Opinion: Cutting Metro-North’s New Haven Line service a bad deal for CT

Metro-North’s New Haven Line provides frequent and reliable transportation between Connecticut and New York. Between 85,000 and 100,000 weekday riders use the New Haven Line, with commuters to New York City collectively bringing around $9.5 billion in earnings back to spend at local Connecticut businesses.

The new state budget, which proposes cutting nearly $40 million from the New Haven line, is deeply concerning. The cut will likely mean reduced and delayed service and crowded trains that will send riders into their cars and onto the highway. This couldn’t be more incongruous with Connecticut’s ambitious transportation and climate goals, and will make the state less competitive.

The Connecticut Department of Transportation says the proposed slash of funds is rooted in low ridership post-pandemic. And it is true that commuting patterns have changed in its wake. But while fewer commuters are taking the train on Mondays and Fridays, ridership overall is still strong — up to about 70% of 2019 levels, and in the first three months of 2023, nearly twice what it was in 2022, according to MTA data.

This is an impressive upward trend. What will it be in 2024? Certainly lower if these budget cuts pass.

Service would drop about 15% starting July 1, impacting both off-peak and peak trains. Peak service would be reduced to 60% of its current levels. If you’ve been on a peak service train between New Haven Union Station and Grand Central Terminal lately, you know there isn’t room for hundreds more riders per train.

Right now, New Haven Line riders only have to wait half an hour between trains, regardless of the time of day, which makes the train an attractive alternative to driving in traffic. But 50 fewer trains per day means waiting much longer. This is a severe problem for riders commuting to work and will likely tip the scales for many commuters away from transit and into their cars. And it’s also inconvenient for all types of riders — those who take the train to school and to visit New York for fun and other activities.

The New Haven Line — Metro-North’s busiest — is a perfect example of bistate connectivity and regional interdependence. The state of Connecticut owns the rails and stations and Metro-North Railroad operates the train service on the New Haven Line in Connecticut. These cuts will put a strain on this relationship and undermine investments the MTA is making to the New Haven Line, like the Penn Station Access project.

At the same time, Connecticut continues to make capital improvements to the line and has called on the MTA to do the same in places like New Rochelle where capital investments are necessary to speed service. It seems that both states need to do a better job cooperating with each other to ensure that New Haven Line riders on both sides of the state line are getting the service they need to ensure robust and reliable transit for our region.

Despite what some clickbait headlines may say, working in the office is not gone forever. Office workers don’t mind being in the office; it is the long commutes and delays they hate. While adjustments may be needed to address changing work patterns, service reductions will hurt our regional economy and make commutes a longer, less comfortable experience.

A better path would be to fully fund the New Haven Line and support investments in building transit-oriented communities, as proposed with Work Live Ride, which is being considered by the legislature this year. Work Live Ride legislation would incentivize and empower towns to create transit-oriented communities along rail and bus routes.

At the end of the day, a state’s budget demonstrates its values. Connecticut is a state that values essential workers, mass transit, regional connectivity and the environment. We need a budget that shows it.

We must plan for the future we want to see in Connecticut. The state must include the full $38 million budget line item for the New Haven Line commuter rail service in this year’s budget. And the MTA and CT DOT should work in tandem to make New Haven Line service as appealing as possible to riders.

The MTA is already looking to shift service in other parts of the system to better reflect changing travel patterns — we need that in Connecticut, too — and a fully funded New Haven Line that serves riders and the state’s economy.

Melissa Kaplan-Macey is vice president of State Programs and Connecticut Director at Regional Plan Association.