ARTICLE: Yankee stadium station gets Metro-North nod

[The Interloafer]

I had already read the Milepost and the Web site information, do they say what fare zone the stadium will be in? (I just looked again.)

You're saying it will be the same fare as from, say Yonkers as to Marble Hill? That would be great. Beyond great (given the prices at the new ballpark).

Yes. This Mileposts article doesn't come a surprise. Metro-North held a public hearing on November 17, 2008, on the fares to the new station where they essentially outlined the same thing. As Transit Blogger noted back in October, quoting a Metro-North press release:

Fares from Grand Central and Harlem-125th Street and from suburban Hudson Line stations would be the same as existing fares to and from all other Hudson Line Bronx stations.

Metro-North also will introduce new “via” fares for travel to the new station for Harlem and New Haven Line stations. These via fares will consist of the already established one-way fare to Manhattan plus a small additional amount for the portion of the trip between Manhattan and the new station. Metro-North is proposing an additional $1.00 for all peak one-way fares and 75 cents for all one-way off-peak fares.

[Tommy Meehan]

I don't know how I missed the fare info -- actually I do know, but let's not get into that -- but thanks. Great news for Hudson Line Yankee fans. At least we get a break with Metro-North.

[The Interloafer]

Timetables for the new station are posted!

Hudson Line service looks terrific on non-game days. Even better on game days.

[The Interloafer]

I just want to quantify how extensive and complex this service will be.

Non-holiday weekdays, May 23 through July 12

• On the 20 days with no game, there are 25 southbound and 27 northbound trains making this stop per day.
• On the 10 days with a 7:05 p.m. game, there are 32 southbound and 31 northbound trains.
• On the 4 days with a 1:05 p.m. game, there are 33 southbound and 37 northbound trains.

Weekends and holidays, May 23 through July 12

• On the 9 days with no game, there are 20 southbound and 21 northbound trains making this stop per day.
• On the 6 days with a 1:05 p.m. game, there are 32 southbound and 28 northbound trains.
• On the 2 days with a 4:10 p.m.* game, there are 29 southbound and 27 northbound trains.

Six different possible schedules, all with frequent service. On top of this, there will be a yet-to-be-released number of GCT/125th St. shuttles, and Harlem Line and New Haven Line trains stopping here as well. And you will have rain-outs and extra innings that will add one last wrinkle to all of the above.

This might be the busiest station on the railroad after GCT, 125th St., Fordham, Stamford, White Plains, North White Plains and Croton-Harmon. It certainly has the highest number of scheduling permutations.

*May 23 vs. Philadelphia and June 13 vs. the Mets are both listed as 4:10 p.m. on the Yankees website. The Metro-North timetable lists a schedule for 4:05 p.m. games.

[Tommy Meehan]

Yes it's very good service. That many of the Hudson Line express trains will be stopping there is great news for fans (and for people who get a job at Gateway Center).

Friends I have that live in the Greenburgh/Elmsford area -- about as close to White Plains as to Tarrytown (near Exits 2 or 4 on 287) -- have told me they'll probably go to Tarrytown to get a train to Yankee Stadium. Normally when they ride to GCT they go to White Plains. So it should create a lot of new ridership.

(Maybe Metro-North could earmark this new revenue stream to maintaining agents at stations? )

[Erie-Lackawanna]

I just want to quantify how extensive and complex this service will be.

And you're not even taking into account the direct trains to/from the Harlem and New Haven Lines that will operate on weekends and after weekday 7 PM games. This is exceptionally complex - far more so than the Mets service.

And a 4:10 start time is 4:05 as far as the railroad is concerned.

Jim

[Jeff Smith]

Friends I have that live in the Greenburgh/Elmsford area -- about as close to White Plains as to Tarrytown (near Exits 2 or 4 on 287) -- have told me they'll probably go to Tarrytown to get a train to Yankee Stadium.

Couldn't they take the Put from La Stazzione and transfer at 155th St to the 9th Av EL? (written in my best deadpan....)

[Terrapin Station]

I just want to quantify how extensive and complex this service will be.

And you're not even taking into account the direct trains to/from the Harlem and New Haven Lines that will operate on weekends and after weekday 7 PM games. This is exceptionally complex - far more so than the Mets service.

Jim

Actually, he did

On top of this, there will be a yet-to-be-released number of GCT/125th St. shuttles, and Harlem Line and New Haven Line trains stopping here as well.

Anyhow, on a slightly different subject, in a press release today, MNCR announced the times of the first trains to stop at the new station (which I guess have been available since the timetables went up this weekend, as was noted in the thread), and also that an additional, separate brochure/timetable will be available for all the extra game day only service (direct Harlem and New Haven trains, and the shuttles).

[bingdude]

I picked up the new schedule for the Hudson Line. I like the addition of yellow to it--it makes it look like an old Southern Railway timetable.

I looked it over. I hope Metro North is aware that on Saturday and Sunday afternoons that there will be a throng of people wanting to get on Northbound trains like 8739 and 8741 which will mean opening up all of the cars and having enough conductors to collect the fares. AND it means these trains will need to be cleaned on the weekends (something they don't do now). Has anybody thought about this?

I lived on Long Island for seven years and dealt with the post-game crowds for the Rangers, Knicks and Mets. Beer cans and garbage everywhere. And you don't want to know what the bathroom looked like. Metro North has had it easy all these years. Now it's going to get a little more interesting.

I really don't relish riding home with drunken fans on my way home but that's what I have to do.

[metrony]

Looking over the new schedule I noticed Metro North didn't add an additional minute or two for the locals trains, which will stop there all the time. I wonder if the Hudson Line on time performance will have a sight decline during the summer months due to the longer boarding time and dropping off time.

When the Yankees also have an afternoon game weekdays (1pm) The trains will be PACKED with regular commuters then the Yankee crowd right during the rush hour when the game gets out around 4-5pm.


Lastly on trains #860 - #776 southboard why would they stop there during a weekday 1:05pm game? The game way in process by then and maybe ever over. According to the schedule "M" stands for weekday 1:05pm games.

[theozno]

Lastly on trains #860 - #776 southboard why would they stop there during a weekday 1:05pm game? The game way in process by then and maybe ever over. According to the schedule "M" stands for weekday 1:05pm games.

because of things like this

[pnaw10]

I hope Metro North is aware that on Saturday and Sunday afternoons that there will be a throng of people wanting to get on Northbound trains like 8739 and 8741 which will mean opening up all of the cars and having enough conductors to collect the fares.

The platforms were built to be 10 cars long so that all doors can be opened.

Also, it was explained either earlier in this thread or in a different thread here, that the station will be reconfigured for post-game boarding so that all tickets/fares are collected BEFORE people board the the trains, rather than on-board. That's the only logical way to make sure everyone pays, since it would be virtually impossible for conductors to check every single passenger on a standing-room only train during the short ride from 153rd to any other station (regardless of direction or line).

Of course, as the saying goes, even the best laid plans can go to waste. Let's all remember that this is brand new, and yes, very different from the LIRR service to/from the Mets. No matter how much you plan, there's always bound to be issues that just can't be planned for, and won't be known until they happen. Hopefully they won't be major problems, and the railroad will do its best to iron out the wrinkles. But if you try to iron out too many wrinkles before they ever happen, it's just a lot of extra work and stress that could wind up causing different problems, which may never have happened in the first place.

[Jeff Smith]

Will there be a PDF version of the Yankee timetable/brochure for the Harlem and New Haven line? I checked the MTA web-site and didn't find one.

[The Interloafer]

I've been checking at Grand Central and haven't been able to find the printed version either. I am sure it will come out in the next week or so.

[The Interloafer]

Okay! The special timetables are posted on the Metro-North website. These show the direct Harlem Line and New Haven Line trains to the station.

• Weekday afternoon games: no direct service, as we had expected.
• Weeknight games: Direct service from the game as follows: 3 Harlem Line trains making all stops (except Kensico Cemetery) between Mt. Vernon W. and Southeast; 2 inner New Haven Line trains and 3 outer New Haven Line trains.
• Weekend games: Direct service to and from the game. 3 Harlem Line trains to and 3 from, all covering most of the inner two thirds of the line. 5 New Haven Line trains to and 5 from.

Add this to the previously noted Hudson Line service, and the shuttles to GCT/125th, and we're talking about a level of service that surpasses anything that any other MLB team has in terms of regional rail service. Let's have a look at just how tremendous this service is, shall we?

In my opinion, the best way to get to or from a major sporting event is by rail. Large volumes of people can move without getting stuck in traffic. And you're brought to and from the game in an atmosphere of mutual camaraderie with the other fans. So passenger rail access to baseball stadiums (stadia for the plural if you want to be true to the Latin) is a question I found to be really interesting. Using Google maps, I tried to identify all of the MLB stadiums that have a passenger railroad station within walking distance. (Note that this does not include subway or light rail systems, which one really ought to look at for a more complete picture. But this is a railroad forum, and so my mini-study looked at regional/commuter rail and intercity rail only.)

10 of Major League Baseball's 30 stadiums are within walking distance of a regional/intercity rail station, as follows:

• Camden Yards to MARC's Camden Station = 250 feet
• Fenway Park to MBTA Commuter Rail's Yawkey station = 535 feet
• The Oakland A's Coliseum to Amtrak's Oakland Coliseum/Airport station = 850 feet
• L.A. Angels' Stadium to the Anaheim station shared by Metrolink and Amtrak = 900 feet
• Yankee Stadium to Metro-North's Yankees-E. 153rd St. station = 1,425 feet
• The San Francisco Giants' AT&T Park to Caltrain's San Francisco terminal = 1,550 feet
• Citi Field to the Long Island Rail Road's Mets-Willets Point station = 1,565 feet
• The Colorado Rockie's Coors Field to the Denver Amtrak station = 1,775 feet
• The Seattle Mariners' Safeco Field to King Street Station in Downtown Seattle, served by Sounder and Amtrak = 2,160 feet
• The Toronto Blue Jays' Rogers Centre to Toronto Union Station served by GO Transit, VIA, and Amtrak = 2,185 feet

(Also worth noting: Metra's Southwest Service and Rock Island District tracks go right by the White Sox' U.S. Cellular Field, but there is no station there. Also there are tracks extending beyond Coaster's San Diego terminal toward the Padres' Petco Park, but again, no station.)

Even though there are 10 stadiums with rail access, not all of these offer convenient service to the game. First of all, Amtrak's Denver station is served by one train a day in each direction (the California Zephyr). When you eliminate that stadium/station combo, you are left with 9. From what I could tell by the online schedules, only Metro-North and the LIRR operate special trains specifically for baseball fans. In addition, MBTA Commuter Rail has a weekday train that makes a special stop at Yawkey on game nights. (Sorry, it doesn't stop in Darien.) Beyond those three, I could not find any other railroads that operate special trains or make special stops for baseball fans. That does not mean that fans can't still use the normal service to get to the games, if the schedules allow.

And that can be, ahem!, hit-or-miss. Despite having the shortest distance between stadium and station, Orioles fans can't get to a weekday game by MARC train. They can't get home from a weeknight game using MARC, and there is no service on weekends. The Mariners and the A's fans both have between one and a half dozen trains to and from afternoon games, but won't get service home from night games. Angels fans will have one or two trains to and from any game using Amtrak, but don't get any Metrolink trains from a night game, to a weekday afternoon game, or to or from a weekend game. Red Sox fans have at least two trains to and from any game along the Framingham/Worcester Line. San Francisco Giants fans have frequent service to all weekday/night games and from weekday afternoon games, but had better catch the 10:40 p.m. train unless they want to wait for the last train of the night, at midnight. They also have hourly service to and from weekend games. Blue Jays fans have at least hourly service to and from all games along the Lakeshore East and Lakeshore West lines, but no service on the other five GO Transit lines except for departures from weekday afternoon games. The LIRR offers terrific service to and from all Mets games no matter the time of day or night, but if your destination is along any branch other than the Port Washington, you need to change at Woodside (and the LIRR stops extra trains there for that as well).

All of which is to say: the level of service that Metro-North is providing to this new station -- the frequency, the number of destinations, the number of lines served with one-seat rides and the square miles of territory those lines cover -- is unsurpassed on this continent. My hat is off to everyone involved in the capital planning and operations planning for this project, not to mention those dispatching and operating the trains.

Now that the MTA got a bailout, hopefully Metro-North can keep those M1a cars in use for the shuttle service.