|
|
|
Whatever Floats Your Boat
|
Business New Haven
2/4/2002
By:
Linda Mele
|
Anyone who has worked in Connecticut for any length of time knows what an ordeal it can be getting to work in the morning and getting back home at night, especially in inclement weather. Whether traveling by car, bus, train or “shoe-leather express,” that 30-minute ride can turn into a hour-plus nightmare at a moment's notice and adversely affect the performance of you and your employees.
Nevertheless, workers, employers and state transportation officials have put a great deal of effort into providing easier, safer, healthier and more cost-effective ways to get to work.
Take the state's ferries, for instance. In 1883, 27 stockholders formed the Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Steamboat Co. during a time when steamboating was in its heyday as a fast and efficient way to move passengers and cargo from point to point. The prime reason for establishing the link between agricultural Long Island and industrial New England was the persistent demand for something more reliable and comfortable than sailing vessels. Ferry service filled that need.
Much earlier, ferry service was established between Chester and Hadlyme (1769) and Rocky Hill and Glastonbury (1655). Both are still operational, as is regular service from New London to Block Island (R.I.). All are overseen by the state Department of Transportation's Bureau of Aviation & Ports. New Haven's port is used primarily for cargo and fuel.
Much of the service in the early days served to transport Long Island farmers and their crops to markets in Bridgeport and then back again with supplies they and their neighbors needed and couldn't easily get in Port Jefferson and other Long Island communities.
The depression of the 1930s and especially the hurricane of 1938 nearly killed the steamboat era, and the hurricane devastated Port Jefferson. Although the World War II years saw an increase in the number of passengers, in part because of gas rationing and the fact that many other boat lines ceased operations, there were a lot of lean years.
Today, the ferry is still operating between Bridgeport and Port Jefferson and business is once again thriving, according to general manager Fred Hall. Each weekday workers such as Sharon Brennan rely on it to get back and forth to work. The director of admissions at Southern Connecticut State University, Brennan had to make a decision ten years ago about where she was going to live.
“The man I love was living in Long Island and my job was in Connecticut,” Brennan says, “and there was no way I was going to drive from Long Island to Connecticut and back again every day. I had either to find an alternate way to get to New Haven or quit my job.”
Love triumphed, and today Brennan and a dozen or so other early birds take the 6 a.m. ferry that gets them into Bridgeport at 7:15. Brennan says she and some other early riders buy a monthly pass for about $200 - substantially less than the $350 or so it could cost to get there by other means - and leaves a car in Bridgeport to drive the last 20 miles to New Haven.
Other ferry commuters take the train or bus to get where they have to go once they get off the ferry.
Hall says that in 1982 the line ferried 30,000 vehicles and 200,000 passengers. “This past year,” he says, “we ferried 400,000 vehicles and 900,000 people.”
A proposed high-speed ferry service from Stamford along Long Island Sound to LaGuardia Airport and the New York Financial Center in lower Manhattan is in the works, and it's anticipated that it could be extended to Bridgeport, New Haven, Norwalk and other destinations along the I-95 corridor. These ferries would have a capacity of at least 350 passengers. The proposal is still being considered by the DOT's Transportation Committee.
Riding the Rails
(and Buses)
According to the Connecticut Transit Authority, the state's bus and rail transportation system includes two commuter rail lines, three branch lines, eight CTTransit bus divisions and 14 active transit districts, all of which provide some level of transportation and/or commuting services.
Ten years ago, Milford Alderman Jack Fowler also had to make a decision about how to get to work in New York. As a place to live, Milford was certainly more affordable than Greenwich and other southern Fairfield County towns, Fowler says.
“Once you experience the rush-hour commute to New York City or other towns along the way on I-95 or the Merritt Parkway, you'll never want to do it again,” he explains. “Over the years, I've become somewhat of an expert on commuting and I'd take the train before driving even if it cost the same and the time required to make the trip was the same.
When he worked in Washington, D.C. and commuted from Fredericksburg, Va., Fowler also rode the rails. Fowler says the trip from Milford to New York takes about 90 minutes; he fills that time by working or reading. “I've read hundreds of books courtesy of Metro-North,” Fowler says with a laugh.
According to Amtrak, the company owns 730 route miles (about three percent of the nationwide total) primarily between Boston and Washington, D.C., as well as in Michigan. Rail service along the New York-Washington corridor carries enough passengers to fill 121 airline flights each day. On weekdays, Amtrak operates up to 265 trains, excluding commuter trains.
Through its commuter services, Amtrak serves more than 54 million people per year.
While high-speed Acela rail service between Boston and Newport News, Va. is faster (135 to 150 mph compared to the 79 mph maximum of regular Amtrak trains), it's not really practical for commuters to ride it to work every day because it doesn't make the number of stops Metro-North makes. Eventually, it's expected to serve 600,000 riders and provide revenues in the neighborhood of $900,000 annually, according to state DOT officials.
The Shore Line East/Metro-North commuter train ride may also be an option for those who live east of New Haven and work in New Haven or west of the city, as it offers a variety of fare options as well as shuttle service between Union Station and the downtown business district.
DOT officials say with no traffic, weather, car or parking problems and expenses, it's a transportation bargain. Fowler, however, says that parking is a problem, at least at the Milford station. No matter how convenient the train may be, it's not convenient if you can't find a place to park in order to get on the train, he notes.
“When I started commuting in 1993 there wasn't a problem getting a year-long parking pass in Milford, but now there's a waiting list of more than 400,” Fowler says.
A “super station” in either West Haven or Orange with parking for more than 1,000 cars is in the works, but a decision has not been made yet as to which municipality would be the better choice. “We need to do something about it and do it now - not ten years from now,” Fowler says.
Those for whom it's practical to ride the bus to work can choose express bus service to New Haven from Old Saybrook, Westbrook, Clinton, Madison, Guilford, Hartford and Middletown by both CTTransit and private operators under contract to the DOT. Express bus service to Stamford and White Plains, N.Y. is also provided by CTTransit.
These bus, rail and ferry efforts are supposed to encourage a reduction in automobile travel on I-95 and the Merritt Parkway, especially if the new Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge project takes the anticipated 12 years to complete.
State officials say that current traffic volumes for both directions of travel on any given day are estimated to be 140,000 for I-95, 50,000 for the Merritt Parkway and 10,000 vehicles per day for Route 1 in Connecticut.
|
Go FirstGo PreviousGo
NextGo LastGo
to Index
|
|
