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Commuters rail against Metro-North rate hike Staff Writer DARIEN - Westport resident Peter Swan says commuting on Metro-North Railroad to New York City has been an increasingly costly endeavor in the 1990s. The monthly commuting fare from Westport to New York's Grand Central Terminal rose steadily each year from $161 in 1990 to $254 in 1998 where it now stands, Swan said. The state Department of Transportation is now looking to increase the fares again by about 5 percent - hiking Swan's monthly commute to $266. "That's a 65 percent increase in one decade," Swan said. Swan was among 15 area residents and officials who spoke out against the proposed Metro-North fare increase at a public hearing last night at Darien Town Hall. The hearing was the first of four being held on the fare increase proposed to go into effect Aug. 1. The hike in fares would help cover a $1.9 million shortfall in state funding and a $1.9 million increase in Metro-North's operating budget, said Harry Harris, chief of the state DOT's Bureau of Public Transportation. Harris and other officials defended the rate increase. "Compared to driving a car on I-95, the train is still the best and cheapest way to get back and forth from New York City or through Fairfield County," Harris said. It costs about 11 cents a mile to commute by train from New Haven to New York City, but it costs 31 cents a mile to drive, said Leonard Lapsis, supervising transportation planner for the bureau of transportation. The controversy over the proposed fare increase may soon be a moot point since state lawmakers are considering a proposal to freeze fares for the next two years. But Harris explained that public hearings will continue in the meantime. Rail commuter after rail commuter told DOT officials last night that increasing the fares was counter-productive to the state's goal of increasing the use of public transportation to reduce pollution and highway congestion. They also complained that New York residents with similar rail commutes pay cheaper fares because New York state pays larger subsidies to the railroad. "Our colleagues in New York are paying 15 percent less per month," said Rich Hubli of Wilton. Jeffrey Tauscher said he and his wife each pay $241 a month to commute the 45-mile distance from Norwalk to New York City. But a 46-mile commute on Metro-North's Harlem and Hudson lines in New York costs $211 a month. Service on Metro-North's New Haven Line is also lacking, Tauscher and others said. Trains are late and crowded, the air conditioning often doesn't work and the bathrooms "smell very bad," Tauscher said. "The way things are going, we should get a fare rollback, not an increase," he said. Darien resident Mimi Griffith said the Metro-North fare will have a negative impact on working class people who use the line. "It's not just rich people going to investment banking jobs on Wall Street," Griffith said. One solution, fare increase opponents said, is for the Connecticut legislature to increase its rail subsidies. If Gov. John Rowland could afford to put up $400 million to lure the New England Patriots to Connecticut, he can afford to spend $4 million to avoid a rail fare increase, said Rodney Chabot, chairman of the Connecticut Rail Commuter Council. The group was formed by the Legislature to represent the interests of Metro-North and Shore Line East riders. "Connecticut commuters already pay the highest fares in the United States because the state's subsidy of fares is among the lowest," said James Cameron, vice-chairman of the rail commuter council. Cameron invited Rowland and members of the Legislature to drive on Interstate 95 during rush hour to see firsthand that more needs to be done to encourage the use of public transportation. "Today is another ozone alert day. The polluted air we are all breathing today was not created by commuter rail riders," Cameron said. The Norwalk-based South Western Region Metropolitan Planning Organization also opposed the rate increase. Three additional public hearings will be held before DOT Commissioner James Sullivan makes a decision whether to increase the rail fares, Lapsis said. The hearings are scheduled for 8 tonight at Roger Ludlowe School in Fairfield, June 9 at the Metropolitan Transit Authority headquarters in Manhattan and 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, June 12, at the Stamford Government Center. Lapsis said he was surprised to hear complaints about service on Metro-North trains because the line scored high on a recent customer satisfaction survey. |
