Minutes

 

Wednesday January 18, 2012  -  7 PM

SWRPA Offices – Government Center – Stamford CT

 

 

Members in Attendance: Chairman Jim Cameron, Sue Prosi, Bob Jelley, Tim Beeble, Terri Cronin, Jeffrey Maron, Rodney Chabot, Luke Schnirring, John Hartwell, Mitch Fuchs, Roger Cirella, Mark Maruszewski. 

Guests: St Representative Gail Lavielle, St Senator Toni Boucher, Eugene Colonese of CDOT, Commr. Jim Redecker of DOT, Sue Doering of MNR, Jeff Olwell of MNR, Danny O’Connell of MNR, John Austin Sr. – Consumer Advocate, Martin Cassidy – The Stamford Advocate.

 

  Minutes: Approval of the minutes of the December meeting: Motion by John Hartwell, Second by Bob Jelley, unanimously approved.

 

1. Election of New Secretary:  Chairman Cameron announced that Tim Beeble volunteered to serve as Secretary.  There being no other volunteers, Bob Jelley nominated Tim Beeble for Secretary, seconded by Rodney Chabot.  The Council voted unanimously to elect Tim Beeble as its Secretary.

 

2. Customer Satisfaction Survey:  MNR Operations and Planning staff, who had previously distributed to the Council the Customer Satisfaction Survey results, reviewed the data summary with the Council.  There was an 81% satisfaction level on the New Haven line; the lowest level ever.  MNR attributed this, in part, to the service disruptions arising during the 2011 snows, the July extreme heat, the August hurricane, and the October snow storm. Stamford is the eastward cut-off point for the survey’s “Inner” designation. The “Outer” designation covers the branches and all stations east of Stamford to New Haven.

 

The sample size was 5,100 including 2,400 customers of the New Haven Line.  Surveys were distributed to a subset of the riders on the selected trains.  The responses were weighted to better match actual ridership.

 

The Council members expressed concern that the survey used a score of 6 out of 10 as a respondent being “satisfied.”  There was also concern that the survey split Connecticut commuters into the Inner and Outer sub-groups and consequently, we do not have segregated survey results for Connecticut commuters.  The Council requested the raw data so that it could be re-sorted and evaluated.

 

3. Quiet Cars:  The Quiet Car testing began on January 9^th, starting with 18 trains.  The Quiet trains are designated in the new timetables with a “Q.”  MNR will survey all customers, including those riding the Quiet Cars and those choosing to ride in other cars.  So far, there has been a good response to Quiet Cars.  The Council noted the need for better communication to riders about the Quiet Car location.

 

4. Update on M8s: Gene Colonese reported that 74 M-8s have been delivered and 66 have been accepted for service.  52 are in active use, and 14 are maintained for the spare margin.  On weekdays, 23% of the mainline electric trains are M-8s.  The M-8s have not been used east of New Haven.  MNR is now running the first 10-car set of M-8s. Only a few M-2s have been retired.  MNR will begin retiring 5-10 older cars per month.

 

5. Mainline Issues: Train lengths are limited by platform lengths at GCT and yard lengths elsewhere.  The MLK Holiday schedule was problematic as many commuters worked that day. “Skip station” scheduling causes service gaps of 2 hours at stations like Rowayton, East Norwalk and Greens Farms; there was discussion about the need to limit service gaps to one hour.  Danbury branch line has 3 hour service gaps on weekdays and 4 hour gaps on weekends.  The Danbury signalization project will allow the scheduling of additional trains.  The Shoreline East has 5 hour gaps on weekdays.  The Waterbury branch has 3 hour service gaps on weekdays and weekends.  While the Waterbury branch, like Danbury, has a single track, Waterbury has a 27 mile stretch without any siding.   However, it takes 2 hours to make the Waterbury to Bridgeport round-trip run, so that the service gap could be reduced to 2 hours. 

 

 

MOTION: Bob Jelley made the motion, seconded by Rodney Chabot and modified by Terri Cronin, that CDOT should work with MNR to adopt the goal of having a maximum one-hour service gap on the mainline and 2 hour service gap on the branch lines and Shore Line East, and further, MNR should curtail Skip Stop scheduled service and modify the Yankee Stadium train service to make all stops enroute to baseball games .  Motion approved.

  

6. Shoreline East:  Old Saybrook parking continues to be a problem.  The DOT lot is always full, and the Town has recently announced plans to post “No Parking” signs on the street.

                                  

7. Stamford Garage:  Jim Redeker reported that DOT is working on an RFP for a consultant to advise on alternative parking sites.  Chairman Cameron reminded DOT that the Commuter Council is available to advise on locational issues for parking.

 

8. Additional Stations:  Bridgeport’s Livable Communities and Transit Oriented Development initiative proposes a new “Barnum” station, east of the current station and beyond the Peck Bridge and near the Remington Factory.  They are also proposing an East Main Station in Bridgeport.  The DOT has not done any analysis of either station proposal.  An RFP is out for the Bridgeport study.  Responses have been received for the East Main Street Stamford Station proposal which is part of the Sustainable Communities HUD Grant.

 

9. Customer Pledge:  Commissioner Redeker reviewed a final edit of the Customer Pledge that is proposed by MNR: In Pledge # 1, “MNR will use best efforts to schedule service to meet anticipated demand.”  The phrase in italics is added language. 

 

 

 

 

MOTION: by Jeff Maron, seconded by Rodney Chabot, to accept the revised pledge.  Approved unanimously.

 

10. Branch Lines: New Canaan Branch has an issue with scheduling of the 1711 train which arrives late to Stamford on a daily basis, which in turn holds up the platforming of other trains.

 

11. Annual Report:  Chairman Cameron had made final revisions to the Annual Report in response to suggestions from Council Members. 

 

 

MOTION: By Jeff Maron, seconded by Terri Cronin, that the Council approve the Annual Report.  Unanimously approved.

 

12. ADJOURNED: Motion to adjourn by Jeff Maron, Seconded by Roger Cirella.  Unanimously approved.  Adjourned at 9:05 PM

 

 

 

 

Respectfully submitted by:

Tim Beeble, Secretary

 

NEXT MEETING:   Wednesday February 15, 2012 at 7 pm at SWRPA / Stamford Govt Ctr