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Norwalk: Pickup and Drop Off Zones Improving at South Norwalk Train Station


by turfgrrl


May 8th, 2008 · 52 Comments

In an effort to improve traffic flow at the South Norwalk train station, the taxi queues are moving on Monday May 12th. The westbound side of the train station will now be staffed with a person charged with managing the line up of taxis awaiting fares. This will free up the area ont eh eastbound side, where taxi vehicles has haphazardly parked along the curb.

From the press release:

“With the current way it’s being operated, at any given time you may find 20 to 30 taxis hanging out and idling on the New Haven side of the South Norwalk Railroad Station. “That area was not designed to be a dispatch area for local taxi companies,” said Kathryn Hebert, the Administrative Services Manager for the Department of Public Works who oversees the Parking Authority System. The situation is also unsafe for emergency vehicles that use the extension road for emergencies.

“The relocated queuing area along State Street on the Westbound Side, will have spaces available where we encourage taxis to queue up”, said Ms. Hebert.

The changes will work out better for commuters, who can hang out waiting for a taxi inside a the station instead of out in the open. This is a practical system in place at most busy transportation hubs and really helps speed things along.

Tags: Norwalk

52 Responses so far ↓ “Norwalk: Pickup and Drop Off Zones Improving at South Norwalk Train Station”


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  • 1 akabi // May 9, 2008 at 6:15 am

    With the system that was in place commuters seldom had to wait and could have waited inside if they had too.My understanding is there will only be places for 5 cabs.People are going to have to wait during rush hour from NYC.And walk thru the tunnel to the taxi line which most of them hate.Something had to be done but a little consulting with the 3 cab company owners before making this move would have been nice and would have eased the transition.This may prove a win for the city with better traffic flow on the eastbound side but maybe not for the commuters and cabbies.

  • 2 Lindsay // May 9, 2008 at 12:11 pm

    There should be cabs on both sides.

  • 3 NY bound // May 10, 2008 at 6:48 am

    I don’t get the logic for the move. Eastbound is where the cabs are needed. Damn little cab demand is coming from New Haven and getting off in Norwalk. The move to teh westbound side makes absolutely no sense; someone has an agenda here to make it more difficult for current cabbies.

    The current system works fine. Why fix something that ain’t broke?

  • 4 COMMON SENSE FROM A POLITICIAN? DON'T THINK SO. // May 10, 2008 at 9:37 am

    I don’t understand what the hell is going on in Norwalk. The mayor decides to change the cab availability area and structure at the train station. Does he consult with the cab companies to get some feedback from them, NO.? He listens to his butt boys who know squat about the cab business. Now he has everyone pissed off, the cab companies and the commuters. This is Deja Vu all over again, the parking in South Norwalk is a disaster, did anyone consult with the fast disappearing merchants of SoNo? Parking and traffic in the city and neighborhoods, did the mayor have anyone consult with the neighborhood residents, NO. Deciding what is best for a park without any feedback from residents leading to the Mini Golf fiasco, embarrassing the Mayor, Bondi, and P & R. Changes are being made on a daily basis in this city with no regard to the fallout. Now many residents are worried about the gridlock traffic that will be plaguing Norwalk, when all this development comes to pass, does anyone give a damn, NO? Let it all happen and then deal with the disaster that follows. It’ damn time to start working on solving problems before they happen, and not slap a Band-Aid over them after they happen and try to stem the bleeding and save the patient. Even in Stamford, the politicians were going to shove two more artificial turf parks/fields down the resident’s throats, until the residents revolted and sued the city and stopped it. Now less than a month later a large Stamford sports park is shut down due to high levels of lead in the artificial turf. What is the response from the P & C and the politicians? “That was the older stuff we are sure that the new stuff will not be a problem.”

    Give me a break will ya. Will the politicians in our area get their heads out of their butts and start to act like our representatives and not a bunch of CIA operatives, or brain dead zombies.

  • 5 Louis Morris // May 10, 2008 at 9:41 am

    It appears that in our area and especially in this city, the motto is “Fix it if it ain’t broke we will break it with our fix.” Oh! yes, let’s do it without consulting anyone, so we get our heads handed to us. 4 year terms, what a joke, that means an extra 24 months to stick it to the taxpayers without worry.

  • 6 turfgrrl // May 10, 2008 at 11:49 am

    Imagine that, people will have to gasp … walk to a taxi rank.

  • 7 Anonymous // May 10, 2008 at 12:40 pm

    we need planners not scammers in the city.Did anyone read the possiblity of a city wide taxi srike? More great PR for our tourism dollar.Come to Norwalk spend your money and as its been said many times get out.

    No one spoke to South Norwalk electric and even asked them about their customers and where they will park to use the widow for payments but then again who cares about where an elderly person will park to run in with their walker to pay a bill.

    It will be real nice having a line of cars parked emiting fumes for all those people who live in the apts on state st.The other side had no tennants.

    Poop at the parking garage wasn’t enough a party of drinking teens at the very same garage last night makes you wonder how serious the city is on making it safe and bringing a quality of life to its streets.

    Are we laughing or being laughed at?

  • 8 TG I AM SURPRISED BY YOUR ATTITUDE // May 10, 2008 at 1:51 pm

    Turfgrrl you are starting to sound as simple as our unthinking, and uncaring politicians. Lets see, a couple of senior citizens get in from NYC in the evening pretty tired and wants to jump into a taxi, you tell them to buck up and walk even if it is sleeting, snowing, raining and the sidewalks are covered with ice. A young girl gets back from NYC in the evening and wants the safety of a few steps to a waiting taxi. A young couple get back from jobs in NYC after putting in a 14-15 hour day with all the hassles of commuting to anywhere from this area, and you tell them to walk under the bridge on Monroe street our beneath the tracks so that they can be mugged, raped, shot, or pan handled for drugs. They you rave about public transportation. Public transportation is only as good as its associated parking, ease of taxi procurement, or location of its drop off points. What are you thinking? Wait! You are not thinking, you are using the zombie mind set of a politician, “If they don’t have bread let them eat cake.” In this case screw the commuters it’s going to be our way or the highway. But none of us should be surprised as it seems that common sense in this city has become as rare as lips on a chicken. Would you or the mayor like to have to walk 300 feet to get into your car every morning, noon and night. Hah, I bet you would, I could hear the cursing and moaning from across town.

  • 9 NY bound // May 10, 2008 at 3:12 pm

    I use the taxis from the station a lot to take me home after a day in NYC. I get off the train on the eastbound side, walk across the drive, and get into the first taxi in line. The driver helps with my bags, if needed. The drivers are helpful, professional, and only get uptight if someone “jumps the line” by not taking the cab that’s first. Simple courtesy in any cab situation. The idea of having a paid “starter” - like Grand Central Station — is ludicrous. The reason NYC has it is VOLUME. Not the case in Norwalk.

    Has anyone bothered to find out which side - westbound or eastbound — generates the most taxi traffic? I suspect it’s eastbound. So why are we moving the taxis to a place that is LESS convenient for the riders? And isn’t the westbound (NYC) side pretty busy with people getting dropped off? Why would you add to the congestion? This taxi thing is one of the lamest ideas to come out of City Hall yet. The mind reels at the idiot logic that’s behnd this.

  • 10 BLOODLESS TAXPAYER // May 10, 2008 at 3:26 pm

    Someone in this administration must have a relative or friend who needs another useless, unneeded $50,000 a year rip off job paid by the taxpayer. It is a disgrace that is indefensible. At the same time we have DPW workers who are ready to revolt. 4 year terms that’s the ticket 24 extra months to figure out how to waste the taxpayers money by thinking up stupid give away money jobs. There are those who may not like to hear it like it is, and if you keep up this disgusting rape of the taxpayer, you better keep a garbage can lid over your butt.

  • 11 Anonymous // May 10, 2008 at 3:59 pm

    #8 you bring up a great point if crime happens on the platform or in the station Norwalk doesn’t count it as a case unless there is an arrest on city streets.Its another way the police dept has been using smoking mirrors in fighting crime.The transit police maintains the record for assaults and crimes in the station on the tracks.

    The conversation always goes back to safety and the quality of life promised by out political machine.Its apparent our planners and people who think they know how the city should be developed should go back to school.

    Just recently we had a Norwalk city rep give talk at Pace college.Once asked questions by students and listening to some answers we as a city are in trouble if that is what we have for top line experts in the feild.

    Its odd how we are all listing examples of not thinking this one out and having the cabs threaten strike ect while we are always so concious of our image as a sea port with a lot to offer.

    Simply ask the question , when is the last time the mayor walked from the police station to the train station at 11 pm any given night?

    You do bring another good point up #8 the Angels would be there at the station to observe trouble coming and going on the trains. Could the already pushed police dept stand any more pressure with calls from them?

  • 12 1 Of The SMD 3 // May 10, 2008 at 5:22 pm

    It’s another “WTF” is the city of Norwalk thinking? Employees of LAZ removed ALL the 15 Min Parking & SNEW Customer Parking signs Thursday all along State Street and replaced them with Taxi Parking Only signs. Did anyone at city hall or the so called parking authority ever stop to think where the customers of South Norwalk Electric and Water will park when they come to pay their Utililty Bills?

    A reliable source informed us that when an LAZ employee was questioned about why the signs were being put up the response was “It’s a new state law”.

    We can’t wait until the first morning this new “Taxi Only” parking rule takes effect. We can only hope News 12 will be on hand to film to carnage that WILL occur when commuters are blocked from getting into the RR Station Parking Garage because some arrogant taxi cab driver blocks the entrance. Or maybe a SNEW customer will get frustrated enough and park their car right in the middle of State Street to they can go in & pay their bill which of course would generate a call to the NPD from the LAZ goon squad and oh what a show that would be……..

  • 13 Doug Wolkon // May 10, 2008 at 5:45 pm

    Sorry to switch transportation topics but Norwalk spends way too much time and money on parking, meters, traffic, and garages. It is obvious to the rest of the world that the automobile industry is a thing of the past and public transportation is the wave of the future. When are we going to start to discuss a commuter trolley from South Norwalk train station to Wall Street (where the bus depot is located - duh!), stopping along the way at the Museum/YMCA. It would be the most progressive investment in the City of the last 25 years and an invaluable improvement to the infrastructure in Norwalk. Take the cost of only 200 of the parking spaces (200 spaces at $20,000 per space equals $4M) of the 3,000 garage spaces planned for Norwalk’s mega development future (yes, 3,000 spaces are planned at $20,000 per space, that equals $60M of future structured parking - can you say stupid, stupid, not including related costs of traffic, pollution, etc.) and you have yourself a commuter trolley going all day long up the spine of the city connecting the 2 major trade and employment centers. The rail is already laid, now we just need to operate it. Trade and employment will grow and thrive organically. Traffic will decrease. Road maintenance will decrease and the city will own the most unique local transportation district in the Northeast for 30% the cost of the City’s investment in the Maritime Garage. Now that’s progress.

  • 14 turfgrrl // May 10, 2008 at 5:50 pm

    TG I AM SURPRISED BY YOUR ATTITUDE: Apparently you don’t take the train, because if you did you would know that once exiting the eastbound train you would enter the station building, walk indoors through the tunnel and exit to the taxi line. So much for inclement weather.

    Then there’s my years of experience in train stations world wide. Where the idea of a single taxi queue serving all directions accomplishes the goals of operating mass transportation hubs more efficiently.

    1 of The SMD 3: Carnage? Will battle axes and flame throwers be involved? SNEW spaces are often filled with non SNEW parked cars. It should be interesting, but who ever heard of having a payment center at a train station?

  • 15 Pekup Andropiv // May 10, 2008 at 6:18 pm

    TG, moving the cabs from the side that you need them (eastbound) to the side where you don’t (westbound) is a harebrained idea — whether you walk inside or outside. Now I have to walk down those friggin’ stairs and through the deserted tunnel, carrying all my stuff, navigating in high heels when, before, all I had to do was get off the train and cross the driveway. If I didn’t want to cross that driveway, I could motion to a cabdriver to come to me. WHY IS THE CITY MAKING IT HARDER? What about handicapped? How do they get to the cabs?

    And, yes, we are too focused on parking garages. Bring on the trolley.

  • 16 turfgrrl // May 10, 2008 at 6:42 pm

    Pekup Andropiv: And what do you do in your high heels in Grand Central?

  • 17 Pekup Andropov // May 10, 2008 at 7:36 pm

    I head for the Lexington Ave exit which is usually closer to where the train comes in. God forbid I have to navigate the NW passage. But that’s the City; I live in the lower density burbs where I can walk across the driveway (in my now aching feet because I’ve been in the City all day) to get a comfy cab — or at least I could until some numbskull in City Hall decides that’s too easy.

  • 18 Ronda // May 10, 2008 at 7:41 pm

    I personally witnessed a commuter coming out of the building getting yelled at by 3 taxi drivers trying to get a fare, public elimination and almost getting hit by a cab while crossing the street to my car because there were so many cabs circling around the median and hanging out. Not a pretty sight and quite scary. And a totally disorganized experience. As for Grand Central, you basically have to walk up numerous stairs, make few lefts and rights before you get out of the building, stand in line waiting for your turn at the taxi queu, sometimes in the rain.

  • 19 Pekup Andropov // May 10, 2008 at 7:55 pm

    I take the train (and the cab) often and have never seen or experienced what Ronda described. The drivers have always been lined up, waiting, and orderly…definately not circling. Why would they waste the gas at what it costs now? I think Ronda must have had too much in the bar car and was hallucinating.
    And where was her car parked if she was crossing the meidan? Illegally outside the lot? You don’t have to cross a driveway to get into the eastbound auxiliary lot. Nice try, Ronda.

  • 20 Ronda // May 10, 2008 at 8:28 pm

    My car is parked in the Eastbound lot across from the lobby building.

  • 21 1 Of The SMD 3 // May 10, 2008 at 8:49 pm

    TG, Does anyone remember WHY the Electric Works moved it’s business offices in the RR station parking garage???

  • 22 Anonymous // May 10, 2008 at 9:52 pm

    Didn’t I read somewhere that there is a hiring freeze on in Norwalk?

  • 23 Sick of BS // May 11, 2008 at 8:15 am

    Only if it is for necessary jobs to make life safer and cleaner and operate more efficently in this city.

    PS POST 14
    “Then there’s my years of experience in train stations world wide. Where the idea of a single taxi queue serving all directions accomplishes the goals of operating mass transportation hubs more efficiently. ”

    Key words, ” MORE EFFICIENTLY.” Case closed.

  • 24 Pekup Andropov // May 11, 2008 at 9:15 am

    “more efficeintly” is the key. The taxi move reduces effciency and adds cost. Not good.

    An interesting concept might be coordinating the departure of buses with the arrival of trains. Or moving the bus “hub” to the train station. In MY epxerience with international travel, this is a concept that is used across the globe. Might it not be a thought for our own fair city?

    The taxi move is not based on a realistic assessment of the needs…TG is just twisting facts to try to support a lame idea. It’s not working.

  • 25 turfgrrl // May 11, 2008 at 9:32 am

    Perkup Andropov: The bus hub should absolutely be located at the train station, and directly tied to train schedule, which should run more like a subway system then a train system. Add spurs kicking out to the Norwalk burbs, and you have a regional transportation network that works, instead of the system that underserves right now.

    But back to a Taxi queue, and “twisting” facts –pot kettle. The fact is that the designated queues are more efficient, and I have been to plenty of train stations that don’t even let you exit on both sides of the tracks.

  • 26 Pekup Andropov // May 11, 2008 at 10:28 am

    Could you outline the key points of why it is more efficent for Norwalk to have desginated queues and a starter? Please share you data as it pertains to Norwalk’s volumes of ridership and taxi usage. In order to make a change that costs money, you would need clear eveidence that the current process is less efficent than the new process. I don’t see any of that — other than a few anecdotes and your reliance on “other palces do it that way”. Personally, I don’t care what they do in Sheboygan; I want data to show that this is an improvement in Norwalk - with our ridership, our taxi usage, our volume, and our train station layout. So far, I see nothing except that the mayor and LAZ (and TG) think it’s a cool idea. It’s not.It’s a pointless expense and inconvenience to the people who take the taxis.

  • 27 turfgrrl // May 11, 2008 at 10:48 am

    Pekup Andropov: I haven’t read the study either, but apparently this is just one step of a multi step plan to make the SoNo train station into an intermodal hub attached to some grant in process. As a fake-fake journalist, with another day job, I’ve been a bit preoccupied with other things to dig into that at the moment. I do think its a good idea to have the Taxi rank on the westbound side, mostly due to my very anecodotal observation that there’s a problem with traffic flow on that eastbound side, that mass trans needs to be better integrated at the station and that having 30 odd Taxi Cabs using the station as a dispatch isn’t exactly the best use of the space.
    There was a taxi usage survey, and panel/forum put on last year, which I attended and reviewed, and I recollect that Norwalk Taxis were used mostly out of the train station to commute to job locations, which would imply a more westbound need than eastbound. But perhaps someone can point us to that data for clarification.

  • 28 Anonymous // May 11, 2008 at 11:49 am

    where there are over 6 reports done on the train station some based on outdated facts including the 2020 report. Maybe someone can link the reports.After the fire at the train station and the rebirth of the one we have there now along with the sub police station and the millions of dollars of federal money spent you would think the paper or net trail would be obvious.

    There was talk that the college,downtown city hall and tourism had played a lot into developing what we have now.Very little in some reports spent time talking about the Norwalkers riding the train out yet riding it in as a destination along with parking areas along the line in the past was the focal point.Most of the recent reports are from the ealry 90’s.

    Maybe a new study maybe some new blood for a change in making decisions would help.

    It doesn’t take long for things to change in a city that grows by population and not services and public safety.So what was then is sometimes not now.

    There is a chance we will see a news story soon on the cabs and the other trade in the city that has become a problem to the police dept.Traffic of another kind seems to be an issue yes an old one still a problem that needs addressing.No one has suggested the change may of been made for other reasons have they?

    A lot has been written in the past on the tunnel and the station itself on safety it seems likely it should be revisited now that we see outfall to plans the city has decided to be in the best interest to those who use it every day.

    Pekup Andropov I agree with the way things are done in the city to question what has been done with Homleand Security and the congestion it will create at an entrance to a station on the Northeast corridor may be one place to inquire.Maybe HS has data they can share,it would surprise some to see what they have.

    Its a shame when things are done in Norwalk it always seems like a back room deal and every so often its a good idea.Or is it simply damage control?

  • 29 Lindsay // May 11, 2008 at 1:01 pm

    Ehhh…I commute every day to the city, have been for over 2 years and have never witnessed a traffic problem on the eastbound side. All the taxis park along one side so people dropping off and picking up have space to drive through and theres plenty of room for the buses and shuttles to park. I didnt think there was really ever an issue.
    On another note, Turfgrrl is funny. FLAME THROWERS had me laughing out loud.

  • 30 turfgrrl // May 11, 2008 at 7:28 pm

    Lindsay: I have seen the traffic there, chiefly because I have been at the train station prior to the arrival of the train, when all the taxis are there waiting for the train to arrive, in addition to passenger rides also waiting.

    Glad you appreciate the Turfgrrl brand of humour. Peace out.

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