MNR Observations

Insane ridership on the postgame Yankee trains tonight. I'd have to imagine this was by far the highest of the season.

Pretty impressed by the late night ridership. 8 (between LIRR and MNR) trains with ridership in the range of 300-500 at 12:30 AM eastern at various points on their routes.

Yes weekend and night ridership is growing a lot. People want to travel and be entertained, what better way than taking the train to their destination?

More people than I've ever seen on the Wassaic Branch. 315 people on train #949, at Pawling. I imagine many are going to second homes in Litchfield and upper Dutchess counties.

Not sure who's idea it was to place a 9-car set on a nearly empty 3546, and a 6-car set on 1544, which usually gets heavy crowds who commute from CT to places like New Rochelle, Westchester, and Stamford.

Is there anything that'd trigger especially high Wassaic Branch ridership? I've seen three trains (two north, one south) with 200 or more people as far north as Dover Plains and Wassaic.

Traingeek3629 wrote: ↑Fri Jun 16, 2023 4:03 pm Is there anything that'd trigger especially high Wassaic Branch ridership? I've seen three trains (two north, one south) with 200 or more people as far north as Dover Plains and Wassaic.

The Berkshires.

Nothing new here. Always has been high ridership on Friday afternoons northward and Sunday nights/Monday mornings southward. Until one of the financial crunches in…what, 2011, maybe?…we ran a dedicated bus connecting service from Wassaic to Great Barríngton on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Ridership wasn’t great (that’s why it was killed), but it wasn’t zero, either. Most people with second homes in the mountains had cars up there and didn’t need the bus.

Loads in excess of 120% on the Hudson Line today. Service is needed twice an hour at minimum.

Yankees game…

Then extra gameday service is needed. 2/3 of the train in question continued on to GCT, too. It's busy now on many of the non-Yankee trains.

Pride events too.

daybeers wrote: ↑Sun Jun 25, 2023 4:53 pm Pride events too.

That might be it. The trains are jammed once again, and Connecticut Commuter Rail Council tweeted this picture before. I wonder if an all-time Sunday ridership record could be set.

Someone didn't tell MetroNorth that there was the first-ever postgame fireworks show tonight. The clippers are going out with a fraction of their normal load. Only 210 on the first one to New Haven, which would normally have at least 600 for a sellout crowd. It'll be mayhem at Harlem in about 30 minutes. 7713, which is leaving for Croton-Harmon 35 minutes postgame, has been sitting in the station and is just now filling up as the show ended.

Bit of a facepalm moment for Metro-North, again with the Yankees services. They put a 6-car set on the first New Haven express (which normally gets packed as an 8 car) and are running an 8-car on the second New Haven train, which appears to be nearly empty. My last few experiences with the Yankees trains have been subpar, to say the lease.

Smart of MNR to run extra pre-holiday weekend afternoon express trains. 3540 (express, first stop Westport) has about 300 people. 3538 (regular Friday-only train) had 330 out of Grand Central, and another 125 got on at Stamford. Not having the Stamford thru trains really is a missed opportunity for SLE...