Transportation is the hot issue this weekend, with earth day stuff going on and a general focus on mass transportation issues. CT-N has been airing a regional transportation presentation about high speed rail in the northeast corridor and Transit for Connecticut is asking for $2.79 million to study bus transportation.
The weather looks wonderful, not a drop of rain in sight, but use this thread for any topic you’d like to discuss.
Tags: current affairs
What do people think about the Norwalk bus system? Are they full, empty, routed correctly, clean? Are the bus-stops spaced correctly?
How about taxis? Are there enough taxis that you don’t have to wait more than 20 minutes if you call? Are the taxis clean, the drivers professional, the fares, “fair.”? Would you take more taxis if they arrived on time, were reliably available, cleaner?
How about bike paths? Does anyone travel to work via bike? How about bike security- bike stands, locking them up?
Sidewalks- are they sufficient, are they noticeably missing in areas (Rowayton bridge comes to mind), navigable- not so many cracks and breakups that it is hard to walk on them without watching every step?
Norwalk’s bus system is pretty good. I use it but the buses are not timed to when my train arrives. Taxis are horrible. You never know what you are going to get.
I would never bike in Norwalk. The roads are too bad, and I don’t mean traffic.
There are sidewalks in Norwalk?
Can you elaborate on that? What don’t you like about the taxis? It is the price (fare), the conditions of the car, the wait, not reliable….what is it that makes you not take one?
When you say you never know what you are going to get — are you talking about calling one and worrying that a bad car/driver will arrive- or that it might arrive late or not at all….or what? Which one do you normally call?
What improvements would you like to see with the taxis in Norwalk?
BTW: When you walk up to a taxi at the train station, are you obliged to take the first one in the line or can you pick based on the service provider you prefer?
How long do you typically have to wait for the bus at the train station (and at what station?)??
Are the taxis always there waiting for you so you have a backup if you are in a hurry??
Taxis in Norwalk are pretty much the same as in any small city — beat suspensions, sat out seats, and worn out engines. They run. And that’s fine. I talked to a cabby in Pittsburgh who was lamenting the profitability of the taxi business. I bet it’s the same in Norwalk. Not enough business to make upgrades. In terms of the train station taxi line, it’s a courtesy to take the driver who’s been waiting for a fare the longest instead of jumping the line.
On buses… A friend who wrote a book on public transit decided to practice what he preached and took the bus from his home in Stratford to his job in central Norwalk. It took him four hours and multiple changes — an experiment he’s not likely to repeat.
Speaking of making public transit work better, how about a transit oriented development at the Norden site? Maybe a train station that alternates service with E.Norwalk so that residents could walk to the train. Or move the E. Norwalk station to Norden.
What happened to the idea of a station on the Danbury line at Wall Street. Wouldn’t that be cool? Put more traffic on the trains instead of widening Route 7…which is filling in a lot of wetlands and swamps at the Northern end…which brings us back to flooding!
Water will find a way to go somewhere (like Silvermine backyards) when it can’t drain into the usual swamps….
Norwalk’s bus system is well run and provides a good service. Linkage is always a factor that can use improvement in all CT towns. Trains to buses, buses to shuttles, van pools etc. Let’s support our local system and be happy that many, many workers, seniors and youngsters have an alternative to driving cars each day. It can always be expanded/improved but it takes money and ridership.
Let’s see some commitment by large corporations to make mass transit a viable alternative for more of their employees. Phelps did his part at Merritt 7, UBS is very mass transit oriented in Stamford. Transportation and housing issues go hand-in-hand to make a greater workforce available to business. There in lies the incentive for business to think green (excuse the pun). Happy Earth Day!
Norwalk has an abundance of lights. The years of stringing up one light that covers both directions are way gone. It has always amazed me that we need SO many lights at ONE intersection- multiple lights when probably that old one light system coveres MOST of these intersection’s needs. Yes, there are places where multiple lights might help…but we have gone overboard on installing lights overall. Another day I will get into the need to ALSO post “no turn on red” at virtually 50% of the intersections- even low traffic high visibility corners have it.
BUT THEN- to see that the light at Foxboro cost almost HALF A MILLION DOLLARS- freaked me out.
Surely, this must have included road work, extra lanes, or something…a whole plethora of lights. I find it hard to believe that ONE light would cost $469K.
Speaking of ridiculous expenditures, whenever I drive over a speed bump, I say to myself $3K- and whenever there are 4 speedbumps on a short little passageway, I say…. $12K- I wonder what the city could do with that money instead of over-installing these stupid traffic calming devices. Michael Street is a perfect example of a short street bounded by two main roads - how would one manage to really get up any speed to begin with…but there you have it four (4) speedbumps.
The people who approved that expenditure must be nuts.
I say let’s simplify things: ask the cities how to develop adequate local transportation. What do they perceive they need??????
This arm’s length tendency to spend MILLIONS for consultants instead of asking those who know what they need then reviewing that is costing CT a fortune in time and money.
$2.7MM to analyze the bus systems is not money well spent- put the $$ against more transportation.
Analysis Paralysis- it is an excuse for not getting things done- over thinking it or trying to minimize risk- when, simplier methods exist.
COMMUNICATE- talk to each other. Stop the madness.
MassTransitFreak, you probably already know about the tax-free employee benefits for commuting but for those who don’t, check out TransitCenter.com — not sure how would apply locally…would be great, though, to get cars off the road.
It would be a great idea to put a transportation center at the Norden site.
I believe they tried to put a train station in at the Norden site many years ago, during Norden’s heyday. At the time they had 3 shifts working 7 days a week.
They didn’t even have the traffic light at Strawberry Hill then, but a Police Officer to direct the traffic when they let the first shift out at 4:45p.m.
Indiga, yes I am aware and that is just one opportunity for companies to step up and employees to lobby for assistance. Every little bit helps and this is one way to give incentives to employees to explore alternative methods of transportaion. Thanks for putting up the web address.
