(The Stamford Advocate published the following article by Jonathan Lucas on its website on February 5.)
STAMFORD, Conn. — The Connecticut Department of Transportation has renewed its commitment to keeping Metro-North Railroad’s fleet of 10 bar cars rolling.
The state will fund the renovation of the nearly 30-year-old bar cars as part of the complete overhaul of the first-generation M-series fleet, Bureau of Public Transportation Chief Harry Harris wrote in a letter last week to Metro-North President Peter Cannito.
Harris said the commitment is based on initial estimates that place the total cost of the bar car renovations at no more than $2.3 million.
“We have to be pragmatic here,” Harris said, “But assuming the costs aren’t astronomical, we have made a commitment to go ahead with the bar cars.”
The renewed commitment comes as a relief to many regular bar car commuters who fear Metro-North’s push to install more seating on the trains would spell the end for their mobile sanctuary.
“It’s the one car where you can talk to people without disturbing anyone,” said Tom Skinner, a Web site developer from Westport who hosts the popular BarCar.com Web site. “It’s the one car where you can interact with people and you’re not isolated in the cultural solitary confinement of commuting where most people read or listen to their Walkmans or play solitaire on their computers.”
The renovations are expected to replace the lounge seating motif with more traditional seats and update the burnt orange, harvest gold and wood-grain paneling color schemes of the early 1970s.
“The cars themselves are deteriorating because they’re not being cared for,” Skinner said. “There’s a feeling among some of us that Metro-North is shining everyone and really just waiting for the cars to come off-line and they’ll never come back.”
Skinner said his concerns grew when Connecticut officials called for more rail cars but no new bar cars. He said the cars serve as more than transportation because they serve as a place where people can relax and mingle.
“It’s a great quality-of-life thing,” Skinner said. “It’s something that separates us from the drudgery of the rest of the commuters.”
Metro-North’s New Haven Line is the only commuter rail service in the country with bar cars. Metro-North has proposed abandoning the bar cars in the past in favor of additional seats but has always caved to strong public opposition.
Proponents also point out that the bar cars are the only profit-generators on the railroad.
Harris said revenues from thebar cars have dropped since Metro-North began selling beverages near the platforms at Grand Central Terminal, but he confirmed they make a small profit.
Renovations on the cars are not expected to begin until late next year at the earliest after a number of engineering and design issues have been ironed out, Harris said.
Preliminary designs call for nearly doubling the seating of the cars to 45 to 50 seats, still about half of the 110 a regular car seats and cutting the length of the bar in half. Harris called the design a compromise between the competing interests of preserving the bar car and adding more seats. Preliminary designs also show seating with eight café-style tables.
But adding more seats in a noisy environment may not be a good mix, said Jeffrey Maron, who serves on the Connecticut Metro North-Shore Line East Rail Commuter Council’s bar car study committee.
“I don’t think there’s necessarily a need for more seats in the bar car,” Maron said. “There’s a lot of standees in the bar car, and people are happy standing in the bar car.”
Maron said as more commuters are demanding quiet cars with no cell phones, the need grows for bar cars where people can talk freely.
“If you have a quiet car, you need a noisy car, too,” said Maron, a Moneyline Telerate executive who has been commuting from Stamford for the past 13 years. “Considering how long people sit on the train, it’s a great environment to catch up with people.”
Commuter Council Vice Chairman Jim Cameron does not support keeping the bar cars, noting that additional seats are desperately needed.
“I’m astounded that anytime anyone talks about the bar cars, there is a tremendous human cry from people who use them,” Cameron said, noting that he does not drink and does not use the bar cars. “No issue gets as much rancor from riders as the bar cars. I wish people’s passion for the bar cars could translate to them demanding their legislators to order more cars so we can all have seats.”
Cameron said he is intrigued by the conceptual designs that seem to appease both sides in the debate. He and other commuters said the bar cars should be used more efficiently during the morning rush hours when they do not serve food or beverages.
“It makes no sense, given the shortage of seats, to have a car be hauled around empty three-quarters of the time,” said Cameron, a commuter from Darien. “I wish there was a way to utilize them more frequently.”
Harris said Metro-North union provisions prevent the DOT from providing a morning coffee service through an outside vendor and said it would not be profitable to do it internally.
“There’s a profit margin on beer and wine and snacks that’s sufficient enough to do that,” Harris said. “That isn’t the case with coffee and orange juice.”