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  • Cape Flyer

  • Discussion relating to commuter rail, light rail, and subway operations of the MBTA.
Discussion relating to commuter rail, light rail, and subway operations of the MBTA.

Moderators: sery2831, CRail

 #1519291  by highgreen215
 
And I’ll bet the new Bourne stop on the Cape side had a lot to do with it.
 #1519319  by Falmouth Secondary to Otis
 
Read that tourism article and whoever wrote it really need to check there facts. The Bridge traffic for the average daily summer vehicle counts in 2018 was 131,583 vehicles for both bridges combined according to the Cape Cod Commission not 4,000 as stated, unless they were meaning to write that it was a daily increase of that amount over 2018. Until the official State ridership Cape Flyer counts are released to compare to previous years I would wait and see if that 27 percent ridership growth is actually true or not seeing that the article was not written very well. Also it would be more informational if ridership counts were provided by each stop to see if some should be eliminated and others added in there place.
 #1519344  by MickD
 
Was told by someone from CCRTA that they plan
to push for extension of service until Columbus Day in 2020..
They only ran it the first year when The Flyer was still relatively unknown,
so now they gotten established I think it might do fairly well
 #1519406  by NH2060
 
diburning wrote: Sat Sep 07, 2019 5:13 am In that case, they better spend some money advertising it. I remember in the first year when they extended it to Columbus Day that ridership was negligible between Labor Day and Columbus Day because most people didn't know that it was extended.
In the era of "everyone's on social media" I find that so hard to believe that so many would-be September/October riders didn't know it was extended past Labor Day. Granted there was no big announcement, but word didn't exactly not get out via press release, news reports, etc.
 #1519414  by Falmouth Secondary to Otis
 
If the CCRTA wants to promote increased ridership of the Cape flyer it should expand the seasonal summer schedule it currently has. In just the past few years people are coming to the Cape during the summer starting on Thursdays now with traffic backing up on both bridges. They could start the Cape flyer on Thursday with a full schedule on Friday, Saturday & Sunday or even possibly expand it to a full 7 day schedule to give people a true daily alternate means of getting to and from the Cape. Even when the Fall weather is excellent the number of people visiting the Cape usually drops off substantially after labor day and the service probably would still run at a loss like the last time they tried it. I think expanding service during the summer would be more beneficial to the Cape region as traffic congestion gets worse every year. In the summer months of 2018 there were 131,583 total vehicles crossing the Canal bridges every day and the Cape flyer is only carrying a small fraction of that, which in turn isn't doing much to reduce traffic congestion unless expanded service takes place.
 #1519582  by smsullivan11
 
I firmly believe that if the numbers for the current three day schedule are as strong as they as reported to be that a Thursday evening train and a Monday morning train need to be considered. As mentioned above, during the summer months Boston has really started to empty out on Thursday evenings. This would also leave only Tuesdays and Wednesdays without service, ie getting real close to that 7 days a week service.
 #1521050  by Safetee
 
have there been any final figures for the 2019 flyer? the 27% increase sounds fishy and may fall in the figures don't lie but liars use figures syndrome. however the bourne station should be a positive development but unfortunately may be too late for those who had to travel all the way to hyannis and then wait in highway traffic for an hour or two to get to their destination.
 #1521067  by Bill Reidy
 
I suspect this article from 10 days ago is closer to the mark on the ridership increase this year that triggered weekly use of a bi-level:

"HYANNIS – The 2019 CapeFlyer service has come to an end and officials are hailing the weekend commuter train’s seventh season as a success.

"The train saw a 6.2 percent increase from last year and has seen an increase in each of its seven seasons..."

https://www.capecod.com/newscenter/the- ... ul-season/
 #1521076  by Safetee
 
it would be nice if the powers that be could open up another station near barnstable or yarmouth that could facilitate garnering more passengers by providing swifter easier access to the outer cape than can be achieved by wrestling with traffic in hyannis..
 #1521123  by Falmouth Secondary to Otis
 
2018 Capeflyer ridership was 13,781 and if in 2019 it actually did increase by 6.2% = 14,636 = 855 more passengers rounded up. Averaged over 12 weeks that's only 71 more per weekend than last year, not what I would call a substantial increase. Considering that 131,583 vehicles crossed the Canal bridges on a daily basis during the summer months of 2018 the CapeFlyer isn't doing much of anything to reduce traffic congestion with it's limited schedule and on Cape stops. Expanded service & more on Cape stops are needed to address that issue.

https://massdot.mghpcc.org/tracker/shar ... pcapeflyer
 #1521137  by Arlington
 
Safetee wrote: Thu Sep 26, 2019 7:40 pmopen up another station near barnstable or yarmouth
Yes, someplace where Kiss-and-Ride*, bikeways, and Transit could converge without a slog in/out of Hyannis.

A spot along Willow St. @ US-6 (Exit 7) would offer great connectivity (and make a fine park and ride too)

* my CF rides all required my host or a family member (staying longer as a guest than I could) to drive me to/from Dennis.
 #1521239  by malbojah
 
MickD wrote: Fri Sep 06, 2019 3:50 pm Was told by someone from CCRTA that they plan
to push for extension of service until Columbus Day in 2020..
They only ran it the first year when The Flyer was still relatively unknown,
so now they gotten established I think it might do fairly well
Because I deal with traffic on both bridges Friday through Sunday I'll say this: once Labor day is over, it's like no-mans land on Cape. You can actually get over the bridges (except when Upper Cape Tech is beginning or ending for the day) and get around Hyannis and Falmouth with little difficulty
 #1521259  by BandA
 
So, an alternative would be, instead of repeating the Columbus Day pilot, do a pilot of Thursday service. I assume Thursday service is just as easy to set up as Friday service??
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