Community Corner

Uncertainty Grows Among Stamford's Rail Commuters

Rapid changes in the price of riding Metro-North, its trains, and its policies may be leaving Stamford's rail riders with questions that can't be answered.

Metro-North commuters are experiencing uncertainty to the state's agenda regarding the rail, meanwhile, their commuter experience changes at a rapid pace.

At the most recent meeting of Connecticut Rail Commuter Council in the , members reviewed a 2012 budget proposal by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy that will allocate a percentage from the to other state services.

"We discovered that the money from the fare increase, in this budget proposal, was not being spent on the trains, but was being poured into what's called the Special Transportation Fund," CRCC president Jim Cameron said about last week's commuter meeting.

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A similar instance of possible miscommunication occured several months ago, when Metro-North officials a Passenger's Bill of Rights while the CRCC was developing one, the CRCC having received the task from Sen. Gail Lavielle.  Metro-North has since published their draft, which included little, if any input from the CCRC.

"We felt that it was unfair, that the money could be used on things like roads and pensions, paying off bonds, and things like that when the fares had been raised with a specific concern to passengers of Metro-North. They needed money to run the trains," Cameron said.

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"Well, I noticed that the 10-pack for off-peak went up from 2011 to this year," Stamford resident and Metro-North rider Leo Dotson told Patch. "You know that doesn't really bother me that much...I assumed it was just a small increase, periodically, for inflation. Using it to improve transit, that's good, but I just saw it as a small increase, percentage-wise."

According to Dotson, he'd only stop riding the train if it became more expensive than driving.

"If it got to be a huge increase, that causes serious problems, because a lot of people who don't make a lot of money depend on that as a way to get to work," Dotson said.

"I think that if they state something that they're doing, such as 'we're going to use this money for this particular endeavor to improve your train experience,' and they don't do that, that's lying to the public," Dotson said.  "But like I said, I never heard anything about what they were doing."

Representatives of the Metro-North railroad did not wish to comment in regards to the allocation of fare increase revenue, but have no involvement in how state dollars are dispersed.


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