MILFORD, Conn. — Fewer commuters from Connecticut to New York City are working Fridays, but since the Sept. 11 attacks, Metro-North Railroad has noticed more people are using its trains for pleasure trips into the city, the Connecticut Post reported.
“Ridership numbers on Friday simply plummeted,” said Metro-North spokesman Dan Brucker. He added, “3,700 customers were simply missing on Fridays.”
That is out of approximately 80,000 who commute each day between southwestern Connecticut and New York City.
Amtrak, which is only reporting passenger totals between Washington, D.C., and Boston, has also seen some changes.
Spokesperson Cecilia Cummings said that, for the first time, “We dominate the market from Washington to New York.”
And, between New York and Boston, 49 percent of the people who travel — either by rail or airplane — are sticking with Amtrak’s Acela Express and Metroliner service.
For September 2001, Amtrak reported an increase of 6 percent along its Northeast corridor. In October, ridership rose 43 percent from the year-ago period. From October to July 31, 2002, Amtrak carried 19.646 million passengers, up .3 percent from the year before.
While Amtrak’s numbers don’t differentiate between business and pleasure travelers, Metro-North can give an approximation, based on travel times.
Brucker said weekday morning ridership is “soft,” down two percent from before the attacks.
However, he said that decline is not related to the attacks, but rather, “It’s because the economy is growing soft.”
Another possible cause, and one that also affected the number of commuters heading north from New York City, was the relocation of some companies whose offices were destroyed or uninhabitable.
“Almost immediately [after Sept. 11] reverse ridership really rocketed up [by] more than 20 percent,” he said.
Also ballooning up, said Brucker, were the number of commuters coming into Grand Central by 7 a.m., which he attributes to the need to get through the added security. That growth, however, seems to be flattening out. The growth in reverse ridership is also declining, as companies move back into New York City.
Concurrently, he said, the number of commuters sticking around until 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. is down.
“People are definitely leaving the city earlier.”
At the same time, Brucker said, there has been a four percent increase in the number of riders on weekends and during noncommuting times, meaning more people are likely coming into the city for pleasure.
NYC & Co., the city’s tourism marketing group, noted earlier this month that tourists are visiting the city. However, there are fewer business travelers, and visitors that do come spend less time in New York on average than before the attacks.
Passengers at the Milford train station confirmed Metro-North’s information about increased pleasure trips.
“We really love New York,” said Susan Pryor, who was waiting with her husband, David, for the 2:09 p.m. Metro-North train to New York City. “We were going to go to Europe, but decided to go to New York.”
Last year on Sept. 11, they were visiting Washington D.C., and sitting in traffic outside the Pentagon, when the building was struck.
“We watched American Airlines [Flight 77] fly into the side of the building,” said David Pryor.
It was this experience, and the connection they feel to the events of last Sept. 11, that is drawing them to New York, said Susan Pryor. The Salem, Ill., residents, who used to live in Milford, are in Connecticut visiting their daughter, who still lives in Milford.
According to the Pryors, the attacks haven’t changed their views of New York, or altered their travel habits, although they say they are now more aware of their surroundings.
Michael McFadden of Milford works in the film industry and still drives into New York most days.
McFadden said driving was always the easiest way for him to get into the city. But, he said, traveling by rail was a nice break from driving himself, especially after his recent four-day drive from Las Vegas.
Geraldine McFadden, who met her husband at the Milford station Monday, said she loves New York and her opinion of the city has not changed since the attacks, but she has had more worry.
“Yeah, I worry about him.” Geraldine McFadden said of her husband’s daily commute. “It’s in the back of your mind,” she said of the attacks and recurring warnings.
Workers for Metro-North also said their families expressed more concern over their safety following the events, but, as in the McFaddens’ case, those fears aren’t ruling their lives.
Metro-North Conductor Michael Busk hinted that security might be better on the trains now because commuters were more aware.
“People are a little more cautious,” Busk said.
According to Busk, the days of people just ignoring unattended bags seem to be over and people have notified him and other Metro-North personnel when they see something they think is suspicious.
Stratford resident Preston Anderson, who works in station services for the railroad, agreed with Busk about the added caution on the part of passengers and his family.
And Jade Papageorge, a Killingworth resident who was returning from New York on Sunday, said she, too, is more alert when she goes into the city.
But, she said, she still makes frequent, spur-of-the-moment trips.
“I’ve thought about [being in potential] targets like Grand Central and the trains — It doesn’t stop me.”
One Metro-North conductor, a Connecticut resident who said his name is Robert, confirmed that travel seems to be back to normal, after an initial drop-off following the attacks.
The passengers, he said, are doing “what people used to do” in New York, namely, sightseeing.
“People — they’re just going about their normal lives,” he said.