New Canaan Branch Discussion

To the best of my knowledge that union recently voted to allow unlimited ticket machines in exchange for a partial job guarantee (not all employees are covered) and embarrassingly low wage increase (pennies). That occurred just a month or two ago.

Kaback9 wrote:

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.

No Metro-North agents sell Amtrak tickets. All Amtrak sales at Metro-North stations served by Amtrak are done thru Quik-Trak machines, except at Stamford and New Haven, where Amtrak has their own agents in addition to the machines.

Cornductor wrote:To the best of my knowledge that union recently voted to allow unlimited ticket machines in exchange for a partial job guarantee (not all employees are covered) and embarrassingly low wage increase (pennies). That occurred just a month or two ago.

Not unlimited machines, just an increase. I'm not going to get into the specific union issues involved, but there is a cap.

RDL 879 wrote:

Kaback9 wrote:

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.

No Metro-North agents sell Amtrak tickets. All Amtrak sales at Metro-North stations served by Amtrak are done thru Quik-Trak machines, except at Stamford and New Haven, where Amtrak has their own agents in addition to the machines.

I recall Amtrak still retained a ticket office at Grand Central after consolidating all New York services at Penn Station, the Amtrak ticket office here remained until circa 1995.

How many of these waiting rooms will remain open w/o their agents??

MickD wrote:How many of these waiting rooms will remain open w/o their agents??

I can't think of any stations that have removed ticket agents that the waiting room remains open.

Many closed stations have been leased to outside businesses. Hartsdale and Tuckahoe have Starbucks in them Bronxville (although it still has an agent in it, is leased out to some other businesses.

In Danbury the waiting room is unlocked and locked by local police, the ticket agent was gone 6 years ago, maybe more.

And Houlihan Realty in Pelham. I'm really sorry to see Crestwood close. Some my earliest train trips were out of there to see the model Christmas train exhibit at GCT with family and neighbors every year.

DutchRailnut wrote:In Danbury the waiting room is unlocked and locked by local police, the ticket agent was gone 6 years ago, maybe more.

Danbury was closed in 2002-03, when the ticket machines were introduced. It's a modern station too, completely built new in 1995.

I'd imagine that if they eliminate the agent the Town of New Canaan will probably step up and figure out a way to keep the waiting room unlocked and the bathrooms cleaned. Didn't the town foot the bill for the big renovation a few years back, that involved extending the platform shed and jacking the whole building up to be flush with the high level platform?

New Canaan station is owned by ConnDOT and leased to the Town, so it's possible. The 1998 renovation was a ConnDOT program (not municipal).

Will closed stations still have open waiting rooms? Man I hope so!

I guess I don't actually use any agentless stations, at least with waiting rooms. But Tarrytown's agent goes off-duty at 1 PM and the station remains unlocked until around 8 or 9 PM. (You can use the bathrooms too.)

Yonkers stays open after the agent goes home -- until the last northbound train arrives I think -- but Yonkers is a little different. You need to enter the concourse (though not the waiting room) to get out of Yonkers station for one thing. There's also an MTA police substation in the corridor between the platform stairs and the concourse. So security or vandalism is not an issue with the station remaining open and unattended for long periods.

I repeat, removing agents is a significant downgrading of station service and I wish Metro-North would reconsider. Taking the human factor away is very depressing.

Save money! Remember when it came out a Metro-North board member was having a limo pick him up at GCT-Vanderbilt and 43d St entrance and take him to 347 Madison (2 1/2 blocks away) for board meetings? Who do you suppose pays for that?

Tommy Meehan wrote: ... But Tarrytown's agent goes off-duty at 1 PM and the station remains unlocked until around 8 or 9 PM. (You can use the bathrooms too.)

White Plains Station is open 24 hours! The ticket agents close shop at 9 PM. The front doors NEVER get locked and there are stairs that lead to the platform from Hamilton Ave, Main St and the tunnel.

This station is also staffed 24 hours a day with MNR custodians. In addition the MTA police might go in and out during the night depending on what officers are on duty.

I pretty much agree that a very close look needs to be done to eliminate the waste at Grand Central Terminal and especially
at 347 Madison Avenue.
As far as ticket agents are concerned, it is far more important to keep the trains operating than to keep ticket agents in
stations where there may be fewer trains in the future if the cuts indeed take place.
As I said earlier, there is probably only a small number of Metro-North stations that really need ticket agents, keep them and
take off the rest of them.
Noel Weaver

Tommy Meehan wrote: I repeat, removing agents is a significant downgrading of station service and I wish Metro-North would reconsider. Taking the human factor away is very depressing.

Save money! Remember when it came out a Metro-North board member was having a limo pick him up at GCT-Vanderbilt and 43d St entrance and take him to 347 Madison (2 1/2 blocks away) for board meetings? Who do you suppose pays for that?

We can keep Human factor but would have to cancel a few dozen trains to fund that.
as for Limo The former Chairman of MTA used his own Limo at no cost to MTA.