(The following story by Caren Halbfinger appeared on the Journal News website on March 10.)
NEW YORK — After a winter in which Metro-North Railroad service took a beating and many riders endured overcrowded and late trains, riders could have been expected to lash out at railroad President Peter Cannito when given the chance last night.
But whether riders are pleased that systemwide on-time performance climbed back up to 97 percent after Presidents Day, or whether they just wanted to get home, only 13 spoke, and few of them assailed the railroad at the annual president’s forum at Metro-North headquarters on Madison Avenue. The session was sponsored by the Metro-North Railroad Commuter Council.
“This was the winter of our discontent,” said Stephen Silber, a Cortlandt commuter. He remains dissatisfied because during the fall the railroad did away with the 7:46 train, changing the 7:39 a.m. train to a 7:42, which left Cortlandt riders with one train between 7 and 8 a.m., but added service to commuters who live farther north.
“Their attitude seems to be ‘we know what’s best, and if you don’t like it, too bad,’ ” he said, after an exchange with Cannito in which the two disagreed about whether the change could be characterized as a reduction in service. “This is a very arrogant public agency.”
Riders also tartly remarked on dirty trains and the unfairness of fares, and politely asked for more parking at stations and more frequent service from White Plains and Fleetwood. One vision-impaired rider criticized the failure of some conductors to announce station stops, which can make getting off at the right stop an unwelcome guessing game.
“I can deal with the trains being late every single morning,” said Ellen Young, who commutes from Bronxville, “but I can’t stand the filth of these trains.”
Young, who rides on one of the railroad’s 40-year-old cars that is due to be scrapped, had a hard time believing they were mopped and that refuse was removed every day, as Cannito said.
“Do they use water?” she asked, as other riders laughed.
Commuters felt the most service disruptions in January, when the railroad had as many as 230 cars out of service. It also combined and canceled trains for four weeks in a row. On-time performance during the morning peak hours in January was at 77.6 percent, down from 94.1 percent in January 2003. Nearly three times as many trains arrived more than 15 minutes late in January than did in January 2003.
CBS 2 meteorologist Jeff Berardelli said January was among the top 10 coldest Januarys on record, and both December and January had snowfall totals well above average. February, however, was extremely mild, both in temperature and snowfall amounts, he said.
The railroad has new cars in the pipeline, and it will begin to put these in service and retire its oldest cars next month, Cannito said.
“We have to work to restore their confidence in us,” Cannito said after the forum. “We will do that. Considering the winter, it was good service. I think people understood the weather had an impact.”