Post-Covid with all the work from home people.
Will commuter rail regain popularity again?
- Thread starter MIrailfan
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It will take years to get back to pre-Covid. Even when the pandemic is declared "over" so many companies have learned that productivity did not suffer due to remote work and they save on square footage. I suspect many larger companies will go to some sort of hybrid, working from home some of the time and the rest in the office. Transit agencies have their work cut out for them to become creative to respond to this new way of working.
west point
Engineer
The elephant in the "office" is Covid-19 fatigue. Around here all everyone says they want to get back to work. With no public transit the roads here are as crowded as ever. How that will apply to public transit by end of summer in major transit locations === who knows ?i
SubwayNut
Conductor
The big thing commuter rail needs to due is adapt into Regional Rail, with more frequent all day service to serve everyone, such as essential workers who's commute patterns don't have the usual peak start and end times, and less focus only on service during peak hours.
Boston just changed it's commuter rail schedules to do this.
Boston just changed it's commuter rail schedules to do this.
Qapla
Engineer
I have a friend who lives in Brooklyn and works in Manhattan - he told me that the subways are back to being full (crowded) ... at least the ones that are running.
^^^^^^This! ^^^^^^
They have been needing to do this for years but now more than ever. Commuter rail in this country needs to act more like S-Bahn trains in Europe and serve more than just suburban office workers and become actual regional rail systems.
Another challenge is being able to provide suburb-to-suburb service. I was just out and about today. The traffic levels are close to being what they were pre-pandemic. People are certainly going out and doing stuff. However, most of the commuter rail services were designed mostly to move office workers to and from downtown, and secondarily, service workers from the inner city to (some) suburban locations. I'm not sure what it would take to build a metropolitan rail network that would be a practical alternative to driving, even for people who aren't commuting to a downtown job, but the first thing they could do is more frequent service outside of the rush hour.
For suburb to suburb service, there are two cities that come to my mind: Boston and Chicago. There may be others, but they don't pop out at the moment. Both have right-of-ways and rails in place, and are used by freight railroads. Boston has a north and west quadrant possibility running from Haverhill to Lowell to Worcester, via Ayer. Chicago has the former EJ&E running from Waukegan south to Joliet and looping east to Gary, IN. I have no idea, though, how much used either of these services would be. I believe the Chicago route was considered several years ago, though.
Ziv
Conductor
Heck, not even the subways I am familiar with provide decent suburb to suburb service, MARC Rider. If "commuter rail" is light rail only and not subways about the only part of the local rail systems in the DC area that provided suburb to suburb rail service is the "not even here yet" Purple Line. I used to live in Arlington Virginia so we share (kind of) a common DMV mass transit system. Getting MARC Rail or Virginia Rail to do a decent job of sub to sub travel would be a difficult task. Are there even tracks in place that could be used? Or existing right of way sans track? And I imagine that the DC/Baltimore Metro conglomeration is probably better served than most other medium/large sized cities in the US or Canada.
Ryan
Court Jester
When I go back to the office, it's only going to be 2-3 days a week. One consideration on the train vs. drive is that it'll lose the inherent discount that comes with monthly/weekly ticket pricing.
What about the transit subsidy? This was very common in DC and used as a way to meet transportation conformity/Clean Air Act compliance goals. I'm not sure that the Feds are going to eliminate the transit subsidy, and the local MPO will want to keep it, especially since they'll need to offset the increased driving suburb-to-suburb. Under the rules I had for my transit subsidy, they paid for whatever you rode, up to a $230/month maximum. I had a compressed workweek, and only worked 9 days every 2 weeks, but they paid for a monthly pass for me. I suspect if you only worked 3 days a week, they'll pay for 24 one-way tickets, plus bus or metro fare used. If a pass is cheaper than 24 one-way tickets, they'll pay for the pass. Perhaps it's time for MARC to bring back the 10-trip discount ticket.
Ryan
Court Jester
I haven't yet heard how that's going to interface with part time telework. You're correct that it'll be awesome if they'll continue to cover the full fare. I went back to driving because the enforcement of core working hours (now gone) made for a super long day 5x a week, but with improved schedule flexibility and getting to stay home a few days a week, I'd love to get back into the train.
I know you dont miss being in the Areas "Wonderful " Traffic every day!
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MisterUptempo
Lead Service Attendant
The proposal in Chicago you are referring to was known as the STAR Line. The initial segment would have utilized the EJ&E from Joliet (at Renwick Road) to the Jane Addams Tollway, continuing down the median of the tollway to the Metra-North Central at O'Hare, terminating at Rosemont, allowing passengers to board the North Central or the CTA Blue Line to Chicago, if desired. A later segment promised a connection to Metra-Rock Island and Metra-Electric District lines.
As is often the case, the problem was money, or the lack of it, rather. CN had the money to buy the EJ&E when it became available. Metra did not. Since purchasing the "J", CN has moved a lot of their freights moving through Chicago onto the line.
In addition to killing off the STAR Line, CN's acquisition of the "J" moved the railroad from actively supporting the CREATE Project and pledging financial support to becoming a "supporter", which is the rail equivalent of "thoughts and prayers". They're happy sitting on the sidelines while others scratch for funding.
Exvalley
Conductor
- Joined
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One problem with suburb to suburb service is that the suburbs are designed for automobiles and bus service can be spotty or infrequent. It's one thing to get to the suburb, it's another thing to be able to get to where you want to go within the suburb.
There is definitely an argument to be made (which I've seen in an op-ed recently that I can't find to link to) for a massive investment in bus transit that would allow for frequent and convenient service in the suburbs.
Ryan
Court Jester
I'd add DC to this list as well. Run through MARC service would open up a ton of Crystal City/Pentagon jobs to commuting from Maryland easier. Today to get there from here is MARC to WAS, transfer to Metro, go two stops on the red line, change trains to the yellow line, then cross the river. Staying on the train and crossing into VA to get off directly at Crystal City would be a massive improvement.
Once the Metro got going, I never liked having to change Metro Trains @ Metro Center to get most places in DC back when I used them regularly in my Civil Service Days.
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Ryan
Court Jester
You must have lived a charmed life, most of my trips involve transfers.
The system is much bigger now as you know, and MARC and VRE, which were not useful for me due to where I lived, are viable Commuter systems as you also know.
Your proposal makes a lot of sense, which, since its DC, doesnt stand a chance as you also know! Sigh
