There also needs to be more/better connections. The problem with the cape is that it's still essentially a car-dependent place if you need to get anywhere, and the bulk of the tourist market is built off of people who own their own places.
Unfortunately, it seems like the main reason why cape traffic is always so awful (because anyone and everyone who owns a place goes to it every freakin weekend) is also the same reason why it'll be hard for the train to make a real dent (everyone who's braving the traffic and driving down every weekend is doing so because they actually need their car once on the cape) outside of people doing hotel trips and visiting friends with cape houses, which is unfortunately a tiny sliver of the traffic.
A big park and ride somewhere along the line with spaces for people to leave cars to pick up for the weekend might make sense, but again, the demographics of your average cape house owner doesn't always allow for stuff like having a dedicated car for your vacation property (and the ones who do have the $$$ for stuff like that all fly cape air anyways). The islands also could be a huge source of ridership, but again, so long as the train only stops at Hyannis---> Nantucket when the big car-free tourist draw will always be Falmouth--->The Vineyard, that's going to be a tall order as well. Absent those things (or a 180-degree turnaround of the current state of Hyannis), it's always going to be a struggle for the Flyer to tap into any fraction of the core cape travel market. In the meantime, for the Cape Flyer to reverse its fortunes, there's going to need to be a real sea change in how the CCRTA supports flyer operations with increased bus service and whatnot to help grow a stronger car-free tourist base on the cape.
Sadly, and I say this from experience, we're all ignoring the Cape Flyer's red, white, and blue-striped competitor to the north. The fact is just that, as it stands now, the Downeaster is a much better prospect for someone who's looking to do a car-free weekend trip. It costs the same, and takes the same amount of time, but instead of dumping you in Hyannis, the Downeaster takes you to Old Orchard Beach and Portland, where everything is right there and you get a whole lot more bang for your buck in terms of a potential car-free weekend. And if you have more time and really want to do the rail thing, you can take the Maine Eastern to Bath/Damariscotta/Rockland and have yourself a real adventure. There just aren't those options with the Flyer, and if you're trying to sell the idea of a car-free, rail-centered trip to the cape, it's hard to do so without acknowledging the 600lb stainless-steel gorilla in the room.
It's not that I don't think the flyer can ever succeed, but it'll need to be A: faster, B: cheaper, and C: offer potential riders much more/better connections than it does now if it's ever going to succeed long-term.
