•Amtrak’s San Joaquins will suspend three round trips as of Thursday, March 26, close some stations, and suspend cafe car service. Four round trips will continue to operate. The trains eliminated — Nos. 701, 702, 703, 704, 714, and 717 — are those with the lowest ridership, and eliminate direct rail service to Lodi and Sacramento. Those communities will continue to be served by Thruway buses. Stations at Hanford, Fresno, Merced, Modesto, and Martinez will be closed, although trains will continue to stop at those locations. With cafe cars closed, passengers are urged to bring their own food and drink, although snack packs and water will be distributed.
•Minneapolis-St. Paul’s Metro Transit will cut light rail and bus service by 40% on Wednesday, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports. Light rail will operate on 20-minute headways at all times, down from 8 to 12 minutes during peak periods. Northstar commuter trains will be cut from six round trips to two. Detailed information is available here.
•NJ Transit, which has already trimmed commuter rail schedules, will reduce service on two of its three light rail lines as of Wednesday. The River Line will run on a Sunday/Holiday schedule while Newark Light Rail will operate on a Saturday schedule. The Hudson-Bergen Line will maintain its weekday schedule. For more information, check the NJ Transit web page.
•The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority will adjust its reduced commuter rail schedules on Wednesday to allow five trains to reach Boston before 7 a.m. The agency says the change is “allow essential workers to travel with enough time to meet shift changes at hospitals and other medical facilities.” The current schedule is available here.
•New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority has trimmed some subway service, but continues to operate Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road commuter trains on regular schedules. B, W, and Z services, which duplicate other lines, are not operating, and some express trains have been eliminated. Also the Staten Island Railway is operating on 20-minute headways during peak hours, and hourly overnight, to match decreased ferry service. The latest information is available here.
There have been complaints that because NY cut subway frequency, the trains are to crowded for social distancing. The people left working in the shut down are in critical jobs, so they may also become sick.
Hopefully after this whole thing is over the trains will be put back on the schedule, in order to meet normal demand. Hopefully.
The above comments are generic in nature and do not form the basis for an attorney/client relationship. They do not constitute legal advice. I am not your attorney. This bill is not legal tender – nor will tenderizer help it.