2018-02-15

Amtrak is saying that New Jersey Transit trains won't be allowed on its tracks after December 31st if NJT hasn't installed Positive Train Control on all its trains by then. And yes, all American railroads are required to have PTC up and running by that date, and for good reason; there have been numerous fatal crashes in recent years that could have been prevented or lessened with the technology.

NJT still claims to believe that it will meet the deadline, though things aren't looking good right now. What would look a whole lot worse, however, would be a complete cessation of trains between New Jersey and New York's Penn Station, already a looming prospect because of damage done to the Hudson River tunnels by Superstorm Sandy in 2012. Trump's so-called "infrastructure plan" doesn't appear to consider the over 100-year old tunnels a priority, not that the plan is offering much in the way of federal funding for infrastructure anyway.

The worst-case scenario here could be pretty damned bad. While I don't work in NYC, I'm hopin' it doesn't come to that.

2018-01-12

It's horrible enough when someone chooses to commit suicide by getting in front of a moving train, or deliberately trespasses on railroad tracks without expecting a train to come. This evening, someone was hit by a New Jersey Transit train at my regular train station, Kingsland in Lyndhurst, because he was standing too close, with his back to the tracks, and his headphones on.

The articles I've found (here's a second, and here's the other) say he was critically injured, so I don't know if he's still alive as I'm writing this, but it's a tragedy. For him, for the engineer and conductors and passengers aboard the train that struck him, and to a lesser extent for the commuters who were delayed during rush hour by the incident and its police investigation. I like to listen to music on my iPhone, too, but I don't drown out the rest of the world and ignore my surroundings. I'm sorry for the victim, but this accident could've, should've been avoided. I've taken the train to and from Kingsland Station thousands of times, with earbuds in and without, in rain and snow as well as sun, distracted by my phone and as alert as a lert, alone and with others, but never once have I come close to being struck.

I hope he will be OK. And I hope this obsession with distraction lessens soon.

To New Jersey Transit

On Wednesday, May 13th, 2015, I attended a public meeting of the New Jersey Transit board of directors at NJT headquarters in Newark. With a proposed fare hike looming in spite of service and equipment failures, and said hike intended only to "keep the lights on" and not to improve anything in any way, twelve of us took turns at the microphone to complain, to chastise, to suggest... to be heard. After brief unscripted condolences for the victims, and their families, of the fatal Amtrak derailing the night before, I read the following (from my Nexus 7 and not a printout - got to stay green!). (Update: NJ.com put up this article about the meeting, featuring a picture of me at the mike, and WNYC put up this one, which has my name misspelled, but still...)

My name is Andersen Silva, and I had to leave my job in Paramus, 20 miles away, at 2:30 PM in order to make it here by 5. One bus, two trains… two hours. In my efforts to be as green as possible, to reduce my footprint on the environment and the roadways as well as to save a little money, I’ve opted not to own a car, but New Jersey Transit makes it harder and harder to justify that decision, and asking us to accept a 9% fare increase simply to maintain the woefully inadequate status quo is pushing the boundaries of fairness and good taste. For me, personally, a 9% increase will cost approximately an additional $250 a year, which I could accept if it bought fewer breakdowns, more frequent service, and fewer missed connections. However, I fear the floggings will continue until morale improves.

While I certainly ride New Jersey Transit to and from New York City on weekends and for concerts and other events, I’m probably one of the few regular intrastate commuters you’ll hear from today, and we’ve got it just as bad as the interstate commuters. When the Bergen Line train gets me to Ridgewood two minutes too late to make the 752 bus in the middle of the winter, there’s no heated area at the bus transfer for me to wait inside for 28 minutes until the next one. Secaucus Junction and Hoboken Terminal might be more comfortable, but no one wants to wait for a train for an hour and a half at either place on a weekend night. Quiet Cars and the MyTix app and My Bus Now are nice, but they’ll never make up for delays and long lines and wait times.

I call upon State Senator Paul Sarlo, Assemblyman Gary Schaer, and Assemblywoman Marlene Caride to represent my fellow commuters and me in the legislature and fight to restore $60 million in subsidies to New Jersey Transit’s budget, and avoid this unfair fare hike. Not investing in our public transportation system, turning a blind eye to the crumbling Hudson tunnels and the failing Portal Bridge, refusing to prioritize the rapid and efficient movement of people to and from jobs inside and outside the state… that’s not the way to go. There are two toll lanes closed, the bridge is out, and I doubt I’ll be the only one to jump if something isn’t done soon. Thank you.

New Jersey Transit

I'm makin' with the words again...

My displeasure with New Jersey Transit has grown steadily since Hurricane Sandy in 2012 slammed the region and the transportation agency. I can understand being overwhelmed by a superstorm. I can't understand not learning from the experience, not communicating quickly and accurately with one's paying customers, not showing concern about regular delays of 30 minutes or more, not expressing an interest in improving.

Communities of like-minded NJT riders have sprung up on Twitter and Facebook over the past few months, and in the course of some conversations, some of the others and I have begun seriously considering organizing a one-day boycott. The idea is simple: for that one weekday, don't ride any New Jersey Transit vehicle (bus, train, or light-rail) to work or school or anyplace else. Take the day off if you can afford to, or drive if you can, or get a ride with someone else, or ride a different carrier (DeCamp, Coach USA, Amtrak, etc.). This isn't about "getting even" or taking out our frustration on the agency. As most of us are regular riders and probably have monthly or weekly passes, the financial impact to NJT would be negligible... but that's not the point. If we do this right, we can focus a lot of unwanted attention on the agency and our justified grievances with it.

Doing it right requires a few things, I think. Firstly, we'd need numbers. A dozen, a hundred, even five hundred riders skipping NJT for a day would hardly raise an eyebrow. To raise some flags, we'd need thousands of empty seats that day. We'd want the people who did ride the buses and trains and light-rails that day (not to mention the drivers and conductors) to notice and wonder, "Where is everyone?" It's been pointed out that a large group of people taking cars instead of mass transit for a day could well make regular traffic worse; I say, so what? What's one day of extra traffic delays, especially when that may generate some media attention?

Which brings me to the second point... It would be helpful to get some attention from news outlets and bloggers, before and during (and after) our boycott. New Jersey Transit has been under more of a spotlight lately than it's used to, but it's not enough yet. We need others, not just us riders, to be aware of and outraged by the things NJT can do, but isn't doing, to make the situation better.

Thirdly, we can't just show up (well, not show up, really) with pitchforks and torches and clamor that we don't like New Jersey Transit! We have to list our (realistic and reasonable) grievances so that NJT knows what we want to see fixed, and so that others see that we're not just complaining for the sake of complaining. There was apparently a "Commuter Bill of Rights" proposed at one time, that died in committee; the idea should be revisited and strongly encouraged.

There are other methods we can employ, of course. The customer surveys should be filled out, and our responses need to be brutally honest. There are open meetings we can attend. Complaint forms should be filled out, and/or calls made. Legislators need to know how important this is to us. The status updates and tweets should continue as well. I feel, however, that a large-scale collective action like a boycott will make a statement that 10,000 complaints just can't, a statement that will be noticed by more than just New Jersey Transit. And so I'm trying to instigate. ;-) If you really want to see things change, then take the initiative, and go a step or two further than just moaning about it on social media.

If you were unsatisfied with Apple's iPhone, you could switch to LG or Samsung. If you don't like Walmart's policies, you can shop at Target instead. For a large number of us New Jersey Transit riders, however, the only viable alternative to riding is driving, and it's ridiculous that we should be forced to do that simply because our transit system is subpar. Some people don't have the option of driving, some would just rather avoid the hassle. For me, it's a combination of being green (by keeping one less car off the road) and saving green (by paying less for my public transportation than I would for a car and its associated expenses).

If we can get the numbers, I want to help organize a boycott! I'm going to need your help to get those numbers, though, because we're going to need a lot of people to participate. What do you say?

Time

One month ago today, I proposed to Laura, and she said yes. She later described the look on my face as the most "genuinely vulnerable" she'd ever seen anyone, which sounds about how I was feeling. I knew she was probably going to say yes, but of course I couldn't know for sure, and yet I had to lay my heart out on the line. I was nervous, to be sure, though not nearly as nervous as I could have been; I just wanted to make it absolutely crystal-clear to this woman, and to everyone else, that I wanted to be with her always and spend all time, the rest of my days, with her. Being engaged doesn't feel any different, and yet it does. We still treat each other as lovingly as we always have, but there's more of a sense of permanence, and of expectation, too. We have a wedding to put together! Working on it...

Twenty-two days ago, New Jersey Transit interfered with my commuting schedule again. While the trip home from work sucks as badly as always, with me getting home at 6:45 PM on the really rare, really good day, I've suddenly found myself having to add a bus to my morning routine, which already consisted of a train and a bus, to get to work 40 minutes or so later than I used to. The bad(der) news is that this Bergen Line train is already proving slightly less reliable than the Main Line train had been; one day last week, the train was almost 30 minutes late, which caused me to miss my regular bus, and then the next bus was ten minutes late.  The good news is that I'll be paying less for my monthly passes, since I'm now traveling through Rutherford Station rather than Kingsland, so at least NJT is going to lose some money for inconveniencing me.

Two days ago, two explosions tore through the tail end of the Boston Marathon's route on Boylston Street. The last time I walked along that stretch couldn't have been more than four years ago, and of course Laura and I are heading to the Boston Comic Con this Saturday at the Hynes Convention Center, just a few blocks from where the tragedy unfolded. As a techie, I donated through this site to support the victims; it's nice to see such an outpouring of support online for Boston and those hurt by this, but money is needed, too.

I'm still looking forward to our mini-trip to Massachusetts. We're going to visit a yarn shop on the way to the Boston area, and we're considering having dinner in Salem on Friday night. Breakfast on Saturday definitely has to be at Zaftigs! Seeing Copley Square will hurt, though. I don't like innocent civilians, just people, being attacked anywhere, but particularly not somewhere I know and love. I've spent a lot of time in Boston. I've walked it from end to end, I've ridden T trolleys and buses so tightly packed that some cultures might consider me married already, I've seen Aimee Mann perform at the Orpheum, I've daydreamed in Boston Common and at the Public Garden, and I've been alone with my thoughts on the Esplanade while gazing out over the Charles late at night.  Boston is my city as much as New York is, and as I was shaken by the destruction of the World Trade Center, I am shaken by this.  Still, it will not deter me from visiting and it doesn't diminish my love for Boston.

There were a lot of quotes and a lot of memes circulating Monday and yesterday. I shared (and will leave you with) this one, from former U.S. President John F. Kennedy, another big fan of Boston: "Our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's fate. And we are all mortal."