and Stamford, the Harlem to White Plains and Fordham and maybe the Hudson Line with none. I am not saying that this
would happen but I think it is possible.
Noel Weaver

If push came to shove I think the Hudson Line would keep Poughkeepsie and Croton-Harmon if for no other reason because of Amtrak.

While the TVM's (ticket machines) have their place, one major problem I see with the TVM's is there is no indicator whether or not a passenger needs a peak or off peak ticket. Passengers don't know what they need most of the time and are usually in too much of a rush to figure it out.

I don't believe Poughkeepsie, Croton Harmon or Yonkers sell Amtrak tickets.
I believe they can only be bought from Amtrak machine.

DutchRailnut wrote:I don't believe Poughkeepsie, Croton Harmon or Yonkers sell Amtrak tickets.
I believe they can only be bought from Amtrak machine.

I think what he means is the agent can print your ticket for you instead of having to use the Quik-Trak Machine.

There is no Amtrak agent, and Metro North Agent is no longer involved with Amtrak due to pay dispute.

DutchRailnut wrote:There is no Amtrak agent, and Metro North Agent is no longer involved with Amtrak due to pay dispute.

Ah, thanks for the clarification.

The following is a full list of all the proposed reductions and eliminations of service for New York City Transit (Bus/Subway), MTA Bus Company, Long Island Bus, Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North Railroad and Staten Island Railway.

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New York City Transit - Bus
Beginning SUMMER 2009:

• Elimination of 22 local routes: B23, B25, B37, B39, B51, B75, Bx4, Bx14, Bx20, Bx34, Barretto Point Shuttle (Bx.), M6, M8, M10, M18, M27, M30, Q26, Q56, Q74, Q75, Q84.

• Elimination of weekend service on 25 local routes: B2, B4, B7, B16, B24, B48, B57, B65, B69, B71, Bx18, Bx30, Bx33, M21, M22, M50, Q14, Q31, Q76, Q79, S42, S54, S57, S60, S76.

• Elimination of Sunday service on the Bx8.

• Elimination of overnight service on 25 local routes: B7, B14, B31, B45, B48, B57, B64, B65, B67, B77, Bx10, M1, M2, M16, M22, M23, M42, M50, M66, M79, M96, M102, M103, M104, Q30.

• Reduction of hours of service on 23 local routes: B2, B4, B9, B11, B13, B16, B69, B70, B71, Bx30, Bx33, M11, M20, M21, M100, M116, Q42, Q48, Q79, S54, S57, S60, S66.

• Ten local routes will be rerouted or restructured: B13, Bx26, Bx28, Bx30, M1, M9, M15, M21, M104, Q24.

Beginning FALL 2009:

• Elimination of two express routes: X25 (Manhattan), X32 (Queens/Bronx).

• Elimination of weekend service on two Brooklyn express routes: X27, X28.

New York City Transit - Subway
Beginning JUNE 2009:

• Overnights, N train service will operate between Canal St & DeKalb Ave via the Manhattan Bridge only.

Beginning JUNE/JULY 2009:

• Station Customer Service Assistant agents will be eliminated at 158 control areas.

• 42 full-time station agent booths will have staffing either eliminated or reduced.

Beginning DECEMBER 2009:

• G train service between Court Square and Continental Ave will be permanently discontinued. Northbound service will terminate at Court Square at all times.

• M train rush-hour service between Broad St and Bay Parkway will be permanently discontinued.

• W train service will be permanently discontinued. As a result:
• N train service will operate local between Canal St & 57th St at all times
• Q train service will be extended to Ditmars Blvd Mon-Fri 6 AM to 10 PM

• Z train rush-hour service will be permanently discontinued. As a result:
• J train service will make all local stops between Jamaica Center and Myrtle Ave at all times.

• Weekday off-peak loading guidelines will be increased from 100% of a seated load to 125% on all lines. As a result, the frequency of service will be reduced on the following periods and lines:
• Middays: 1, 4, 7, A, E, F and L.
• Evenings: 5, 6, 7, A, B, E, F, N, Q and R.

• All overnight service on all lines will operate every 30 minutes.

Long Island Bus
Beginning JUNE 2009:

• Eight routes will be eliminated: N51, N53, N65, N66, N67, N80, N87, N93.

• The N2 route will have its peak-hour service between Hempstead Tpke and 165th St Jamaica revised.

Long Island Rail Road
Beginning APRIL 29, 2009:

• Service to Belmont Park will be discontinued, with the exception of Belmont Stakes Day where trains will operate.

Beginning SEPTEMBER 2009:

• Weekend service on the West Hempstead Branch will be discontinued.

• All off peak service on the Port Washington Branch will run once every hour.

• Elimination of four weekday trains:
• #874 - 5:40 PM train from Flatbush Ave to Long Beach
• #2096 - 4:34 PM train from Flatbush Ave to Ronkonkoma
• Combine #39 - 7:33 AM train from Babylon to Flatbush Ave with #1019 - 7:40 AM train from Seaford to Flatbush Ave
• Combine #1056 - 4:57 PM train from Penn Station to Wantagh with #1152 - 5:03 PM train from Penn Station to Freeport.

• One Port Jefferson Branch train, #662 - 5:11 PM train from Hunterspoint Ave to Port Jefferson, will be turned into a shuttle and will originate at Huntington.

Date TBA:

• 20 ticket sales offices will be permanently closed.

• Reduction of ticket booth staffing at the Penn Station, Jamaica and Flatbush Ave stations.

Metro North Railroad
Beginning SPRING 2009:

• Crestwood and Harrison ticket offices to be permanently closed.

• New Canaan ticket office to be permanently closed, pending approval of the ConnDOT.

Beginning JULY 2009:

• Plans to eliminate eight weekday trains and one weekend train, and combine them with trains that had been expresses, impacting a total of 16 weekday trains and two express trains:
Hudson Line
• #487 - 9:16 PM, #491 - 9:55 PM and #793 - 10:55 PM trains from Grand Central to Croton-Harmon
Harlem Line
• #683 - 7:57 PM train from Grand Central to Mount Kisco
• #693 - 10:29 PM train from Grand Central to Southeast
New Haven Line (NH changes pending approval from the ConnDOT)
• #1532 - 1:34 PM express train from Grand Central to New Haven
• #1569 - 2:33 PM express train from New Haven to Grand Central
• #1304 (weekend #6304) - 1:53 AM local train from Grand Central to New Haven (last train of the day, a.k.a. the Vomit Comet.)

MTA Bus Company
Beginning June 2009:

Elimination of three express routes: BxM7B, QM22, QM23.

Staten Island Railway
Beginning June 2009:

• Elimination of the baseball special service. The Ballpark/Stadium station will be permanently closed.

Sadly, this is a sign of the times. Soon there will only be tickets sold by impersonal machinesthat cannot answer questions. The handwriting was on the wall once those ticket selling machines began popping up like so many unwanted weeds.

maybe some plan of putting in information phones like at ATM's could be considered. I believe the infrastructure is there for the emergency call boxes.
But if te thought wasn't there when the TVM's were installed then no one will care now......