Train riders up; fares to follow By LYNN WOODS

Train riders up; fares to follow
By LYNN WOODS

Fares on the Metro-North Railroad are due for an increase by the end of the year. The details are yet to be hashed out.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which also operates New York City Transit, the Long Island Railroad, the MTA Bus and many of New York City’s toll routes, is facing a $6 billion deficit over the next four years. It is proposing a 6.5 percent increase in its yield from rail fares and toll revenues to help make up the shortfall. It is scheduling a series of hearings in November, which will be followed by a vote on the budget by the board of directors in December, according to transit authority press secretary Jeremy Soffin.

Soffin said that because the pricing structure is so complex, a careful determination needs to be made to figure out how the increase will be funded. He said that 58 percent of a given ride is covered by the fare, with the remainder subsidized by toll revenues and state funds. He couldn’t provide a more detailed breakdown of the state’s contribution.

Expressing concern about the proposed increases, Dutchess County Executive William Steinhaus said, “My goal is to minimize the fare impact on the user, where it could have a negative effect on families and businesses. I believe to do that the state and federal governments have to contribute the appropriate ratio of funding.”

He also acknowledged, “We’re asking for improved services. There is a relationship between improved service and expenses.”

Overall, “Dutchess County has had a very productive and effective relationship with Metro-North during the time I’ve been executive,” which is the past 16 years, Steinhaus said. “There is a high level of dependency by Dutchess County on Metro-North’s services. One is the commuter traffic, but in addition, there is a substantial traffic of individuals from Dutchess County who go into New York (City) for nonwork-related activities.” Many people from New York CIty also take the train north, supporting Dutchess County’s tourism and the arts and cultural industries, he added.

Indeed, Metro-North spokesperson Daniel Brucker said “off-peak” riders now outnumber traditional commuters. More than half of riders 51 percent are using Metro-North for off-peak trips, including reverse commutation out of the city to suburban employment centers.

According to Metro-North statistics, the number of commuters to and from Manhattan during the morning and afternoon peaks increased 2.5 percent in 2006 and represents about 49 percent of the railroad’s total ridership. Reverse commutation makes up 6 percent of total ridership and increased by 2 percent last year. Off-peak travel makes up 31 percent of total ridership and increased 4 percent in 2006. The number of customers who don’t begin or end their trip at Grand Central Station make up 14 percent of total trips and grew 3 percent in 2006.

Metro-North posted its highest ridership ever in 2006, carrying 76.8 million customers, a 3.2 percent increase over 2005. The biggest gains were on the Hudson line, which jumped 4.1 percent to 14.7 million. The New Haven Line followed, with ridership increasing 3.1 percent to 34.9 million. The Harlem line ridership rose 2.6 percent to 25.4 million.

Ridership on west-of-the-Hudson lines increased 4.8 percent in 2006, although the overall number of customers was far smaller:1.38 million on the Port Jervis line and 423,000 on the Pascack Valley line. Total annual ridership has increased 60 percent since Metro-North began operations in 1984. Ridership is projected to grow another 2.4 percent in 2008.

Metro-North also posted record on-time performance in 2006, with 97.8 percent of all scheduled trains arriving on time. That’s despite an increase in the number of scheduled trains by 3.3 percent, to more than 200,000 in 2006.

The last big fare increase on Metro-North’s Hudson and Harlem lines was in 2003, with a 25 percent jump from the year before although fares hadn’t gone up in the previous nine years. Fares jumped again in 2005, by 6 percent.

Metro-North is continually plowing money back into its operations. In 2008, the railroad plans to purchase hand-held devices including wireless printers to issue printed receipts for on-board ticket sales. It also is enhancing its fleet, investing $733 million in 300 new cars on the New Haven line and overhauling 140 of its electric cars for the Hudson and Harlem lines. North of Croton-Harmon, the line is not electrified and diesel locomotives are deployed. It’s also upgrading the track and will start construction on a new operations control center, utilizing state-of-the-art rail traffic technology.

Metro-North has invested substantially in station improvements east of the Hudson, spending $200 million in parking improvements over the past five years, according to Steinhaus.

“In many cases, we don’t own the parking areas around the station, so we have worked hand in glove with municipalities to develop parking,” Brucker said. The railroad has spent more than $40 million at the Poughkeepsie station since the mid-1990s, including construction of the parking garage, and a new enclosed Main Street stairway, completed this year.

Even with the improvements, Poughkeepsie has reached its maximum parking capacity, said Steinhaus. Dutchess County runs shuttles to remote parking lots from the station, but he said, “We’re re-evaluating that to revise the impact on parking around the sites. We’re doing substantial upgrades in Poughkeepsie, New Hamburg and Beacon. It costs millions of dollars.”

Steinhaus said Ulster County is also running a bus service to the Poughkeepsie station, as part of the region’s overall transportation network plan.

In Beacon, the railroad spent more than $20 million to improve station access and expand the parking facilities, including a plaza and drop-off area that features attractive landscaping, seating and new bike racks.

Steinhaus noted that as “a hub community,” thanks to its numerous arts and cultural attractions, Beacon contributes substantially to the county’s economy. The city is planning a meeting later this month to look at additional transit-related improvements as part of the update of the city’s comprehensive plan, said Beacon Mayor Clara-Lou Gould.

“Mass transit benefits everyone, not just the user,” Steinhaus said. “People who take the train north patronize the hotels and restaurants and are supporting jobs in Dutchess County. It’s why we have a broader tax base.”

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